Audi Motorsport-Newsletter 05/2013

Fun in Rally quattro

Audi factory driver André Lotterer was in action on Saturday in the historic rally ‘Legend Boucles de Spa’ as ambassador for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC): his Audi quattro Group 4 from the 1981 season advertised for the 6-hour race at Spa on May 4. Due to a leaking fuel tank in the 32-year old original quattro, the defending World Endurance Champion was unable to contest every special stage. “However, we had big fun on the stages that we completed,” explained Lotterer. “It was a fantastic experience to contest the rally with a quattro from my year of birth – especially the opening stages on snow and ice: we were really fast and we occasionally ran as high as third. I’m convinced that this outing taught me a lot from the driving point of view. Now I’ve tasted blood, I would love to compete again next year.”

Timo Scheider visits World Ski Championships in Schladming

He is actually a passionate snowboarder, but Timo Scheider now dares to make a brief excursion in the world of skiers: the double DTM Champion visited the Alpine World Ski Championships at Schladming, which are presented by Audi. After Scheider initially followed Ted Ligety’s victory in Giant Slalom, he subsequently gave a taste of his abilities on snow and ice at the Audi driving experience.

A word from … Mattias Ekström

Your visit to Moscow with the Audi A5 DTM attracted a lot of attention. Looking back a few days later, what impressions did this trip leave with you?

As this had been my first visit to Russia there were so many impressions that I first had to sort. The culture is completely different compared with my home country, Sweden, or Switzerland where I live now. I was delighted about the open-mindedness of the people in Moscow. Although they’re not very familiar yet with the topics of motorsport and the DTM you can feel their huge interest and enthusiasm.

Did you also have an opportunity to get to know the city a bit?

Yes, fortunately, I did. There were two things that fascinated me. One of them was the traffic. I’ve been to cities with many cars before but with the streets being as packed as they were here you had to really plan your day very carefully to arrive anywhere on time. Plus I was thrilled with the architecture. I haven’t been paying close attention to the development in Moscow’s urban design over the past few decades but the results are impressive.

You’ve had a lot of action at home as well. What is your daily life like now that you’ve got two children?

It’s exciting! Fortunately, our little Hanna takes more after her mother, which means that she’s much quieter than her brother and sleeps a bit more too. At the moment, I’m out and about a lot with Mats, who will soon be two. It’s simply amazing to watch how both of them are developing and learning new things every day.

So motorsport is taking second place for you at the moment?

No, not at all! The DTM and my private life are both on the front row of the grid for me. We’ve already had an initial test this year and the next one will follow soon. That the technology has been frozen makes the challenge even greater for us. We’re not allowed to change a lot – but any minor detail we’re looking at has got to fit one hundred percent. I’m constantly in contact with the engineers and can say that we’re making progress and it’s a lot of fun.

GT Masters Champions team banks on Audi

In 2012, Team MS Racing from Waldshut-Tiengen won both the drivers’ title and the team classification in the ADAC GT Masters. For the upcoming season, the squad around team boss Harald Böttner switches to fielding two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in the popular German GT Series. “We’re really looking forward to this new challenge,” says Böttner.

Roof-raising ceremony in Munich

Germany’s largest Audi used car center is currently being built in the Bavarian state capital. Opening of the facility is planned for the summer of 2013. Now the roof-raising ceremony took place. The guests at the celebration included Audi factory driver Timo Scheider. On this occasion, the DTM racer also starred in a spectacular video that can be watched on the Facebook page of Audi Sport.