VAG Division – Volkswagen Group Car Club

• Grid positions 7, 9, 12 and 18 for the 24h race at the Nürburgring
• Concentration on race preparation
• 18 cars within ten seconds

Ingolstadt/Nürburg, June 24, 2011 − Audi tackles the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring from grid positions seven, nine, twelve and 18. Marc Basseng recorded the fastest lap of an Audi R8 LMS in qualifying.

The fastest 18 cars were covered by only ten seconds after six hours of qualifying around the 25.378 kilometre circuit, the world’s longest race track. These included all four Audi R8 LMS fielded by the Audi Sport teams Abt Sportsline and Phoenix, which concentrated primarily on race preparation during both practice days.

“We know that we don’t have the fastest car on the grid with the way the Audi R8 LMS is currently classified, which is why we must rely specifically on consistency and reliability,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “Our main focus of attention was therefore on finding an optimum race set-up and to have well-balanced cars. I think we achieved this.”
 
This was also confirmed by Marc Basseng who recorded the fastest Audi R8 LMS lap of 8m 28.555s in Friday’s second qualifying at the wheel of the Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi R8 LMS #14. “The car is even easier to drive this year,” said Basseng. “This is a good base for the race.”
 
Marc Basseng, Marcel Fässler and Frank Stippler start the race on Saturday from seventh on the grid. A row behind and ninth on the grid is the fastest Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline R8 LMS with the three Audi juniors Christer Jöns (23), Luca Ludwig (22) and Christopher Mies (22) who are supported by old-hand Christian Abt. Christopher Mies set the fastest lap (8m 30.169) of start number “15″ immediately at the start of second qualifying.
 
Christian Abt, Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Marco Werner (Audi R8 LMS #16) start from twelfth on the grid. Marco Werner, who took pole position last year, recorded a time of 8m 31.536s on Thursday evening which put him in fourth position after first qualifying. On Friday start number “16″ did not improve. Marco Werner did not get a clear lap at the start. After almost an hour it started to rain and the circuit did not dry completely.
 
The rain also prevented the team in Audi R8 LMS with start number “15″ (Christopher Haase/Marc Hennerici/Frank Stippler/Markus Winkelhock) from claiming a better grid position than 18th (8m 33.216s). Christopher Haase spun into a gravel bed on the Grand Prix circuit at the start of second qualifying due to overbraking on the rear axle. The R18 LMS ran smoothly again after changing the brake master cylinder and hydraulic brake booster.
 
Start number “17″ also lost valuable practice time on Thursday. Just before 21:00 Christian Abt was touched at the rear on the right when overtaking before being subsequently hit on the driver’s side. After successfully repairing the car the team decided not to send the car back out onto the track on Thursday, but in fact to prepare calmly for final qualifying and the race.
 
The two Audi TT RS entered by Raeder Motorsport claimed the top two starting positions in the SP 4T class (31 and 39 overall). The Audi race experience Audi R8 LMS sportscars, in which AUDI AG customers share driving duties with professional race drivers, start from positions 33 and 40.
 
The 24-hour race at the Nürburgring is broadcast live in full length on www.audi.tvfrom Saturday 15:30.
 
Photographs and information available at www.audi-motorsport.info

The most spectacular Golf will line up for the most extreme race as Volkswagen prepares to contest the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring this weekend (23–26 June) with three 450-hp Golf24 cars.

Flat out around the clock, more than 200 competitors, rapidly changing weather conditions, strategy chess and all this on the world’s most difficult race track – the Golf24 has been built for exactly this enormous challenge.  Fitting the 35^th anniversary of the Golf GTI, Volkswagen Motorsport has developed a thorough-bred racing version of the world’s highest-volume production car.

Powered by a 450-hp 2.5-litre five cylinder turbo engine, the Golf24 is equipped with four-wheel drive, a sequential 6-speed gearbox with paddle shifters and, last but not least, a spectacular body shell. High-calibre racers will be taking turns at the wheel of three factory-fielded cars – they range from seasoned Nordschleife drivers like Peter Terting and Patrick Simon, Formula 1 legends like Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell through to the Volkswagen junior René Rast and the DTM rookie Edoardo Mortara.

With green power: three Dakar winners on the grid together for the first time

Nasser Al-Attiyah, Carlos Sainz, Giniel de Villiers – these are the names that have dominated the Dakar Rally in the past three years and made three consecutive Volkswagen victories possible.  They will use the 24-hour race on the Nordschleife for a joint circuit visit.  The three Dakar Champions from 2009, 2010 and 2011 will compete together for the first time and share a 330-hp Scirocco GT24-CNG.  

Their team-mates will also be direct rivals for victory in the class for vehicles with alternative power-trains. Le Mans racer Vanina Ickx and the journalists Peter Wyss and Bernd Ostmann will be driving the sister car. Both Scirocco vehicles are powered by bio natural gas and reduce CO₂ emissions by 80 per cent compared with conventional petrol engines. The fourth driver of both cars will be the former DTM racer Klaus Niedzwiedz, who has already won the 24-hour race twice.

The Volkswagen driver line-up for the 2011 Nürburgring 24-hour race will be as follows:

#35 – Golf24 – white / red

Peter Terting (D) / Nicki Thiim (DK) / Franck Mailleux (F) / René Rast (D)

#135 – Golf24 – white / blue
Thomas Mutsch (D) / Fredrik Ekblom (S) / Patrick Simon (D) / Edoardo Mortara (I)

#235 – Golf24 – white / yellow
Johnny Herbert (GB) / Patrick Bernhardt(D) / Mark Blundell (GB) / René Rast (D)

#116 – Scirocco GT24-CNG – blue / silver
Dr Ulrich Hackenberg (D) / Vanina Ickx (B) / Peter Wyss (CH) / Bernd Ostmann (D)

#117 – Scirocco GT24-CNG – blue / orange
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q) / Carlos Sainz (E) / Giniel de Villiers (ZA) / Klaus Niedzwiedz (D)

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

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.

Audi celebrates 1-2-3-4 victory at the Nürburgring

Commanding triumph for Martin Tomzcyk 
One-two lead for Audi in the DTM 
Markus Winkelhock best driver of a year-old car 
Ingolstadt/Nürburg – By scoring an impressive 1-2-3-4 win at the Nürburgring, Audi re-captured the lead in the DTM at the beginning of the second half of the season. With title defender Timo Scheider (35 points) and Mattias Ekström (34 points), as many as two Audi drivers are ranking at the top of the standings after six of ten rounds. 

The dominating man at the Nürburgring, however, was Martin Tomczyk: The 27-year-old German was in a class by himself throughout the whole weekend. After posting the fastest times in free practice, qualifying and the warm-up, Tomczyk set the pace from the outset in the race as well. With a commanding and flawless drive, he repeated his Nürburgring victory from the year 2007. In total, this was Tomzcyk’s fourth exploit at a DTM race, enabling him to advance to fifth place in the standings. 

“Everything worked out perfectly here straight from the start,” he said. “The pace was right throughout the whole weekend. It was a nice, rather calm race for me – almost like at my victory in 2007 – simply perfect. I want to thank Audi and the Abt team for this fantastic car.” 

Audi’s 1-2-3-4 win was perfected by Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekström as well as Markus Winkelhock as the best driver of a year-old car. Title defender Timo Scheider finishing the race as the runner-up re-captured the lead of the standings. After his fifth consecutive podium finish, Mattias Ekström is just one point behind his teammate and five points ahead of Gary Paffett (Mercedes). 

Ekström collided with Mercedes driver Bruno Spengler on the starting lap and damaged the front of his Audi A4 DTM in the process. Despite the damage he was able afterwards to drive almost the same lap times as his two team-mates in front of him. “After the collision with Bruno (Spengler), my car was a little slower on the straights, but except for that it was okay,” said the Swede. “That was not intentional. I was completely caught by surprise about Bruno braking so early. I’m happy that I was able to continue the race and still finish in third place.”

Right at the beginning of the race and after the first pit stop, Ekström also fought captivating duels with Timo Scheider, which the reigning champion managed to decide in his favour each time. “Of course I’m happy to have re-captured the lead of the standings,” said Scheider. “The duel with Mattias (Ekström) was fair and okay. We’re both fighting for the championship. That means you use your elbows – of course in the case of a teammate not quite as heavily as with other rivals.”

The three Audi A4 DTM cars of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline drove a lonely race in front of 86,000 spectators (throughout the weekend) at the front of the field and thus underscored Audi’s commanding performance at the Nürburgring, which was completed by Markus Winkelhock’s fourth place in the year-old A4 fielded by Audi Sport Team Rosberg.

“That was a really nice quattro victory – albeit without quattro drive – and a superb team performance,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We were strong throughout the weekend here and now have the 1-2 lead in the championship. That’s a good base for the second half which started here at the Nürburgring. Everyone did a great job. And I’m also very happy that Martin Tomczyk made such an impressive comeback.”

For the other five Audi “factory” drivers, the Nürburgring race was less fortunate. Katherine Legge had to park her Audi A4 DTM after a collision with Gary Paffett in the commotion in the first turn. Tom Kristensen was “turned around” by a rival on the first lap and retired after 13 laps because his car was too heavily damaged on the left-hand side. Mike Rockenfeller, as well, was hit on the starting lap and in the process lost all chances of scoring further points. Oliver Jarvis and Alexandre Prémat (both Audi Sport Team Phoenix) were forced to retire after a team-internal collision on lap seven. 

After a three-week break, the DTM will visit the circuit at Brands Hatch in Great Britain on September 6.