DTM: Audi A5 Coupé as special edition DTM model

Audi Press Release

•          Exclusive limited edition equipment and trim
•          “A5 DTM Champion” package priced at 1,900 euros

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DTM: A word from … Mattias Ekström

Audi Press Release

Your visit to Moscow with the Audi A5 DTM attracted a lot of attention. Looking back a few days later, what impressions did this trip leave with you?
 

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DTM: A word from … Edoardo Mortara

Audi Press Release

You’ve just returned from a brief visit to Moscow to promote Audi and the DTM race there on August 4. What was your impression?

This was my first visit to Russia. It was really exciting to be standing on Red Square with the Audi A5 DTM. I was particularly surprised about the high interest of the media. Around 50 journalists were there and Mattias Ekström and I had to give a lot of interviews.

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World premiere on Red Square: Audi A5 DTM in Moscow

Audi Press Release

• Audi in the heart of the Russian capital before DTM debut

• Mattias Ekström and Edoardo Mortara thrill fans

• Deliveries in 2012 up by 44.1 percent: Russia an important market for the Four Rings

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Audi completes driver line-up for 2013 DTM

Audi Press Release

•          Experience is trumps: eight Audi drivers have 34 wins between them
•          ‘Norisring King’ Jamie Green high-caliber new signing
•          Rahel Frey leaves DTM, Miguel Molina remains with squad

Ingolstadt, February 4, 2013 – Audi will start into the 2013 DTM season with a mix of experienced campaigners and ambitious youngsters. The eight drivers have four titles, 478 races, 39 pole positions and 34 victories to their credit between them – marking top tallies in the series. The only change compared to last year’s squad: Rahel Frey is switching to GT racing within AUDI AG. The vacant cockpit will be occupied by new signing Jamie Green.

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DTM: Successful test for Audi at Valencia

Audi Press Release

Audi Sport successfully completed its first step in preparation for the new DTM season. In action during the test at Valencia were two Audi A5 DTM cars as well as the Audi factory drivers Mattias Ekström and Jamie Green.

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2013 Audi Sport Calendar

By Johan Laubscher

As 2012 draws to a close Audi Sport is already very busy gearing up for the 2013 motorsport season. Last year Audi Sport revealed a beautiful Calendar for 2012. During this year they hinted at another calendar being released for 2013 which would again portray the motorsport highlights from the previous season. Today, just four days from the end of 2012, Audi Sport has officially revealed their 2013 calendar, and it is another masterpiece. It is produced with twelve beautiful pictures each featuring different scenes from Audi’s Le Mans, DTM and customer racing programs.

We have included the twelve images and the cover below. You can download them directly from the Official Audi Sport Facebook page via this link HERE. 

Photos hosted at the Official Audi Sport Facebook page

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Audi: full speed ahead in motorsport too

Audi Press Release

•          Three hybrid race cars at the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours
•          Jamie Green joins DTM driver line-up
•          Activities extended in US motorsport

Ingolstadt, December 19, 2012 – With more than 1.34 million worldwide deliveries, Audi equaled last year’s sales record after only eleven months. And in motorsport, the brand with the four rings continues to charge full speed ahead too. The title defense in the FIA World Championship (WEC), the commitment in the DTM and extended activities in US racing are particularly in focus in the 2013 season. 

“Successful motorsport is part of our brand DNA,” stated Wolfgang Dürheimer, Member of the Management Board for Technical Development at AUDI AG, on Wednesday night at the “Audi Sport Finale” held at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt. “The victories on the world’s race tracks underscore our technical expertise in a particularly authentic way – and they strengthen our position on the most important world markets.”

Three hybrid race cars at Le Mans

In the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), Audi is competing as the title defender in 2013. Audi Sport Team Joest will be fielding two updated Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars, a third R18 e-tron quattro will be running at the Le Mans 24 Hours and the WEC race at Spa.

At Le Mans and in the WEC, Audi is thus exclusively banking on hybrid technology that was successfully introduced in 2012. The flywheel energy storage system is becoming even more powerful without any substantial increase in weight and size. Strictly in terms of its exterior, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro will hardly differ from this year’s winning car although numerous technical innovations are again assembled under the vehicle’s ultra-light carbon fiber skin. In a parallel project, Audi Sport is already intensively working on the successor car for the new LMP1 regulations that will come into effect as of 2014.

The Audi driver lineup for the WEC and Le Mans in 2013 consists of the current World Champions Marcel Fässler (Switzerland), André Lotterer (Germany) and Benoît Tréluyer (France) plus new signing Lucas di Grassi (Brazil), Loïc Duval (France), Marc Gené (Spain), Oliver Jarvis (Great Britain), Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland).

Jamie Green joins Audi DTM squad 

Contrary to the WEC, the technology in the DTM was frozen for the 2013 season by the regulations. Therefore, Audi Sport’s DTM squad is primarily concentrating on unlocking the Audi A5 DTM’s full potential by the time the season opens at the Hockenheimring on May 5. “We’re convinced that we were clearly beaten below our capabilities in 2012,” stresses Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “In the DTM it’s about a few tenths of a second – and we need to find these few tenths in 2013 with the A5 DTM.”

A strengthened driver lineup is to support this endeavor. In the Briton Jamie Green (30), Audi has signed one of the quickest present-day DTM drivers. “Together with our established drivers and stars we should be in an even better position than before,” adds Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. 

Remaining on board are the two-time DTM Champions, Mattias Ekström (Sweden) and Timo Scheider (Germany), Race of Champions winner Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal), the two-time season winner Edoardo Mortara (Italy), Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) and youngster Adrien Tambay (France), who by finishing the round at Valencia as the runner-up immediately clinched a podium position in his first DTM season. The decision about filling the eighth cockpit is still pending.

Strong line-up at Daytona 24 Hours

Factory drivers from the WEC and the DTM are playing a role in AUDI AG’s customer sport program as well. In the 24-hour race at Daytona (Florida) on January 26/27, Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis and Edoardo Mortara will be driving an Audi R8 GRAND-AM of the Alex Job Racing team. The cockpits of two other R8 cars will be occupied by high-caliber racers as well. Marc Basseng, René Rast and Frank Stippler will be driving for APR Motorsport, Frank Biela, Christopher Haase and GT1 World Champion Markus Winkelhock for Rum Bum Racing. In addition, each squad will be joined by an American driver.

Intensified commitment in the United States GRAND-AM Series

With the 24-hour race at Daytona and an intensified commitment in the GRAND-AM Series, Audi is ringing in its return to US racing. In the United States, the brand with the four rings is recording stronger growth than the US market as a whole, particularly in the prestigious large-premium-car segment. The racing activities in the United States are intended to support this trend over the long run.

Therefore, an entry of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the 12-hour race at Sebring (Florida), which Audi has won on ten occasions, on March 16 is in planning as well. “It looks like this may be the last opportunity to compete with an LMP1 car at Sebring,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We’d really like to use this chance and say goodbye to the fans with a nice showing after our fantastic success story in recent years.”

This may not have to be a final farewell, though. In 2014, the GRAND-AM Series and the American Le Mans Series will merge to form a new North American Sports Car Championship that might be of interest to Audi. Furthermore, the US fans will have another opportunity in 2013 to watch the Audi R18 e-tron in action as the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will visit Austin (Texas) on September 22.

Evolution version of the Audi R8 LMS ultra

But Audi is not neglecting the customer sport market in Europe and the rest of the world either. An evolution version of the Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3 sports car that mainly differs from the current model in the area of the rear section will start to be delivered to customers by quattro GmbH in February 2013.

Customer teams supported by Audi Sport customer racing will be competing in the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring (Germany) and at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) in 2013. The increasingly diverse customer sport program of AUDI AG will be complemented by the Audi R8 LMS Cup in China that was successfully launched in 2012.

“We’ve got a very attractive offering for our customers with the updated versions of the R8 GRAND-AM and the R8 LMS ultra plus the Cup in China,” says Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “We’re expecting to deliver the 100th customer car during the course of 2013.”

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DTM: Audi signs “King of the Norisring”

Audi Press Release

• Jamie Green to compete for Audi in the DTM starting in 2013

• Track record reflects eight DTM victories to date, including four on Nuremberg’s Norisring

• Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: Currently one of the best DTM racers – this fact underlined in 2012

Ingolstadt, December 10, 2012 – In Formula 3, he defeated Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. He is acclaimed as “King of the Norisring.” And in the future he will be driving for Audi: The Briton Jamie Green (30), who lives in Monaco, is strengthening Audi’s DTM driver line-up for the 2013 season.

A spectacular transfer in the most popular international touring car racing series: After eight years with Mercedes-Benz, one of the most experienced and successful present-day DTM drivers is switching to Audi. Jamie Green has contested 83 DTM races to date, having won eight of them and clinching the top spot on the grid on six occasions. He finished the 2012 season in third place of the championship. In doing so, the Briton was the only driver to have scored points in all ten races while retaining his chances of winning the title all the way to the end.

“There’s no doubt about Jamie Green being one of the best DTM racers currently in the field,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “He proved this in 2012 and was more or less able to choose the manufacturer he wanted to compete for in the DTM – we’re delighted that he has opted for Audi and convinced that with his experience and speed, he’ll truly be strengthening our DTM squad.”

“Audi is a fascinating brand with fantastic products,” says Jamie Green. “And I’m convinced that with Audi, I’ll be able to achieve what I’ve been deprived of so far: to win the DTM title. I really owe my previous employer a lot and making the change after so many joint years has certainly not been easy for me. But I carefully considered this step and look forward to a new challenge – I can’t wait to sit in the Audi A5 for the first time.”

Jamie Green celebrated his biggest success in his career to date in 2004 when he won the Formula 3 Euro Series. At that time, he defeated today’s Formula 1 stars Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, among others. In his first DTM year, in 2005, he immediately took two pole positions. His team-mate back then: the current DTM Champion Bruno Spengler. In terms of points, the new Audi factory driver clearly won the duel against the Canadian with a score of 29-5.

In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Jamie Green managed the feat of winning the Norisring race three consecutive times in the same vehicle. In 2012, he triumphed at the DTM season’s pinnacle event and Audi’s “home round” for an amazing fourth time.

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Gallery: Audi at the Essen Motorshow

By Johan Laubscher

The Essen Motorshow is underway in Germany. As per usual the Audi brand is well represented at the show. A variety of Audi race cars are there, including Audi R8 LMS ultra and A5 DTM race cars. A close friend of ours, Mr Fabian Wiedl, was at the Essen Motorshow press days and he has provided us with these great photos. 

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DTM: Compact season comprising 10 races held in a two-week rhythm

DTM Press Release

Compact and high-quality: in 2013, DTM wants to provide its fans even more thrilling motor racing. BMW ace Bruno Spengler will have to contest 10 races, for his title-defence campaign. This means that the 2013 race calendar of the most popular international touring-car series comprises the same number of races as this year’s. The highlight of the 2013 season will be the maiden DTM race in Russia that will be held at Moscow Raceway on 4th August a stone’s throw from Russia’s capital. Due to the extraordinary attractiveness of this new market, DTM foregoes the abroad event in Spain, this year.

Due to this move, the traditional season finale at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg will take place as early as on 15th September. Just 19 weeks or 133 days after the season kick-off contested at the same venue on 5th May, the Southern German circuit will be the venue of the decision in the battle for the titles. The race at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben will take place two weeks earlier on 1st September. Altogether, the fans may look forward to a season that will be held nearly completely in a two-week rhythm - and never, the break between two rounds will add up to more than three weeks.

“We are going to offer our fans an even more compact package, in 2013,” says Hans Werner Aufrecht, Chairman of DTM rights holder and promoter ITR e.V. “From early May to mid-September, DTM will be racing nearly every second weekend and provide the spectators top-class motor sport. In the course of the internationalisation, we are looking forward to the new and extremely attractive market in Russia. A market that is so attractive that we even were ready to forego the round in Spain, for this race. But we’d like to thank our partners in Valencia for the good cooperation in the past years.”

Altogether, six of the ten races will be held on German soil, next year, with the other four taking the DTM fraternity abroad. In addition to the two race weekends at Hockenheim, traditionally the kick-off and the finale of the DTM season, and the race in Oschersleben the venues of the other home events for three premium-car manufacturers involved - Audi, BMW und Mercedes-Benz - will be the Lausitzring (16th June), Nuremberg’s Norisring (7th July) and the Nürburgring (18th August).

In addition to the round at the Moscow Raceway, the 2013 calendar comprises another three abroad races: on 19th May, DTM will be racing at Brands Hatch/GB and two weeks later, on 2nd June, the DTM drivers will battle it out for championship points at Austria’s Red Bull Ring - with the final race on foreign soil, the round at Zandvoort, Netherlands, being held for 21st July.

The 2013 DTM calendar at a glance*
5th May Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (D)
19th May Brands Hatch (GB)
2nd June Red Bull Ring Spielberg (A)
16th June Lausitzring (D)
7th July Norisring (D)
21st July Circuit Park Zandvoort (NL)
4th August Moscow Raceway (RUS)
18th August Nürburgring (D)
1st September Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (D)
15th September Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (D)

* Subject to approval by FIA

Photo credit: ITR/DTM

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European Race Series of the Year Award’ for DTM

DTM Press Release

Big honour for DTM: at the Professional Motorsport World Expo in Cologne, DTM was honoured as ’European Race Series of the Year 2012’. A jury consisting of international motor-racing experts and journalists, such as Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito and former World Rally Championship ace Armin Schwarz, voted for DTM, thus making for the icing on the cake at the end of the first season in the new era of the most popular international touring-car series. Thanks to the comeback of BMW - who won not only the drivers’ championship courtesy of Bruno Spengler but also prevailed against Audi and Mercedes-Benz in the manufacturer and team rankings - and the new technical regulations, the motor-racing enthusiast were provided a truly extraordinary season.

"We are really proud of having been awarded the Best European Race Series Award in the first year of a new DTM era", said Walter Mertes, board member of DTM rights holder and promoter ITR e.V., who received the award on Tuesday evening during a gala in Cologne. "Thanks to the comeback of BMW and our new technical regulations that have made for extreme competitiveness between the three manufacturers - Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz - we witnessed a season that virtually can’t be bested when it comes to close racing, excitement and fascination and that was big fun for both all those involved and the DTM enthusiasts."

"Even a Hollywood director wouldn’t have been able to make for a better showdown than the season finale at Hockenheim that ended with the triumph of Bruno Spengler and BMW," added Walter Mertes. "In addition, the massive popularity with the crowds and the esteem by the expert jury represent a major boost for the coming season." In the end, DTM prevailed against the Blancpain Endurance Series, the Protyre Formula Renault BARC and the Superstars International Series that also had been nominated for the award.

"DTM has been standing for great motor racing in an absolutely professional environment for many years, now," said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito to explain the decision of the jury. "Over the years, it has established as standard and benchmark for many other race series. We are delighted that we will continue to race in this environment in the coming years, with our Scirocco R-Cup." Armin Schwarz also was full of praise: "DTM has established as an international race series featuring the highest-profile international drivers and very fast high-end racing cars - and it has remained an extremely important series for German car manufacturers for many years. Altogether, I don’t know of any other nationally managed series on such a level," said the rally driver.

Wolfgang Sievernich, editor of ’motorsport-guide’ and also a member of the jury, said: "DTM is the only European race series that combines professional motor sport and long-term marketing in its most targeted form. With BMW back on board, the battle between the three brands succeeded in winning back lost spectator appeal. In addition, the new cars set new standards in terms of safety and prototype technology that go far beyond FIA demands. For these reasons I believe that DTM currently is the most complete European race series."

In addition to DTM, the Mercedes-Benz works team HWA also received an award for its achievements in DTM. The team was awarded the ’Motor-Sport Team of the Year Award’, thus securing a second trophy for DTM. "It may have missed out on the 2012 DTM titles by the narrowest of margins, but the consistently high standards set by HWA have been recognized by the awards jury, both in terms of its operational performance as a race team and its technical expertise in race-car design, construction and support. HWA remains the benchmark team in DTM," the jury explained.

Photo credit: ITR/DTM

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