Pirelli World Challenge: GMG Racing testing Sofronas' blue Audi R8 LMS ultra at The Thermal Club

By Johan Laubscher

It has been a busy week of testing for GMG Racing. The team was testing with Alex Welch's Audi R8 LMS ultra at the Circuit of The Americas earlier this week and then also went to the Thermal Club for further testing towards the end of the week.

The testing at the Thermal Club included James Sofronas in his newly re-coloured Audi R8 LMS ultra, now sporting a blue colour-scheme. Sofronas also had his first taste of the new Huracan Super Trofeo during the day's proceedings.

The 2015 Pirelli World Challenge will be getting underway at the Circuit of The Americas from 6-8 March.

Photo credit: GK Systems

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Pirelli World Challenge: JCR Motorsports Announces Two-Car Program for 2015

JCR Motorsports Press Release

Milwaukee, WI – Feb 25, 2015 -JCR Motorsports announced today their return to Pirelli World Challenge competition with a two-car, two-class effort. Series veteran, team owner and driver of the No. 99 Kenda Tire/RecStuff.com Audi R8 Ultra Jeff Courtney will return to GT-A class competition while teammate Mitch Landry will take on the newly formed Porsche GT Cup class in his #97 Landry Racing Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car.

Courtney ran successfully in the initial season of GT-A competition, achieving fifth overall in the Championship point’s standings. Courtney proved to be a strong GT-A competitor, achieving four podium finishes in twelve races including a third place at the Long Beach Grand Prix, two third place finishes at Road America and a second place finish at Sonoma.  Courtney brings a wealth of knowledge to the table regarding the Audi platform and GTA class racing.

“After about one and one-half seasons with our R8 I believe we have learned quite a bit,” said Courtney. “I believe we have the right engineering and crew in place this season to put us in a better position than ever to be more competitive.  We are very happy and thankful to have all of our sponsors returning, including our main sponsors, Kenda Tire and RecStuff.com. We hope to make a strong run for the GT-A Championship.”

Former GTS competitor Mitch Landry will transition to the all-new Porsche GT Cup Class. Landry entered Pirelli World Challenge competition in the 2013 season and campaigned a Ford Mustang for two years achieving multiple top-ten finishes. Landry placed a competitive twelfth-place overall in the 2014 GTS Championship.

Landry is no stranger to the Porsche GT Cup class platform as he competed for two years in the IMSA GT Cup Challenge and finished third overall in 2011.

“We are looking forward to working with Jeff and the JCR Motorsports team,” said Landry. “I would like to thank my sponsors and family at Deep South and VersaCrane for allowing me the opportunity to race. The new Porsche GT3 Cup car is awesome to drive and the dependability is unmatched.  I hope to give the young guns some competition, as it looks like I will be the senior of the group - and to have some fun in the process.”

The Pirelli World Challenge 2015 season begins at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on March 6-8. Circuit of the Americas is a 3.4 mile track designed with Formula 1 in mind. The circuit includes 20 technical turns and dramatic elevation changes, notably a 133-foot climb that preludes Turn 1.

Live streaming will be available at www.world-challengetv.com. Streaming for GT/GT-A/GT Cup Round 1 begins on Saturday, March 7 at 3:50 PM ET. Round 2 of GT/GT-A/GT Cup competition can be streamed live on Sunday, March 8 at 2:50 PM ET. Both races will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network on Saturday, March 14 at 11:00 AM ET.

Photo credit: JCR Motorsports

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Super GT: Hitotsuyama Racing joins forces with WRT for 2015 in Japan

By Johan Laubscher

Hitotsuyama Racing has announced that it will be supported by W Racing Team (WRT) for its 2015 campaign in the Japanese Super GT.

The Audi Team Hitotsuyama squad will again be entering one Audi R8 LMS ultra in the GT300 class of the Japanese series. This #21 entry will be driven by the team's duo from 2014, Richard Lyons and Tomonobu Fujii. The third driver for longer events will be announced later, but the possibility of the team being joined by an Audi factory driver also exists.

An Audi R8 LMS ultra from WRT arrived in Japan during January. The collaboration deal with WRT includes engineer and mechanic support from WRT at all of the Super GT events, including the addition of WRT's Pierre Arnaud as the team director of Audi Team Hitotsuyama.

The 2015 Super GT season will get underway at Okayama from 4-5 April.

Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport

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GT Open: Team Novadriver testing Audi R8 LMS ultra at Monteblanco

By Johan Laubscher

Team Novadriver was out testing the #58 Audi R8 LMS ultra at the Monteblanco circuit in Spain this week. It was the team's first shakedown test to check all of the systems following the rebuild of the car during the winter.

The Portuguese Audi Sport customer racing team fielded this #58 Audi R8 LMS ultra in the 2014 International GT Open with the driver paring of Cesar Campanico and Aditya Patel.

Team Novadriver has not yet announced their plans for 2015, but they are expected to do so during the coming weeks.

Photo credit: Team Novadriver

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Pirelli World Challenge: Audi teams testing Audi R8 LMS ultra cars at COTA

By Johan Laubscher

A number of Pirelli World Challenge teams were testing at the Circuit of The Americas this weekend. GMG Racing and JCR Motorsports were amongst the teams present at COTA.

GMG Racing were running two of its 2015 entries, Alex Welch in the #76 Audi R8 LMS ultra and Alec Udell in the new Porsche GT-Cup. This was the first time that Welch's new livery was seen in full.

JCR Motorsports fielded their #99 Audi R8 LMS ultra at the test days, also sporting a new sliver livery for Jeff Courtney.

The 2015 Pirelli World Challenge will be getting underway at the Circuit of The Americas from 6-8 March.

Photo credit:
GK Systems
Pirelli World Challenge

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Australian GT: Audi R8 LMS ultra on title chase in Australia

Audi Press Release

• Audi’s GT3 sports cars extremely popular in Down Under
• Christopher Mies strengthens Jamec PEM Racing
• Technical support by Melbourne Performance Centre

Ingolstadt, February 23, 2015 – The Audi R8 LMS ultra is so popular in Australian customer sport that an amazing number of six cars will be competing in the 2015 GT Championship in Down Under. Next weekend, the new season of the series will open on the spectacular city street circuit in Adelaide.

Audi numbers among the most popular brands in the field. Four Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be joining the race in the overall classification of the Championship class and two other sports cars under the banner of the four rings will be battling for class victories in the Trophy category.

The outfits with claims to the overall title include Team Eva Racing/Evolve Technik with Peter Fitzgerald and last year’s Trophy winner Skwirk/Beechwood Homes with Nathan Antunes, each fielding one Audi sports car. Team Jamec PEM Racing is entering two R8 LMS ultra cars in the Championship class – one of them being driven by the German Christopher Mies who is sharing the cockpit of car #74 with Greg Crick. Steve McLaughlan in the team’s second R8 LMS ultra is aiming to clinch podium places together with Steven Johnson.

In addition to these candidates for overall victories, two Audi private teams are going to battle for success in class: Mark Griffith and Greg Taylor/Barton Mawer will be competing in the Trophy category.

All of the drivers have been relying on expert service for years. The Melbourne Performance Centre (MPC) is responsible for all technical matters and, as the official Australian partner, is closely associated with Audi Sport customer racing in Germany.

The event in Adelaide on March 1 will open a calendar featuring five circuits in Australia. The season will culminate for the third consecutive time in the finale to be held at Highlands Motorsport Park situated in the picturesque scenery near the town of Cromwell in neighboring New Zealand. Different race formats with up to three rounds per weekend and varying distances make the series particularly attractive. Mark Eddy, in 2011, was the most recent Audi driver to have won the overall title in Australia.

The 2015 Audi customer teams in Australia

Audi R8 LMS ultra #2 (Eva Racing/Evolve Technik)
Peter Fitzgerald (AUS), Championship class

Audi R8 LMS ultra #6 (Skwirk/Beechwood Homes)
Nathan Antunes (AUS), Championship class

Audi R8 LMS #19 (Griffith Corporation Motorsport)
Mark Griffith (AUS), Trophy class

Audi R8 LMS #38 (Greg Taylor Racing)
Greg Taylor (AUS)/Barton Mawer (AUS), Trophy class

Audi R8 LMS ultra #74 (Jamec PEM Racing)
Christopher Mies (D)/Greg Crick (AUS), Championship class

Audi R8 LMS ultra #75 (Jamec PEM Racing)
Steven McLaughlan (AUS)/Steven Johnson (AUS), Championship class

Calendar

Mar 01 Adelaide (AUS)
May 23 Phillip Island (AUS)
Jul 12 Townsville (AUS)
Aug 23 Sydney (AUS)
Sep 13 Sandown (AUS)
Nov 15 Highlands (NZ)

Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport

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ADAC GT Masters: MS Racing reveals Audi R8 LMS ultra driver line-ups for 2015

By Johan Laubscher

MS Racing announced that they will be running two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in the 2015 ADAC GT Masters last Sunday and then later announced their full driver line-up on Friday this week.

The German Audi Sport customer racing team will be entering its third season with Audi R8 LMS ultra vehicles this year. They previously ran two cars in 2013 and a single car in 2014.

The team's 2015 driver line-up includes two familiar faces, along with two well-known additions.

Daniel Dobitsch and Florian Stoll will both be returning to MS Racing this year and will each be piloting one of the Audi R8 LMS ultra entries. They have both driven for MS Racing in the Audi R8 LMS ultra cars during the previous two seasons, they were also split in 2013 and drove together in 2014 behind the wheel of the #100 kfzteile24 APR Motorsport entry.

Dobitsch and Stoll will be joined in the MS Racing team by a potent duo who are well accustomed to Audi GT3 machinery, Marc Basseng and Edward Sandström.

The first MS Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra (#100) will be driven by Florian Stoll and Marc Basseng. Their teammates in the #24 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be Daniel Dobitsch and Edward Sandström.

The German and Swedish pairing of Basseng and Sandström completes a very strong four-man driver line-up for MS Racing in the 2015 ADAC GT Masters.

MS Racing will be lining up alongside multiple Audi R8 LMS ultra entries in the ADAC GT Masters this year, including cars from C.Abt Racing, YACO Racing and Dupré Engineering Motorsport.

The 2015 ADAC GT Masters will get underway at Oschersleben from 24-26 April.

Photo credit: MS Racing

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Australian GT: Mark Griffith and Daniel Gaunt set for Audi R8 LMS campaign in GT Trophy

By Johan Laubscher

Another new-look Audi Sport customer racing pairing is set to join the GT Trophy ranks of the Australian GT Championship this year. On Thursday it was announced that Mark Griffith and Daniel Gaunt will be driving an Audi R8 LMS run by Melbourne Performance Centre.

The duo will be driving a leased Audi R8 LMS owned by Ockert Fourie, who raced the OLOF Motorsport liveried car during 2013 and 2014.

Mark Griffith is the two-time reigning GT Sports class champion, a title that he won both times in his Ginetta G50 GT4. Griffith originally had other plans for his 2014 season. He had planned to run a GT3 specification Ferrari 430 race car in the Challenge class, but he changed his mind after he had the chance to sample an Audi R8 LMS towards the end of last year.

That led to the deal being signed which will see Mark Griffith and Daniel Gaunt driving the #19 Griffith Corporation Motorsport Audi R8 LMS in the GT Trophy class of the Australian GT Championship. The pairing will be aiming to fight for the class title this year.

The beginning of this project goes back to November 2014 when the Australian GT Championship held its finale at Highlands Motorsport Park in New Zealand, run alongside the Highlands 101 endurance race.

Rod Salmon had begun the 2014 season with his Audi R8 LMS ultra which was entered for the 2014 Bathurst 12 hour. An unfortunate crash suffered by Jason Bright during qualifying caused severe damage to Salmon’s Audi and as a result it was sent back to Germany for chassis repairs. The damaged car looked to put an end to Salmon’s 2014 Australian GT efforts, but a deal with Peter Conroy saw Salmon leasing Conroy’s older Audi R8 LMS during 2014. He competed in the GT Trophy class for older GT3 machines and claimed the class championship title at the final round in New Zealand.

Salmon’s Audi R8 LMS ultra had arrived back in Australia and was prepared in time for the journey to New Zealand, thus both of Salmon’s cars made the trip to Highlands Motorsport Park (pictured above). Salmon raced the Conroy leased R8 LMS to the Australian GT Trophy title on the Saturday and then competed in the Highlands 101 with his Audi R8 LMS ultra on Sunday. This meant that the leased Audi R8 LMS was available for the Highlands 101. Mark Griffith was invited by Melbourne Performance Centre with an offer to race the car in the endurance event. He shared the #6 Audi R8 LMS with Dale Paterson and they achieved a seventeenth overall place finish.

The opening round of the Australian GT Championship will be taking place at Adelaide from 26 February to 1 March. It is certainly very exciting news to hear about more Audi Sport customer racing entries joining the grid.

Photo credit: 
Official Audi Sport on twitter
Highlands Motorsport Park

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ADAC GT Masters: Kelvin van der Linde is Bridgestone SA /SA Guild of Motoring Journalists Motor Sportsman of the Year

Kelvin van der Linde Press Release

Kelvin van der Linde, 18, the reigning Bridgestone SA / SAGMJ Motor Sportsman of the Year, has made it two in a row.

Van der Linde, who last year at age 17 became the youngest ever recipient of this prestigious award, has again been honoured this year, as the 2014 Bridgestone SA / SAGMJ Motor Sportsman of the Year.

The talented track racing star received the award at a function in Johannesburg today for his exceptional performance in the prestigious GP Masters Series last year.

The function was attended by nearly 200 of the most influential role-players in South African motorsport, including Kelvin’s proud father and former national champion Shaun van der Linde, his mother Bernadine and younger brother Sheldon (also a finalist this year).

Kelvin went back to Germany in his matric year to compete in the prestigious championship in an Audi R8 LMS Ultra of the Prosperia C Abt team. He and partner Rene Rast were the class of the field and won the title against some of the finest sports car and F1 drivers in the world.

This world-class achievement follows the former national karting champion and Volkswagen Cup champion’s victory in the 2013 International VW Scirocco R-Cup against drivers from 24 countries.

During 2013 he was also chosen to attend the elite FIA Institute Young Drivers Excellence Academy as Africa’s representative after an exhaustive selection process. This year he will be taking his burgeoning career to the next level with a full-time drive in the international GT Masters for the official Audi GT team.

The award, which recognises and rewards outstanding and remarkable achievements by South African motor sport competitors, was first won in 1964. It has been sponsored by Bridgestone South Africa for the past 22 years.

Photo credit: 
Audi Communications - Motorsport
Kelvin van der Linde
Live Event Broadcast

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RCCO: Audi Team tv racing runner-up in photo finish at Hamburg opener

By Johan Laubscher

The 25th season of the rallye racing Carrera Cup (RCCO) Slotcar Championship got underway with the SHELL 20 Minutes of Hamburg on Wednesday. It was a very exciting evening of slotcar racing which culminated in a frantic photo finish.

Audi Team tv racing arrived at the event ready to begin the season on a high. The team’s two drivers, Thomas Voigt and Jan Hennen, shared the controls of the #7 Schaeffler Audi R8 LMS ultra. They opted to begin the season with their proven 2014-spec Audi R8 LMS ultra and will be introducing a new car later in the year.

A very special guest also attended the SHELL 20 Minutes of Hamburg, non-other than Le Mans record-holder, Tom Kristensen. TK piloted one of the Audi R8 Cup entries during the evening’s proceedings, sharing the #104 car with Würgler.

There were also other Audi teams with the #63 Audi S1 EKS RX of Michael Niemas and Martin Kummerow also taking part, along with more Audi R8 Cup entries.

Qualifying netted a fourth place for Audi Team tv racing, a mere 0.308 seconds behind the pole winning Porsche 962C from the PROTOTYP-Shell team. Joest Racing’s Bentley qualified second and Volkswagen Motorsport-Das Kartell third.

The #63 Audi S1 EKS RX lined up eighth on the grid, followed by the #104 Audi R8 of Kristensen and Würgler in fifteenth overall.

A photo finish decided the results during a very close final race on Wednesday evening. It was Volkswagen Motorsport-Das Kartell that won the race by a narrow margin from Audi Team tv racing. Daniel Bäumler and Mario Scharré piloted the #1 Volkswagen Polo R WRC to victory, ahead of the #7 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Voigt and Hennen. An excellent final stint by Jan Hennen brought Audi Team tv racing to within touching distance of victory.

It was a solid start to the 2015 season for Audi Team tv racing, who repeated their second place finish from 2014. The team will be striving to continue with their success this season in their bid to recapture the championship title. Thomas Voigt and Jan Hennen will contest the rest of the season each with their own Audi R8 LMS ultra entries from Audi Team tv racing. It is the first year where, just like in F1, the drivers are allowed to choose their own race numbers. Voigt will continue to field his favourite #7 Audi R8 LMS ultra and Hennen will use the #3 Audi R8 LMS ultra, his number chosen for his third place finish in the championship during 2014.

The next round of the rallye racing Carrera Cup (RCCO) Slotcar Championship will be the Grand Prix Schleswig-Holstein on 1 April, hosted at the Northland Racecenter in Neumünster.

This event will also be the debut of the new RCCO Audi Sport TT Cup, which will see six of these new race cars joining the series for invited VIP guests.

The results can be seen HERE.

More photos from the event can be seen HERE.

For more information about the rallye racing Carrera Cup (RCCO) Slotcar Championship please visit their official Facebook page HERE.

Slotcar racing is a very popular sport amongst many of the Audi Sport personnel, many of whom take part in this series. It is always great to see Audis competing in motorsport, including the world of slotcar racing.

Photo credit: Speedpool

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Pirelli World Challenge: Cameron Racing testing Audi R8 LMS ultra with new livery at Buttonwillow

By Johan Laubscher

Cameron Racing was again testing at Buttonwillow Raceway Park this week. This was the latest test for the team, following earlier tests at Sonoma Raceway and Buttonwillow. It was also the first time that their new two-tone grey and orange Audi R8 LMS ultra livery was revealed in full.

Drew Regitz drove his Audi R8 LMS ultra during the test session at Buttonwillow. Cameron Racing is busy preparing the car for the 2015 Pirelli World Challenge, where Regitz will be taking part in the GT-A class with the #19 Audi R8 LMS ultra.

The 2015 Pirelli World Challenge will be getting underway at the Circuit of The Americas from 6-8 March.

Photo credit: Cameron Racing

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GT Cup: United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra at Brands Hatch for GT Cup media day

By Johan Laubscher

The GT Cup Championship hosted its media day at Brands Hatch on Wednesday. The morning's proceedings saw media presentations and interviews, followed by a test session for the teams during the afternoon.

United Autosports attended the GT Cup media day with their #23 Audi R8 LMS ultra and driver, Phil Burgan, who will be piloting the car this year. Burgan made his debut in the Audi at the final round of the 2014 GT Cup Championship at Oulton Park, where he finished third in class during the first race of that weekend.

A number of the GT Cup teams, including United Autosports, also recently took part in three days of testing at Cartagena in Spain.

The 2015 GT Cup Championship will get underway at Donington from 25-26 April.

Photo credit: 
United Autosports
GT Cup

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