By Johan Laubscher
The Grand-Am Rolex Series headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this
weekend, for the Brickyard Grand Prix. This event was the eighth round of the
Rolex Series, and more importantly, it was the third and final round of the North
American Endurance Championship. Two Audi R8 GRAND-AM teams were again entered in the GT class for this event.
The North American Endurance Championship consists of the three
endurance races within the Rolex Series, namely: The Daytona 24 Hours, 6 Hours
of the Glen, and the Brickyard Grand Prix (3 Hours). The Alex Job Racing Audi
R8 GRAND-AM won the Daytona 24 Hours in January, driven by Filipe Albuquerque,
Oliver Jarvis, Edoardo Mortara and Dion von Moltke. This resulted in Audi
drivers leading the NAEC standings. Thus a factory Audi R8 GRAND-AM was entered
for the six hour event at Watkins Glen, entered under the name of Audi Sport
customer racing, run by quattro GmbH and Kettler Motor Werks. The #24 factory
Audi was driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Edoardo Mortara and Dion von Moltke,
whilst Oliver Jarvis was taking part in the Blancpain Endurance Series that
weekend. Watkins Glen also saw the debut of another new Audi team in the Rolex
Series, Fall-Line Motorsports, who are entering a single Audi R8 GRAND-AM.
It was a difficult event at Watkins Glen, but even so, the #24 Audi
Sport customer racing squad arrived at Indianapolis with a chance at clinching
the NAEC title. The factory Audi would only be driven by two drivers this
weekend, due to the shorter race duration. These two drivers were Audi Sport Team Rosberg's Filipe
Albuquerque and Edoardo Mortara, but Dion von Moltke was on site supporting the
team as well. The Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 GRAND-AM was driven by Al
Carter and Brett Sandberg.
The factory Audi squad showed excellent pace all weekend, and qualified in third for the three hour event, followed by the Fall-Line Motorsports entry
in ninth. Filipe Albuquerque took the green flag in the #24 Audi R8 GRAND-AM
and remained within the front battle for the first hour. He was running as high as
second for the majority of his stint and things were looking good.
Unfortunately tragedy struck within the second hour. The #94 BMW M3 lost
control in the in-field section and collected Albuquerque from behind. The
resulting damage ended the #24 Audi’s race and their bid for the NAEC title. The
incident can be seen at 2:57 minutes in the highlights video embedded below.
Further back the Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 GRAND-AM soldiered on
well and came home for a top ten result, finishing ninth within the GT class.
The race was eventually won by the #61 Ferrari 458.
This event concluded the three-round North American Endurance
Championship, but the Grand-Am Rolex Series will now head to Road America for round nine in August.
Photo credit:
Audi of America
Audi of America
