Three titles for Audi customers on a single weekend – Audi Motorsport-Newsletter 37/2013

Thomas Schöffler converted his large advantage in the GT Sprint International Series into the title win in the season’s finale at Vallelunga. The German, who was assisted in the title hunt in the Audi R8 LMS of Team MTM by his Swedish colleague Johan Kristoffersson, only required an eighth and a ninth place. After eight race weekends, Schöffler has collected 226 points on his tally and thus has 28 more than his closest rival.

The suspense could hardly be topped. In a genuine thriller, Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin and Maarten Makelberge clinched the title in the Belgian Racing Car Championship (BRCC). The Belgian trio in its Audi R8 LMS of the PK Carsport team had started the season’s final round as the leaders of the standings (208 points). Their advantage over their immediate rivals was merely five and twelve points, respectively. In the three-hour race at the Zolder circuit, the Audi made up one position after starting from third on the grid and finished in second place. The two teams on their heels in the standings took positions one and three. The results provided a razor-thin margin for the title win. After 2009 and 2010, an Audi R8 LMS has now won the title in Belgian GT racing for the third time.

A much-celebrated Superstars International Series premiere: Gianni Morbidelli is the first driver to have managed the feat of winning the title a second time. The Italian former Formula 1 driver in his Audi RS 5 fielded by Audi Sport Italia only needed third place in the first race to crown himself early at the season finale in front of a home crowd at Vallelunga. Following the title win of the RS 5 DTM with Mike Rockenfeller in the DTM, thanks to Morbidelli, a production-based version of the RS 5 has now prevailed in a motorsport championship in 2013 as well. Last year, Johan Kristoffersson had won the Superstars in the RS 5.

At the ninth running of the TV total Stock Car Crash Challenge on channel ProSieben, Timo Scheider managed to mount the podium in his class. In front of thousands of enthusiastic fans, the two-time DTM Champion competed in the category of vehicles up to 3,000 cc at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen. On the gravel road course, he scored 325 points within two rounds and thus only had to admit defeat to winner Joey Kelly (470 points) and runner-up Christian Clerici (370).

Exciting change for Audi factory driver Mattias Ekström: Together with his DTM colleague Andy Priaulx the Swede competed in the ‘Bathurst 1000,’ the season finale of the Australian V8 Supercars Series, for Team Xbox One Racing. The duo tackled the touring car classic at Mount Panorama Circuit from grid position 18. During the race the two seasoned campaigners were even in the group of the front runners some of the time and, after a little over six hours, crossed the finish line in tenth place. Next weekend, both will be contesting the DTM season finale at Hockenheim.

Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis has been voted ‘Motorsport Personality of the Year 2013’. The British magazine ‘Audi Driver International’ distinguished the winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring and the GT class of the 24 hours of Daytona with the prize on Saturday. Jarvis accepted the honor awarded by the monthly magazine in Swindon.

Le Mans winner Loïc Duval was involved in a football match held for a good cause at the Palais des Sports in Lyon. The French Audi factory driver played on Saturday in the ‘Foot Concert’ event. The proceeds benefit the foundation ‘Huntington Avenir’. It supports families affected by the Huntington illness – a hereditary illness of the brain. Among the celebrity players are the former football World Cup winners Bicente Lizarazu and Christian Karembeu as well as former national players Jean-Alain Boumsong, Ludovic Giuly and Grégory Coupet were among the celebrity players in the eleven alongside Duval.

A big surprise at the Nürburgring: Dennis and Marc Busch scored their first victory in the VLN Endurance Championship. The Busch twins, whose team Twinbusch is managed by their father Harald, started the eighth race of the season in third place. And right at the start of the race, the Audi R8 LMS ultra with start number 44 made good one position. Busch/Busch then spent the next four hours keeping pace with the leaders. The decisive moment for them was then a late third pit stop – not needing to take on much fuel, they saved some extra time in comparison to their opponents.

There is only one goal for Edoardo Mortara on November 17: the Audi driver aims to collect his fifth successive victory in Macau. In 2009 and 2010, the race driver from Geneva was victorious in the prestigious Formula 3 race on the street circuit. In the last two years, he won the Macau GT Cup in an Audi R8 LMS. In the field of 33 cars, Mortara competes in an Audi R8 LMS ultra with start number ‘1’ under the banner of the Audi R8 LMS Cup. A total of seven Audi customer racing racecars have entered Asia’s most important GT sprint race.

Dindo Capello was a surprise guest on Thursday at a media event organized by Ducati. The former Audi factory driver rode the 899 Panigale onto the stage at the launch of this latest motorbike model. Capello drove an Audi RS 5 Cabriolet as pace car and was also a popular interviewee for the media during the motorbike presentation on the race track at Imola.