Audi Motorsport-Newsletter 18/2014

•   Podium positions also in the USA, Japan and the Netherlands
•   Audi driver Rockenfeller visits Schaeffler plant
•   Edoardo Mortara about the DTM race at Budapest

Ingolstadt, June 1, 2014 – The fans not only got to see thrilling motorsport at the DTM round at Budapest or the official test day at Le Mans. Audi customer teams around the world were successful in various series, scoring a victory and several podium positions.

Right when the Le Mans test day was over, Tom Kristensen grabbed the Hobro Idræts Klub football shirt and pulled it on full of pride. The club from the Audi driver’s home town had managed to graduate in the first Danish league today, the Superliga. Tom Kristensen’s two sons Oliver and Oswald also play for the Danish club’s junior teams.

You barely missed the podium at Budapest. After such a thrilling race, does even a fourth place feel like a small victory?
No, victory or a podium position with a trophy, are altogether different. But of course I’m happy about having advanced from twelfth to fourth place. Today, more would have been possible – now we’re going to take time out to look at why it didn’t work out.

Particularly your duel with Timo Glock caused a stir. How did you experience this two-way battle?
I had rough duels with Timo on several other occasions in the past. In most cases, he was the one to start them and I countered. Maybe I was a bit more aggressive today but, after all, we were battling for a podium place. I’m not particularly upset if he’s unhappy. I’d always fight in the same way again.

The first three races at two-week intervals are over. What is your interim assessment?
Very positive, because I was in the top four on all three weekends. I feel very comfortable in this squad. We’re having a great time and are successful. Still, we mustn’t slacken our pace: we’re seeing how strong the competition is and are set on making up this small gap as quickly as possible.

Now there is a four-week summer break until the Norisring. Have you already got plans?
Yes, a whole lot. There’s quite a bit to do on my house and I’d also like to focus my attention a bit more closely on my sushi restaurant in Geneva. Not only on the race weekends but also aside from motorsport I’m totally happy at the moment and enjoying my days – especially when it means being able to look forward to a highlight like Audi’s home round.

About 4,000 components are necessary to assemble an Audi RS 5 DTM. For the Lego replica of Miguel Molina’s DTM race car, the Hungarian Audi fan Máté Lipkovics used an amazing 2,000 elements. The engineer spent a total of 168 hours on his project of making the copy that was finished in time for the DTM comeback in his home town of Budapest. At the invitation of Audi Sport, Lipkovic visited the third round of the season and presented his Lego model of the Audi RS 5 DTM in front of the original race car.

Andrew Palmer in the Audi R8 LMS ultra of Team GMG Racing finished the round of the Pirelli World Challenge on the city street circuit in Detroit with two podium places. The 19-year-old student who, following an incident in qualifying, had started the first race only from eighth place on the grid advanced to join the pack of the front runners with a strong start and crossed the finish line as the runner-up. In the second heat on Sunday, Palmer, on taking third place, scored another podium finish.
Palmer’s GMG team-mate Bret Curtis was pleased to take a podium place as well. The seasoned campaigner in his Audi R8 LMS ultra took second place in the GT-A category.

In round four of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship (TUSC) on the street circuit at Detroit, the German Christopher Haase and his American team-mate Bryce Miller in the Audi R8 LMS of the Paul Miller Racing team clinched third place in the GT Daytona class. Haase and Miller had started the race from position twelve on the grid.

In round two of the DMV Touring Car Challenge (DMV TCC) season at Zandvoort, the German Christoph Dupré in his Audi R8 LMS ultra occupied fourth place and second place in the GT3 category. In the second heat, Dupré was also listed in second place overall. The race weekend in the Netherlands was also successful for ‘Maximilian Stein,’ who celebrated a class victory in his Audi R8 LMS and second place in the class for vehicles with a cubic capacity above 5,000 cc.

Jacky Yeung and Keng Fai Vong finished round three in GT Asia at Autopolis with a podium result. In warm and dry conditions, the duo from Hong Kong and Macau in the Cup version of the Audi R8 LMS took second place in the GTM class.

In water, Katinka Hosszú numbers among the world’s fastest women. The 25-year-old has set short-course world records in 100 IM, 200 IM and 400 IM and is a three-time world champion. At the Hungaroring, she now experienced a thrill of speed in a different dimension, as Katinka Hosszú was chauffeured across the 4.4-kilometer Grand Prix circuit in the Audi DTM race taxi. “Even the seating position is extreme. You’re almost lying and, what’s more, you’re just above the tarmac,” she reported following the ride. “The speed is incredible. I took a deep breath after each turn. We even overtook another car – this ride was really an impressive experience.”

Unusual excursion for Loïc Duval and Ralf Jüttner: On the day before the Le Mans test day, the 2013 Le Mans winner and the team director from Audi Sport Team Joest attended the sixth edition of the Mulsanne 24 Hours, a one-day race for radio-controlled cars. Audi driver Duval even had the honor to give the start to the event organised by Z Club Mulsanne. Duval and Jüttner also enjoyed the opportunity to sample the RC cars themselves.