VAG Division – Volkswagen Group Car Club

PhoenixRacing wins the GT3 class in the 24h race
No luck during the race in fight for overall victory
Only two of the seven Audi R8 LMS on the grid make the finish
Ingolstadt/Nürburg, May 16, 2010 – The Audi R8 LMS remains as best in class in the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife: Also during its second outing in the “green hell”, the world’s longest and toughest race track, the mid-engine sportscar crossed the finish line as winner of the GT3 class (SP9).

With third place overall in Phoenix Racing’s Audi LMS R8 Marc Bronzel (Siek), Luca Ludwig (Roisdorf), Dennis Rostek (Porta Westfalica) and Markus Winkelhock (Berglen) presented the team with an unexpected surprise since this quartet did not even number among the favourites before the race started. The conservative and mechanically easy going driving style of the Phoenix squad, however, paid dividends: The Audi R8 LMS with start number 97 ran – apart from a small electrical problem during the opening stages – with the smallest technical problem.

Of particular note was the performance of DTM driver Markus Winkelhock, who, after only landing a drive in the Phoenix team at the last moment, drove consistently fast lap times without any experience of the Nordschleife and in the closing stages convincingly defended the class lead. “The Audi R8 LMS and this race were great fun,” beamed the Swabian following his successful Nordschleife debut. “It was a fantastic experience. My thanks go to Phoenix Racing who did a fantastic job. I’m speechless that I managed to finish on the podium here!”

Great delight also erupted in the Black Falcon team that brought one of its two Audi R8 LMS home in fifth place overall and third position in the GT3 category. Sean-Paul Breslin (Great Britain), Christer Jöns (Ingelheim), Kenneth Heyer (Wegberg) and Johannes Stuck (Liechtenstein) also choose the best compromise between speed and reliability.

Nevertheless, the 24-hour race around the Nürburgring did not run as desired for the newly opened Customer Sport Centre at Audi Sport. The 38th running of the long-distance classic was plagued by numerous accidents and incidents from which none of the favourites escaped unharmed – also not the Audi customer teams ABT Sportsline, Black Falcon and Phoenix Racing, which were deserted by the necessary luck during the race following the strong qualifying performance.

All three teams lost one of its Audi R8 LMS in accidents. Nordschleife typical defects on two other cars ensured that only two of the seven Audi R8 LMS competing saw the chequered flag in this unusually hard and incident packed 24-hour race.

The race on the world’s longest and toughest race track ended particularly early for the two fastest Audi R8 LMS. Both the Phoenix R8 LMS with start number 98 (Marc Basseng/Mike Rockenfeller/Frank Stippler/Hans-Joachim Stuck) and the ABT R8 LMS with start number 100 (Mattias Estkröm/Oliver Jarvis/Timo Scheider/Marco Werner) retired as early as Saturday evening due to accidents.

Shortly after 9:00 p.m. it claimed Marc Basseng (Phoenix Racing R8 LMS #98), who was running second at this time, in the track sector “Pflanzgarten 2″. “I was overtaking a slower car which had its left-turn signal blinking,” explained the Phoenix driver. “I was completely alongside him when he suddenly moved over. I wanted to avoid having an accident and swerved onto the grass, and hit a kerb exactly with the centre of the car.” The impact from below was so hard that the V10 engine was damaged and the R8 LMS ground to a halt in around the “Tiergarten”.

About an hour later bad luck also claimed Marco Werner (ABT Sportsline R8 LMS #100). The three-time Le Mans winner experienced a near identical situation in the sector “Pflanzgarten” when also running in second position. Werner was barged off by another car and had to park his R8 LMS with the rear-left suspension torn-off.

Marcel Fässler (Phoenix Racing R8 LMS #99) also had external contact on Saturday night, which fortunately ended with a damaged wheel. At 10:22 p.m. the silver-red R8 LMS took the lead for the first time and which Marcel Fässler, Frank Biela, Pierre Kaffer and Marc Hennerici temporarily extended to more than two-minutes during the night. After almost 17 hours a defect on the engine mounting also brought the race to an end for the second Phoenix-R8. “That really was a shame as we were really running strongly up to that point,” said Marcel Fässler.

Christian Abt was also involved in a collision in the second R8 LMS of the ABT Sportsline (#2) team. The result was tyre failure and deranged wheel alignment. Nevertheless, on Sunday morning at 10:42 a.m. after a fantastic fight back Christian Abt, Emmanuel Collard, Lucas Luhr and Christopher Mies were once again in second place on the same lap as the then leading hybrid-Porsche, when Lucas Luhr stopped on the track around the “Pflanzgarten” with a transmission problem.

Black Falcon Racing lost one of its two Audi R8 LMS (#111) during the night because of an accident. The second R8 LMS fielded by the private team from the Eifel ran just as reliably throughout the entire 24 hours as the third Phoenix team car – apart from gearbox issues just at the end of the race.

“We are happy that the R8 LMS remains unbeaten in its class in this race,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who was at the race himself. “We developed this car logically for customer sport, and the cars which finished third and fifth overall embody our customer sport idea perfectly. Congratulations to the Phoenix Racing and Black Falcon teams. The other cars put in great performances, but like many other top cars the extremely fast pace claimed its victims. ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing both lost a car when in promising positions due to accidents, which are typical on the Nordschleife. The two technical defects are also typical for this race track.”

Results

1 Müller/Farfus/Alzen/Lamy (BMW) 154 laps in 24h 00m 18.168s
2 Farnbacher/Simonsen/Lehman/Seefried (Ferrari) + 3m 54.191s
3 Bronzel/Ludwig/Rostek/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS) – 1 lap (1st GT3)
4 Hartung/Söderlund/Sandström/Öhlin (BMW) – 2 laps (2nd GT3)
5 Breslin/Jöns/Heyer/Stuck (Audi R8 LMS) – 2 laps (3rd GT3)
6 Alzen/Schwager/Jäger/Bert (Porsche) – 3 laps
7 Werner/Müller/Priaulx/Adorf (BMW) – 4 laps
8 Zehe/Schelp/Roloff/Bullitt (Porsche) – 4 laps
9 Aust/Adams/Übler/Grossmann (BMW) – 5 laps
10 Weiland/Forbes/Riemer/Horn (Porsche) – 6 laps

Brno is a totally new venue for all four drivers
Maiden FIA GT3 race for Audi R8 LMS at Brno
United Autosports heads for the latest rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship at the 3.6-mile Brno Masaryk circuit in the Czech Republic staged over May 22-23.

Having scored top-20 placings with both its Audi R8 LMS sports cars in the opening two races at Silverstone (England) earlier this month (May 1-2), the American-owned team now aims to break in to the top-10 especially as three rival manufacturers have been given weight ballast in line with the FIA’s “Balance of Power”.

Brno was not on the FIA GT3 European Championship calendar last year which saw the V10-engined Audi R8 LMS compete for the first time and ultimately win the championship.

#22 Molecule / Cerutti – Audi R8 LMS
Michael Guasch (USA). Lives: Walnut Creek, California, USA:
“I’ll be shooting for a better qualifying position because I firmly believe Mark and I are top-10 contenders. This will be my first time travelling to Eastern Europe. I’m practicing the track on a simulator. I was not surprised at the competition at Silverstone – I expected it to be very difficult. The ‘playing field’ will hopefully be more level at Brno with the latest BoP adjustments making things more equalized and allowing us to be more competitive.”

Mark Patterson (USA). Lives: Bronxville, New York State, USA:
“I’ve never been to Brno but my co-driver, Mike Guasch, runs all these tracks on a simulator and we swap our prep notes. Silverstone was interesting. I feel the Audi R8 LMS was a little too handicapped in terms of weight ballast and performance compared to the other sports cars we’re racing against but I understand that the Corvette, Lamborghini and Porsche cars have all been given weight for Brno so we’ll see whether it’s more ‘balanced’. But whatever the scenario, we’ll be out to do our best.”

#23 Remington – Audi R8 LMS
Zak Brown (USA). Lives: Carmel, Indiana, USA:
“None of us have raced at Brno but we’re all very much looking forward to it – I’ve been told it’s a great, exciting and challenging track. The FIA GT3 grid certainly impressed me at Silverstone and also realized that we are a brand new team and that we must keep that in mind and not set unrealistic expectations too early into our first season. Nevertheless we’ll be striving for top-10 finishes.”

Matthew Bell (GB). Lives: Barningham nr Richmond, North Yorkshire, England:
“Our main focus is to be the top Audi team which, at Silverstone, proved to be a difficult task against the experienced Team Rosberg. We just have to keep improving as much as we can every time we go out. We’re definitely moving in the right direction and the team is working flat out to make improvements. I’d prefer dry races at Brno as it would enable us to improve the car.”

Richard Dean (GB), Managing Director & Co-Owner of United Autosports:
“United Autosports will always strive to be the top Audi team. After that we will be wherever the ‘Balance of Performance’ puts us. At Silverstone I was a little surprised at the level of some of the drivers still eligible as pairings. Racing in a ‘new’ country and not at a ‘main stream’ venue always adds something to a race weekend. The series may not have been there yet but many of the drivers we are competing against have. I raced at Brno in a Lister Storm with Julian Bailey in GT1 so hopefully I can help our drivers. This is an element where we need to catch up quickly as our drivers have not raced at any of the remaining circuits but I’m confident we will steadily improve. The atmosphere in our team is fantastic and very positive.”

John Della Penna (ARG), Partner & Sporting Director of United Autosports:
“One of the reasons for racing in Europe this year was to compete at some of the beautiful circuits that I have been seeing from afar during my career. Brno is certainly one of those circuits. I have seen Moto GP race there and it looks like a really challenging circuit. It’s long with very technical corners. With the new BoP adjustments we [Audi] should be closer to the front – however not knowing the circuit will be a disadvantage for our own drivers.”