Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (5-6/05/2012)
By Johan Laubscher
The weekend was headlined by a double dose of Audi factory racing events. Round 2 of both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the DTM championship. Along with these two factory events was the highly anticipated debut of Audi’s latest two LMP1 race cars, the R18 e-tron quattro and the R18 ultra.
1. The Weekend
Focussing this week on the weekend of 5-6 May 2012
2. The Events
- FIA WEC
- DTM
- Italian GT
- Japanese Super GT
- STCC
- ADAC GT Masters
- South African Midas Clubmans
- RCN
- Austrian Hillclimb
2.1. FIA WEC
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The second round of the new FIA World Endurance Championship was held at Spa for the traditional six hour race. The race saw the debut on the new generation of Audi LMP1 cars, the R18 e-tron quattro and the R18 ultra. The entire weekend was dominated by the four cars from Audi taking 1-2-3-4 in all the. The #2 e-tron took pole position with Allan McNish at the wheel. The race was a race of two halves. The first half was wet and the second half was dry. The race got underway in wet conditions and as the quattro legend is known for, wet weather is quattro weather. The two e-tron cars raced away from the field when the track was wet with a clear advantage. As the track began to dry and with safety car situations the field closed up again. The ultras were able to run at the pace of the e-trons in the dry and the ultra with the fuel regulations was able to run longer on fuel and used its tires better. A storming drive from the #3 ultra drivers, Marc Gené, Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval saw the trio take the lead and hold it to the flag for the victory. The #1 e-tron finished in second, followed by the #4 ultra in third with the #2 e-tron completing the 1-2-3-4 finish in fourth.
2.2. DTM
The DTM held round 2 at the Lauzitzring. The Audi teams were very fast in practice and Mike Rockenfeller was the fastest Audi in qualifying placing his Audi A5 DTM in fourth place. Five Audis placed in the top ten during qualifying. The race was however a difficult affair for Audi, the Audi cars steadily dropped down the order as the opposition controlled the race at the front. The Audi teams battled hard and completed very fast pit stops. In the end only four Audis finished in the top 10 with Ekström in fifth, Scheider sixth, Mortara eighth and Albuquerque in ninth.
2.3. Italian GT
The 2012 Italian GT season got underway at Vallelunga in Italy. Audi Sport Italia entered its two brand new Audi R8 LMS ultras. The team qualified well and race one saw a debut win for the team’s new ultra. The #31 R8 LMS ultra driven by Andrea Sonvico and Christian Montanari took the victory with the sister #32 car of Alex Frassineti and Davide Di Benedetto in third. Race two started in the dry but ended in the wet with another podium finish for the #31 taking third place and #32 in fourth. A fantastic opening weekend for Audi Sport Italia. Dindo Capello will drive for the team in the #32 car later in the 2012 season after Le Mans.
2.4. Japanese Super GT
Round two of the Japanese Super GT was held at Fuji for a 500 km race. Four Audis had been entered for the race. Two Audi R8 LMS ultras from GAINER DIXCEL and äpr racing, both teams competed with their regular pair of drivers. Two Audi R8 LMS from Hitotsuyama Racing who elected to enter a third driver in both cars for the longer race distance. The two Hitotsuyama Racing cars are in the process of being upgraded to ultra specification for later in the season. The #11 GAINER DIXCEL Audi R8 LMS ultra took a well deserved pole position. The race had a chaotic start with wet conditions and teams gambling on different tire compounds. The GAINER DIXCEL ultra finished in the top five. The äpr racing ultra finished outside the top ten in thirteenth while both Hitotsuyama Racing cars had a tough race and finished lower down in fifteenth and sixteenth.
2.5. STCC
The 2012 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship got underway at Mantorp. The series is similar to the BTCC this year as it is running different types of Touring car regulations simultaneously. The BMS Racing team purchased the two ex-Kristoffersson Motorsport S2000 specification Audi A4 race cars for the 2012 season to be driven by the Ahlberg brothers, Joakim and Andreas. The two cars are entered into the privateer category, the Semcon Cup. The team did well at this first event, despite some technical difficulties they managed to score well and currently the two Ahlberg brothers occupy second and third in the Semcon Cup standings.
2.6. ADAC GT Masters
Round two of the German ADAC Masters proved to be difficult for the Audi teams. Three R8 LMS ultra had been entered from Mamerow Racing and Prosperia UHC Speed. It was a very tough weekend. Mamerow Racing suffered a weekend ending crash during Friday’s qualifying session, thus reducing the Audi count to two for the weekend. Race one would only see one R8 LMS ultra in the top twenty while in race two both Prosperia UHC Speed managed to break into the top ten with fourth and eighth, salvaging some points from this weekend.
2.7. South African Midas Clubmans
Round four of the Midas Clubmans series was held at its usual venue of Killarney in Cape Town, South Africa. Two ex-National Class A Audis had been entered for this event. Nieyaaz Modack was looking forward to continue his dominance of the season after having taken five wins in six races so far in his ex-Johan Fourie Racing Audi A4. Modack qualified well but a first lap spin relegated him down the grid and he finished outside the top 10. Race two saw Modack fighting hard to catch the leaders but eventually finished third taking eighth overall for the day. The second Audi A4 (ex-Terry Moss Racing) of Iftehaar Dada had consistent midfield results on the day.
2.8. RCN
Round two of the German RCN series took place at the Nurburgring. RCN is very similar to VLN but for smaller teams. Seven Audis were in the race, many of whom are preparing to take part in the gruelling Nurburging 24 Hours later this month.
2.9. Austrian Hillclimb
Andreas Marko competed with his A4 STW at the Gössendorf hillclimb event in Austria. Once again Marko took class victory and an impressive fourth place overall.
2.10. Other Audi news
SPEED aired Truth in 24 II on Saturday evening for the first time. An hour long version of the film allowed for the American viewers to watch Audi’s latest Le Mans film documenting the 2011 Le Mans victory. There are three more SPEED airings of the film schedule for the next few weeks: 12 May at 20:00 PM ET ; 20 May at 13:00 PM ET and 27 May at 04:00 AM ET.
In other news the Swedish JB Motorsport team will be competing in the second round of the British GT Championship. The event will be held at the Nurburgring as a support event for the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
3. Next Weekend’s events (12-13/05/2012)
- Grand Am
- Continental Tire Challenge (Grand Am)
- Swedish GT
- Pirelli World Challenge
The past weekend was a bittersweet affair for the factory Audi teams. Saturday saw the 1-2-3-4 Audi R18 dominance at Spa but Sunday brought the disappointment of the DTM race. The weekend did yield very good results for Audi’s customer racing programs and the privateer race results.
All photos are hosted at their respective website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up
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