Le Mans 24 Hours: Audi facts and statisctics from Le Mans Test Day

By Tarek Ramchani

Audi Sport Team Joest had a positive Le Mans Test Day at the Circuit de La Sarthe. All of the three factory Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars performed very well in the two 4-hour sessions.

At the end of the day the three Audis covered a total of 3952 kilometres. In the opening session the R18s covered 1935 kilometres, in the afternoon one they did 2017 kilmotres without facing problems or technical issues.

Audi Sport Team Joest took full advantage of the changing weather and track conditions working on both dry and wet set-ups.

The fastest car within the Audi squad was the #9 R18 e-tron quattro driven by Marco Bonanomi, Filipe Albuquerque and René Rast. The #7 Audi with André Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler was second fastest. The #8 car shared by Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Olivier Jarvis was third.

The fastest Audi driver at the Le Mans Test Day was Marco Bonanomi. The Italian set a personal best of 3:22.307, enough to take the third fastest time overall behind two Porsche drivers, Brendon Hartley and Neel Jani.

Oliver Jarvis (#8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro) ended the day with the most laps completed with a total of 46 laps. Marcel Fässler (#7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro) was second with a total of 36 laps. Filipe Albuquerque (#9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro) was third with a total of 34 laps.

Audi drivers lap times

Marco Bonanomi - 3.22.307 (31 laps)
Benoît Tréluyer - 3.22.556 (31 laps)
André Lotterer - 3.22.930 (28 laps)
Loïc Duval - 3.23.002 (24 laps)
Lucas di Grassi - 3.24.111 (31 laps)
Oliver Jarvis - 3.24.548 (43 laps)
Marcel Fässler - 3.24.729 (36 laps)
Filipe Albuquerque - 3.24.822 (34 laps)
René Rast - 3.26.480 (30 laps)

Photo credit: Audi Media

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Unlucky 034Motorsport Audi TT RS at Thunderhill 25 Hours

By Tarek Ramchani

Thunderhill Raceway in California hosted the 10th edition of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill endurance event last weekend. The race marked the debut of the VLN Audi TT RS in North America. It was in the hands of local team, 034Motorsport with some great performances and bad luck as well during the race.

The TT RS is a VLN based model, designed to race in the German Endurance Series run at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It is a factory built racer from quattro GmbH. 034 Motorsport took charge of entering the Audi in this hard and long endurance challenge. Right from start in the free practice and qualifying sessions, the TT RS proved to very fast and a serious challenger for the overall victory. The team qualified in the top five overall.

On race day things started very well for Audi and the 034Motorsport squad. The car immediately jumped up to third and battled its way into second overall. A spin in during the first hour dropped them back to fifth with a minute deficit to the leader, a gap which was diminished by the first safety car. As the afternoon progressed the TT RS made its way into the overall lead. Quite amazing first time out and against some lighter and more powerful prototypes and GT3 Cup Porsches. However bad luck hit the team whist they were leading. A very rare gearbox issue forced the TT RS to come a halt. This signalled the end of the race and retirement for Audi and 034Motorsport while strongly leading the race.

It was a hard blow for the 034 Motorsport team, but their performance during the week was brilliant. So far it is unknown if we will see more North American races for the TT RS. It is reported that this TT RS will soon be heading back to Germany where it will compete in the 2013 VLN Championship with November Racing.

Photo credit and more information:
034Motorsport website

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Video: Audi cars at SEMA Auto Show Las Vegas

By Tarek Ramchani

A couple of weeks ago Las Vegas hosted the annual SEMA auto show. No less than 20 exotic Audi cars were on display there. This includes three Audi race cars, a Bilstein backed R8 LMS ultra similar to that of the 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours, the brand new 034Motorsport TT RS and the famous "Sophie", GMG Racing B5 S4 Competition.

Our friends from Audizine were there and did a great video review catching all the Audis from the Show. Enjoy.

More information:
SEMA website
Audizine website

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Video: Closer look at 034 Motorsport

By Johan Laubscher

034 Motorsport are very well known in the performance car market. In recent years they have built a number of Audi race cars. Their Audi A4 B5 racer is one of their most notable creations. It was built as a time attack car and even competed at the newly paved Pikes Peak this year. Along with their A4 they have recently announced the addition of another very special Audi race car. An Audi TT RS from the SP4T class in the German VLN has been added to their arsenal and will debut at the 2012 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

Here is a very nice video from Audizine which features an inside look into the 034 Motorsport organisation. 

More information:

034Motorsport on Facebook

Photos by 034 Motorsport

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Video: Onboard Pikes Peak with Randy Pobst in the 034 Motorsport Audi A4

By Johan Laubscher

034 Motorsports have entered their Time Attack Audi A4 in the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hillblimb. The team have ace driver, and previous Audi champion Randy Pobst driving for them this weekend. Randy drove for Champion Racing from 2003-2004 and he was seen behind the wheel of the RS6 Competition and S4 Competition cars. Here is the first onboard video from the team. It was during a practice run on a section of the course. The Audi sounds great and clearly there is more potential in this car for the actual run up the mountain. Best of luck to 034 Motorsport! 

For more information see QuattroWorld.com’s story on the event so far, read it HERE

More information:

034 Motorsport website

034 Motorsport FB page

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