Pirelli World Challenge: Mike Skeen Audi makes it double winning race 2 at Road America

By Tarek Ramchani

A dream weekend for Mike Skeen and the CRP Racing team. Double victories at Road America in a very demanding Pirelli World Challenge GT field.

Mike Skeen won the first race of the weekend on Friday with his HAWK backed #2 Audi R8 LMS ultra, he did the same in the second race showing again an impressive pace.

The Audi driver took the checkered flag victorious after a thrilling 16-lap race. Mike Skeen was ahead of the two full factory Cadillac CTS-V.R cars of Andy Pilgrim and Johnny O'Connel. These are impressive performances given that Mike Skeen and CRP Racing are debuting with the Audi R8 LMS ultra this year, since the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Andrew Palmer was again the best driver within the GMG Racing squad. The driver of the #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra finished the race in a solid sixth place, only 4.5s behind the winning car.

GMG Racing team owner and driver James Sofronas was tenth driving the #14 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Jeff Courtney driving the #99 Audi R8 LMS ultra from JCR Motorsport was thirteenth. Bill Ziegler driving the GMG Racing run #95 Swisher Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra was fifteenth.

Race 2 results can be seen here.

That was an impressive weekend for the Audi Sport customer racing squad at Road America. The next stop for the Pirelli World Challenge will be at Toronto, July 18th-20th.

Photo credit: Pirelli World Challenge

Pirelli World Challenge: Victory for GMG Racing and Andrew Palmer at Barber Motorsports Park

By Johan Laubscher

Barber Motorsports Park hosted the Pirelli World Challenge this weekend. It was the third meeting of the year and a total of seven Audis took part.

GMG Racing fielded four Audi R8 LMS ultra cars and JCR Motorsports and CRP Racing each fielded one Audi R8 LMS ultra. RS Werkes Racing entered one Audi TT RS in the GTS class.

Mike Skeen was the fastest Audi in qualifying and claimed third spot overall. Andrew Palmer took fifth on the grid for the first race, followed by James Sofronas in ninth, only three Audis within the overall top ten.

Race one saw Sofronas moving forward to ultimately finish fourth, ahead of Skeen in sixth.

Race two was the highlight of the weekend and finished with victory for Andrew Palmer in the #21 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra. He took the lead on the last lap and recorded the first Audi PWC victory of 2014, in his rookie season.

The next round of the PWC with the GT/GT-A and GTS cars will be heading to Detroit, 30 May - 1 June.

Photo credit: Pirelli World Challenge

Pirelli World Challenge: Trio of Audis in the top 6 at Long Beach

By Johan Laubscher

The Pirelli World Challenge headed to Long Beach this weekend. An army of Audi R8 LMS ultra cars took part, a total of seven cars from three different teams. 

GMG Racing entered five Audi R8 LMS ultra cars, along with single car entries from JCR Motorsports and the debuting CRP Racing.

The GMG Racing cars were driven by James Sofronas (#14), Andrew Palmer (#21), Bret Curtis (#32), Brent Holden (#44) and Bill Ziegler (#95). The #99 JCR Motorsports R8 LMS ultra was driven by Jeff Courtney and Mike Skeen was behind the wheel of the new #2 CRP Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra.

RS Werkes rounded out the Audi entries with their #01 Audi TT RS in the GTS class, driven by Don Istook.

Andrew Palmer continued his strong form and was once again he was the highest Audi qualifier, placing fifth overall on the grid. James Sofronas was eighth and Mike Skeen was ninth, rounding out the three Audis within the top ten.

The race itself concluded with that trio of Audis finishing within the top six. They were lead by Andrew Palmer in fourth, James Sofronas in fifth and Mike Skeen in sixth. 

Jeff Courtney finished twelfth, Bret Curtis in fifteenth, Brent Holden in sixteenth and Bill Ziegler in nineteenth. Don Istook finished thirty-fourth overall in the #01 Audi TT RS and fourteenth in the GTS class.

Round three of the Pirelli World Challenge will be hosted at Barber Motorsports Park from 25-27 April.

Photo credit: Pirelli World Challenge

Pirelli World Challenge: Audi announces R8 LMS ultra teams and drivers to kick off 2014 Pirelli World Challenge season

Audi of America Press Release

• Five Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will contest the season opening race in St. Petersburg, FL
• Winner of last year’s opening race, James Sofronas, returns as GT driver and team owner
• The Pirelli World Challenge kicks off this Saturday, March 29th 2014 in St. Petersburg, Florida

Audi of America announces a five car Audi R8 LMS ultra line-up for the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge opening race 

Five Audi R8 LMS ultra race cars will contest the season opening race of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) race series. Competing in two classes, the Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3 specification cars, supported by customer racing across the globe, look to reach the podium during two 50 minute sprint races on the 1.8 mile St. Petersburg street course. 

James Sofronas, who won last year’s race, will compete in the GT class in the No. 14 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra. Sofronas was in a tight race for the drivers’ championship that went down to the final race last season. He will look to repeat his win this weekend and vie for the points to take the drivers’ championship. Having spent the last few months racing at Daytona and Sebring in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, he is looking forward to kicking off the PWC this weekend. “This has been a particularly rewarding start to the year since we have been competing in endurance racing while preparing for the PWC season at the same time”, said Sofronas. “We’re hoping to build on our successes from last year and apply everything the team has learned about the R8 race car.”

The newly established GT-A class for gentlemen drivers will see three GMG backed Audi R8 LMS ultras taking to the street course. The drivers and cars include:
• Bill Ziegler - No. 95 Swisher Racing/GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra. 
• Bret Curtis - No. 32 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra. 
• Andrew Palmer - will make his series debut in the No. 21 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra.

Veteran of the series and new to the Audi R8 LMS ultra, Jeff Courtney, will compete in the GT-A class in his No. 99 Kenda/RecStuff.com JCR Motorsports Audi R8 LMS ultra.

The Audi R8 LMS ultra shares more than 50% of its parts with the Audi R8 street car including the naturally aspirated 5.2 Liter V10 engine, the Audi Space Frame and a variety of other components. The R8 LMS ultra race cars also feature an anti-lock braking (ABS) and traction control (ASR) systems developed with the road car. Having won all of the major races around the world, owners of the Audi R8 street car can be confident in its race-tested performance and durability. Of great benefit to the race teams is the first service interval at 12,000 miles under race conditions which translates into lower operating costs.

Live internet telecast on www.world-challengeTV.com:
Saturday, March 29 3:10 PM EDT
Sunday, March 30 11:05 AM EDT

Tape delayed television on NBC Sports Network: Sunday, April 6 – 5:30 PM (EDT)

ABOUT AUDI
Audi of America, Inc. and its U.S. dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. AUDI AG is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. The Audi Group delivered 1,575,500 vehicles to customers globally in 2013, and broke all-time company sales records for the 4th straight year in the U.S. Through 2018, AUDI AG will invest about $30 billion on new products, facilities and technologies. Visit www.audiusa.com or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicles and business topics.

Photo credit: Audi USA News

Pirelli World Challenge: JCR Motorsports testing Audi R8 LMS ultra at Sebring

By Johan Laubscher

JCR Motorsports (Jeff Courtney Racing) and Jeff Courtney were out testing their Audi R8 LMS ultra at Sebring recently. 

The team is preparing their Audi R8 LMS ultra for the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge. They have also recently upgraded their Audi from the R8 GRAND-AM specification into the FIA GT3 specification Audi R8 LMS ultra. Jeff Courtney will be driving the #99 JCR Audi.

The 2014 Pirelli World Challenge will be getting underway at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this upcoming weekend, 28-30 March.

Photo credit:  

Jeff Courtney Racing

Charles Espenlaub

Pirelli World Challenge: JCR Motorsports Audi R8 LMS ultra 2014 teaser

By Tarek Ramchani

As we reported earlier this week, JCR Motorsports recently upgrated their Audi R8 GRAND-AM to the FIA GT3 Audi R8 LMS ultra specification.

The team will enter the demanding Pirelli World Challenge with a single car effort. The #99 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be driven by team owner Jeff Courtney wtihin the GT-A class. The first round of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge will be held at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, from 28-30 March.

Here a great new videao from JCR Motorsports featuring their Audi R8 LMS ultra in an all white scheme.

Photo credit: JCR Motorsports

Pirelli World Challenge: JCR Motorsports upgraded to Audi R8 LMS ultra

By Johan Laubscher

JCR Motorsports - Jeff Courtney Racing is busy preparing for the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge. Jeff Courtney will be driving a newly upgraded Audi R8 LMS ultra in the GT-A class.

During 2013 JCR Motorsports competed in the Pirelli World Challenge, fielding a modified 2012 Audi R8 GRAND-AM (pictured below), the ex-Oryx Racing car that was briefly used in the 2012 Grand-Am Rolex Series. 

JCR Motorsports has upgraded their 2012 Audi R8 GRAND-AM to the FIA GT3 Audi R8 LMS ultra specification. This is the first R8 GRAND-AM that has been upgrade to the R8 LMS ultra specification, visible by the three support struts in the front window, a feature which was mandated by the rules on the Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars and the later the GTD Audi R8 LMS versions.

They will be joining Audi R8 LMS ultra entries from GMG Racing and DragonSpeed, all competing within the PWC GT and GT-A classes.

The first round of the PWC will be held at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, from 28-30 March.

Photo credit: 
Kenda Tires
Jeff Courtney Racing