Oschersleben is hosting the season opener of the 2013 ADAC GT Masters this weekend. Two qualifying sessions were held today with some disappointing results for the Audi squad. Six Audi R8 LMS ultra cars are entering the event from three different teams. Prosperia C. Abt Racing is fielding three cars, #26 of R.Frey/M.Winkelhock, #27 of C.Mies/R.Rast and #28 of C.Jöns/C.Mamerow. MS Racing, who are the defending ADAC GT Masters champions, have two Audi cars, #1 of F.Stoll/S.Asch and #100 of D.Dobitsch/A.Patel. YACO Racing is entering a single R8 LMS ultra, #16 of P.Geipel/D.Lunardi.
In the first qualifying session the best ranked Audi was the #28 Prosperia R8 LMS ultra of C.Jöns/C.Mamerow who placed in eighth. All the other cars were far behind, they were respectively classified in 14th (#1 MS Racing), 15th (#27 Prosperia), 16th (#26 Prosperia, 20th (#100 MS Racing) and 22nd (#16 YACO Racing). Qualifying session 1 results are here.
For the second qualifying session things were slightly better. Again the #28 Prosperia Audi of C.Jöns/C.Mamerow was the best R8 LMS ultra and was able to qualify in a fine third place. All the other Audi cars were once again outside of the top 10: 11th (#27 Prosperia), 12th (#1 MS Racing), 13th (#26 Prosperia), 19th (#16 YACO Racing) and 22nd (#100 MS Racing). Qualifying session 2 results are here.
The first race of the weekend is set for tomorrow. A 1-hour sprint event, we wish the best of luck to all three teams and their drivers.
Audi Sport Italia will enter the 2013 Italian GT Championship with two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars, and a strong driver line-up. The team will aim for the 2013 title, after the dramatic finale at Monza last year. Andrea Sonvico missed the title by only a single point, loosing the title to the BMW drivers. Sonvico is back with the team and will share the first Audi R8 LMS ultra with Dindo Capello. The Italian Audi legend will compete in the Italian GT as a full season competitor for first time in years, after focusing on the Le Mans effort with the factory Team Joest. The second car will be in the hands of Alex Frassineti, who also drove for the team last year, and the 2012 Superstars Series champion, Johan Kirstoffersson. The Swedish driver had a great 2012 by winning the Superstars Series, the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia. He is not stranger to Audi Sport Italia, the team who built his Audi RS 5 quattro, which entered by his father's team KMS.
The first round of the Italian GT Championship is set for next weekend at Misano. No doubts that Audi Sport Italia will be among the big favorites for the title hunt.
Twelve years already, 25 April 2001 Michele Alboreto passed away at the EuroSpeeday whilst testing the Audi R8 for Audi Sport Team Joest. Just weeks earlier the Italian champion won the 12 Hours of Sebring and was preparing for Audi's assault for Le Mans. Alboreto raced with Audi for three years between 1999 and 2001. He won Le Mans once, back in 1997 with Joest Racing in a TWR Porsche. For sure Audi and motorsport fans in general will never forget him.
Full details about Michele Alboreto's career, including his glorious days in Formula 1 with Ferrari is here.
Circuit Zolder in Belgium hosted the second round of the FIA GT Series last weekend. The main Championship Race on sunday saw an epic battle for the lead, which whent to the checkered flag. The battle was between the Audi R8 LMS ultra (Belgian Audi Club Team WRT) of local hero, Laurens Vanthoor, and the Lamborghini Gallardo (Reiter Engineering) of Slovakian driver Stephan Rozina. Audi didn't win in the end, but here is an extraordinary and very fair fight to the finish line, one of the most exciting GT battles in recent years.
The 41st edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours is set for May. The ADAC has published the provisional entry list for the demanding enduro event at the legendary Nordschleife. Audi won the 2012 race outright for the first time, an 1-2 Audi R8 LMS ultra victory with Audi Sport Team Phoenix ahead of the privateer Mamerow Racing. This year eight R16 cars will enter the top SP9 class for GT3 racers, entered by five different teams.
Phoenix Racing, the defending team champion, will have three cars. Two will be entered as G Drive Racing by Phoenix with the #1 Audi R8 LMS ultra for the 2012 winners Marc Basseng, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock, the fourth driver will be the two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Marcel Fässler. The #3 for Audi veteran Frank Biela joined by youngsters Christer Joens, Luca Ludwig and Russian driver Roman Rusinov. The third car will be the #4 for the Stuck brothers, Ferdinand and Johannes, joined by Michael Ammermüller and Frank Stippler.
Prosperia C.Abt Team Mamerow, who have a very strong effort with Audi in the ADAC GT Masters, is entering a single car. The #3 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be in the hands of team owner Christian Abt joined by the three fast drivers. René Rast the three time Porsche Supercup champion and 2012 Spa 24 Hours winner. Oliver Jarvis who has already won the 2013 Rolex 24 at Daytona GT class with an Audi R8 GRAND-AM and the 2013 12 Hours of Sebring outright with an Audi R18 e-tron quattro. The fourth driver is Christian Mamerow who finished second last year.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT is again very busy this year, in both the FIA GT Series and Blanpcain Endurance Series, where they are doing very well. As in 2012 only one car will be entered in the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, with very strong driver line-up. The #29 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be driven by Laurens Vanthoor, who is leading the FIA GT Series points standing, the 2012 BES champions Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies, the fourth driver is Edward Sandstom. Last year was a first attempt for WRT, but this year WRT are clearly targeting the overall win.
The fourth Audi team is Audi race experience. The effort is run by TKL Motorsport and will have two cars. #14 Audi R8 LMS ultra will have Marco Werner as the leader, joined by Christian Bollrath, Piérre Ehret and Peter Venn. The sister #15 is for the Swiss Audi Sport factory driver and rookie at the event, Rahel Frey, she is sharing the car with Dominique Bastien and Ronnie Saurenmann.
The fifth and final team is Twin Busch Motorsport, a fully privateer effort and a regular team in the VLN Endurance Series. Last year they raced an old spec Audi R8 LMS (ex Abt Sportsline), this year they aquired a brand new 2013 spec R16.
The eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will face world class competition from different brands and teams, all of them capable of taking the outright honours. The opposition includes Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz AMG and Aston Martin Racing.
The provisional Nürburgring 24 Hours entry list is here.
