VAG Division – Volkswagen Group Car Club

Marco Werner sets best time on the Nordschleife
Four Audi R8 LMS fill first four grid positions
New circuit lap record

Ingolstadt/Nürburg, May 14, 2010 – The Audi R8 LMS looks to be the car to beat in the 38th running of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring: Four of the fascinating mid-engine sportscars start the race on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. from the first four grid positions.

The two Audi customer teams ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing had the correct strategy in qualifying: After it had rained during first qualifying on Thursday and the Nordschleife was still very dirty and slippery at the start of Friday’s second qualifying session, the two teams only went gunning for lap times shortly before the end of the final two-hour qualifying session. Lucas Luhr (ABT Sportsline/8m 27.967s) and Mike Rockenfeller (Phoenix Racing/8m 25.782s) initially used the now considerably superior conditions to set new fastest laps before they were beaten by Marco Werner (ABT Sportsline) with 8m 24.753s. Rockenfeller was still able to improve to 8m 25.568s on his last lap, but remained in second position. Pierre Kaffer (Phoenix Racing) completed the Audi quartet at the head of the field after posting a 8m 29.250s lap.

As a result, an Audi starts from pole position for the first time in the history of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. “That four of our customer cars occupy the first four grid positions underlines the qualities of the Audi R8 LMS on the world’s longest and most demanding race track and is fantastic advertising for our new customer car, which we have developed over the last two-and-a-half years,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who follows the Audi customer teams’ preparations himself on location, and in doing so demonstrates how important the new customer sport programmed with the Audi R8 LMS is for Audi Sport.

Marco Werner broke the existing lap record for the current Nürburgring circuit layout by almost two seconds and, in the process, underlined the progress made during the further development of the Audi R8 LMS and how good the Michelin tires work on the cars from ABT and Phoenix. “We are satisfied to be on pole position, even though it isn’t really a very important step for a 24-hour race,” explained the three-time Le Mans winner. “It’s always ‘nice to have’. It was important that we had a few laps in the dry to see just how the car handles. We were unable to work in the set-up in the previous practice sessions, since the conditions were always very difficult. At least it was dry today. I was really fighting in the car. My lap was good, I only came across traffic on two or three occasions. That is the key to success for the last few seconds, which is what it was about in the end and led to pole position. We could show that Audi and ABT have produced a good package with the R8 LMS. Thanks also to Michelin, to whom we only switched to last week. Everything worked well.”

The three other Audi R8 LMS start on Saturday from positions 12, 17 and 22. The third Phoenix Racing R8 LMS had an accident in first qualifying on Thursday evening in which the car’s front end was damaged. The team Black Falcon Audi R8 LMS #102 made contact twice with the guardrails in final practice.

The 38th running of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring is started in Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Sport1 broadcasts 20 hours live. During the formation lap one of the limited edition of 333 Audi R8 GT will lead the starter field.

Since 2002, Audi is partner of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring through its sports subsidiary quattro GmbH, but is still missing from the endurance classic’s winners’ list. The Audi customer team ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing, who share the first two rows, now have an excellent chance to change this.

The starting grid at the Nürburgring

1 Ekström/Jarvis/Scheider/Werner (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 24.753s
2 Basseng/Rockenfeller/Stippler/Stuck (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 25.568s
3 Abt/Collard/Luhr/Mies (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 27.967s
4 Biela/Fässler/Hennerici/Kaffer (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 29.250s
5 Arnold/Menzel/Westbrook/Margaritis (Porsche) 8m 29.521s
6 Mamerow/Henzler/Hardt (Porsche) 8m 29.779s
7 Lieb/Bernhard/Dumas/Tiemann (Porsche) 8m 30.323s
8 Müller/Farfus/Alzen/Lamy (BMW) 8m 32.861s
9 Bergmeister/Lietz/Holzer/Ragginger (Porsche) 8m 34.427s
10 Alzen/Schwager/Jäger/Bert (Porsche) 8m 34.906s
…
12 Bronzel/Ludwig/Rostek/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 37.859s
17 Breslin/Jöhns/Heyer/Stuck (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 44.070s
22 Ammermüller/Breslin/Mehta/Wilson (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 47.254s

Cambridgeshire driver competes in maiden twice-around-the-clock race
Oliver Jarvis takes a break from his Audi “factory” Germen Touring Car Masters (DTM) duties to race a “customer” Audi R8 LMS GT3 sportscar in the Nürburgring 24 Hours next weekend (15-16 May).

The 26-year-old from Burwell near Cambridge who is more accustomed to racing an Audi A4 DTM will drive a V10-engined Audi R8 LMS sportscar in the twice-around-the-clock encounter – marking his first 24 Hour race.

“It’ll be the first time I’ve ever competed in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and I’m very excited about contesting this race and delighted to be part of the ABT Sportsline line-up,” confirmed Oliver.

“It’s a unique race with well over 200 cars competing around the famous old 14-mile Nordschleife track race located in the Eifel mountains and watched by over 250,000 spectators.”

ABT Sportsline raced the R8 LMS at Nürburgring for the first time last year, winning the GT3 category and finishing second overall. The Allgäu-based team enters two R8 LMS sportscars and will include Jarvis’s fellow Audi “factory” drivers Mattias Ekström (Sweden) Timo Scheider (Germany) plus Marco Werner (Germany).

The ABT team will be joined by Black Falcon and Phoenix Racing with seven Audi R8 LMS sportscars lining-up on the grid. Current Audi “factory” driver Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) and Le Mans driver Marcel Fässler (Switzerland) will be part of the Phoenix team along with two of the most successful Audi “factory” drivers of years gone by, 1996 British Touring Car Champion Frank Biela (Germany) and Hans-Joachim Stuck (Germany).

Jarvis continued: “I took part in a VLN Endurance Championship race on the Nordschleife last year so I do have some experience of this track in race situations heading into my first ever 24 hour race.

“I’m very aware how difficult the track is and how much ‘traffic’ we’ll come across during the race. The Nordschleife is one of the most challenging race circuits in the world and one that is steeped in history so to be part of this race is something very special.”

Radlett-based father and son duo, Sean Paul and Sean Patrick Breslin, originally from Belfast, will contest the race in Black Falcon entered R8 LMS sportscars.