VLN: Two Audi R8 LMS ultra in VLN round 6 at the Nürburgring

By Tarek Ramchani

The Nürburgring Nordschleife will play host to the sixth round of the VLN Endurance Championship this weekend. Two Audi R8 LMS ultra will compete in the upper SP9 class in the 37. RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen.

Phoenix Racing who won the prestigious Nürburgring 24 Hours is back to VLN after skipping the fifth round due to a clash with the Blancpain Sprint Series. The Erst Moser team will enter a single Audi and will target to achieve a new overall victory. The #5 R8 LMS ultra will be in the hands of team's regulars Frank Stippler and Marc Basseng, the two Audi GT works drivers will be joined by Roman Rusinov.

The second Audi is from Twin Busch Motorsport. Their yellow and blue #44 R8 LMS ultra will be driven by the borthes Dennis and Marc Busch.

The Audi teams will have to fight against strong rivals from BMW, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche teams.

Audi privateer teams will fight for SP4T and SP3T class victories with their Audi TTS and Audi TT RS cars.

Both qualifying and the four-hour race will be held on Saturday.

Photo credit: VLN Endurance Championship

Spa 24 Hours: Emotional second for Team Parker Racing in 24-hour debut with Audi

By Tarek Ramchani

The Audi brand had a very successful race at the Total 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. A great overall victory with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and strong performances from all four customer teams in the different classes.

Team Parker Racing who entered the Gentlemeb Trophy class in the stellar event of the Blancpain Endurance Series performed very well. The British Audi team took an emotional second place with their white and green #22 Audi . Not bad for a team debuting in 24-hour endurance races with the all conquering R8 LMS ultra.

The car was shared by Ian Loggie, Leonid Machitski, Carl Rosenblad and Julian Westwood. The four drivers were among the strongest in a very demanding field.

Team Parker Racing achieved an amazing 28th place overall (out of 61 entries) and were right behind the winning #51 Ferrari 458 GT3 from team AF Corse in their class.

With strong results at the Spa 24 Hours, Team Parker Racing is now third in the overall Gentlemen Trophy teams' standing with 58 points. Ian Loggie and Julian Westwood are fifth the drivers standing with 50 points each.

The British will be back at the Nurburgring, the season finale of the Blancpain Endurance Series and a special 1000km event.

Photo credit: Audi Media

DTM: Audi driver Tambay to feature Playboy in the DTM

Audi Press Release

•          23-year-old Frenchman sporting the colors of the men’s magazine
•          Spectacular graphics for Edoardo Mortara’s Audi RS 5 DTM
•          Final tests as ‘rehearsal’ for season opener at Hockenheim

Ingolstadt, April 14, 2014 – In the last official DTM tests before the season starts, Audi is presenting the liveries of its Audi RS 5 DTM cars that had not been revealed yet. On Adrien Tambay’s race car, the famous black Playboy graphics are returning to the DTM. 

From this Monday to Thursday, all eight Audi factory drivers are participating in the preparation for the DTM season opener on May 4. The drivers forming a squad together with DTM Champion Mike Rockenfeller and the two-time DTM Champions Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider are sharing the testing time in four Audi RS 5 DTM cars. Following the successful track tests at Budapest, in which Audi set five out of eight possible best times, the main focus at the Hockenheimring will be placed on perfecting the processes, plus race simulations and set-up work for the first race.

“The level of excitement about the season opener is rising. You can clearly tell that’s the case with all the drivers, engineers and mechanics,” says Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport. “We’re happy with the way the preparations have gone so far and are definitely a step further ahead than we were at this time last year. We’ve still got our plate full though just for Hockenheim. As the race weekends only give us one practice session before qualifying anymore, the final track tests will also be about achieving the best possible basic set-up for the first weekend in May. So we’re in for a heavy workload on these four days.”

Adrien Tambay is tackling the ‘rehearsal’ with special motivation. The graphics on his Audi RS 5 DTM make the 23-year-old Frenchman the new ‘Playboy’ in the DTM. “For a young sportsman like me that’s obviously the perfect sponsor,” says Tambay with a smile. “I’m proud of running with the Bunny adorning my roof. But being fast is even more important.”

Edoardo Mortara’s race car that advertises Audi’s sporty RS models with striking red elements features spectacular graphics as well. Newcomer Nico Müller will be starting from the grid in the 2014 season with the Audi Financial Services logo. Well-known graphics, not least due to the 2011 and 2013 title wins, are the colors of the Schaeffler Group with which Mike Rockenfeller will be running again.

During the Hockenheim track tests the grandstands will be open to spectators. Tickets for the 2014 DTM can be purchased online at www.audi-motorsport.com/dtm or by calling +49 (0)841 8947777.

Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport

DTM: Adrien Tambay second fastest in Hockenheim free practice session

By Tarek Ramchani

It's the season finale for the German DTM series at Hockenheim this weekend. Audi drivers performed very well in the free practice session this morning with five drivers within the top 10.

The 1h30 session saw a big battle Audi against BMW and their M3 DTM machines for the top spots. Best ranked Audi driver was Adrien Tambay in second place. The French driver from Audi Sport Team Abt set a fastest time of 1:33.456, only 0.174 behind BMW's Dirk Werner.

The newly crowned DTM champion Mike Rocknfeller was sixth fastest. The Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver with a fastest time of 1:33.636. Rocky was right behind three BMW M3 DTM cars of Bruno Spengler, Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock.

Rockenfeller's team mate at Phoenix Racing Miguel Molina was seventh. Edoardo Mortara from Audi Sport Team Rosberg was eighth ahead of the two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider from Audi Sport Team Abt.

The other three Audi drivers were outside the top 10. Jamie Green was eleventh (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline). Filipe Albuquerque was thirteenth (Audi Sport Team Rosberg). Mattias Ekström was fifteenth (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline).

The free practice session results can be seen here. The qualifying session is coming next with a live stream coverage at the official DTM Youtube Channel.

Photo credit: Audi Media

French Driver Adrian Tambay Joins Audi A5 DTM Squad

Audi Sport Press Release :

• Eighth Audi A5 DTM for youngster Adrien Tambay
• Team-mate of Rahel Frey in Audi Sport Team Abt
• Race against the clock in vehicle preparation

Six weeks before the new DTM season opens at the Hockenheimring on April 29 the decision has been made: Audi will be fielding a total of eight vehicles in the competition with BMW and Mercedes-Benz. By signing the 21-year-old Frenchman Adrien Tambay Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich is yet again giving an opportunity to a promising young driver.

Two-time champion Mattias Ekström, Filipe Albuquerque, Miguel Molina, Edoardo Mortara, Mike Rockenfeller - as many as five examples give proof of AUDI AG’s successful promotion of young talent in the DTM. Now following in these footsteps is Adrien Tambay, the son of the former Formula 1 racer Patrick Tambay. As Rahel Frey’s team-mate in Audi Sport Team Abt, he will be driving one of the total of eight new Audi A5 DTM cars.

"We were poised for fielding eight vehicles in the DTM as early as last year and are assuming that no later than in 2013 all manufacturers will be competing with at least eight cars," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "As we had to develop an extremely challenging hybrid car - the Audi R18 e-tron quattro - for the Le Mans 24 Hours and concurrently a completely new DTM vehicle we were initially planning for seven cars in 2012. I’m happy that the opportunity to enter eight cars has now materialised. I’m convinced that in view of the DTM’s high level it’ll be advantageous to compete with the maximum number of possible cars. The competition will be very close - an additional vehicle also means an additional chance. Plus, an even number makes more sense than an uneven number in terms of logistics and team effort."

By signing Adrien Tambay Audi is purposefully following its strategy of discovering talents and retaining them for the brand early on. "We took several young drivers on board in recent years, some of whom joined us from Volkswagen’s talent incubator in Formula 3," says Dr. Ullrich. "I feel that today Audi has a very good base in terms of its driver line-up, which also means that the brand is oriented toward the future. This also applies to Adrien (Tambay), who convinced us in tests and is a good fit for the Audi family."

The 21-year-old Frenchman, who was active in formula racing since 2007 and took fourth place in the international "Auto-GP" series, prevailed in a multi-step evaluation of young drivers. The ultimate decision in favour of Tambay was made after a final test on Monday. The DTM rookie will start testing in the Audi A5 DTM for his new race team as early as during the official DTM track tests in Valencia (Spain) next week.

Whether Tambay will already be on the grid at the Hockenheimring season opener is not certain at the moment. "We’re currently working at full stretch on duplicating a sufficient number of cars of the A5 DTM model that was homologated on March 1 and to ensure appropriate spare parts supply," explains Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "This is a major logistical feat and puts maximum demands on the entire squad. Our aim is to field the eighth car as early as possible."