The Audi S4 quattro remains on top in SA at Kyalami

By Johan Laubscher

Race day dawned with very high temperatures at Kyalami. The show piece of the day was the South African Bridgestone Production Cars, the series wherein the Audi S4 team are competing. Four Audi S4 cars are entered in this Championship. Terry Moss Racing with Michael Stephen and Tschops Sipuka, and VMP Motorsport with Melvill Priest and Gennaro Bonafede (Ferodo). The Audi teams were confident after very positive sessions on Friday. Michael Stephen, the reigning champion, had put his car on provisional pole and took part in SuperPole on Saturday. 

The top three qualifiers from each class had one flying lap to determine the final top three qualifying order. In Class A it was a SuperPole battle between Stephen and the pair of Team Afrox BMWs. Stephen was first out on track and set a very good time. Johan Fourie (an ex-Audi driver and two-time champion) was out next and only 0.173 seconds slower than Stephen. The second BMW, driven by Etienne van der Linde, and the last runner in the Class A SuperPole, had an accident on his flying lap. The damage put the BMW out for the day and the team switched to an older spare car. The accident resulted in Michael Stephen taking the official pole position and the three championship points that came with it. 

The first race of the day saw Stephen on pole followed by the other Audis in fourth, sixth and seventh. Races one and two were both six lap sprints. Michael Stephen maintained his first place off the line and went on towards a flag to flag victory. Behind him it was a very busy race with cars battling for position. Melvill Priest held on for fourth with Sipuka right behind him. Bonafede suffered technical problems during race one. 

The top six were inverted for race two. This inversion meant that Sipuka, who finished fifth in race one, would start on the front row. Sipuka is well known for making lighting fast starts with the quattro system, often dancing on the line of it being a jump start. On this occasion he timed it perfectly and rocketed himself into the lead. He maintained this lead during the race and went on to claim his first official race victory with the Audi S4. And to further prove that it was not a fluke, he set the fastest lap in the race as well, gaining him pole position for race three. Mr Consistency, Michael Stephen, had moved his way up the field to finish third after starting from sixth. The Terry Moss Racing camp were very happy as both of their drivers had taken a win a piece so far. Both Melvill and Bonafede faced problems during the second race, but most importantly Melvill had set the second fastest lap, ensuing a front row start for race three. 

All four Audi cars were ready for race three which saw an Audi front row ahead of the twelve lap race. The starting order in race three is determined by the fastest laps from race two. Sipuka was on pole followed by Priest. Sipuka crept on the line at the start and would later be given a jump start penalty. Priest had a very good start in the Audi S4 and shot into the lead closely followed by Hennie Groenewald in the Subaru, who had a tremendous start from row two. Priest and Groenewald had a very good fight at the front as the field fought behind them. The two big movers were Stephen and the BMW of Fourie. Stephen had made his way through the field and was up to third battling for the lead. His progress had been shadowed by Fourie who was running with him. Stephen made the pass for second, closely followed by the BMW. 

At this stage Priest lead Stephan and Fourie, but this Audi 1-2 was short lived as Johan Fourie muscled his way past both Audis and took the lead. Stephen was able to pass Priest down the inside of Sunset and put in a great lap to close down Fourie. They crossed the line together with only a few laps to go. However, Fourie was able to re-establish a gap on Stephen and maintained it to the finish. Fourie won the race followed by two Audis completing the podium, Stephen and Priest. Sipuka was ultimately placed ninth overall, sixth in Class A, after receiving a thirty second penalty for the jump start. The difficult day continued for Gennaro Bonafede, the technical issues which had plagued him all day returned in race three. He circulated slowly at the rear of the Class A field to collect points, but the Ferodo Audi team will bounce back and be ready for Cape Town.

Round two of the championship will take place at Killarney. The Cape Town based circuit is well known to suit the quattro cars, and it should be another strong showing for the Audi S4s. The event is scheduled for the weekend of 16 March.

More information: 
Production Cars website

Production Cars on twitter

Production Cars on Facebook
MotorPics website
Audi Motorsport in South Africa on Facebook

Results:

Class A Race 1
1 Michael Stephen – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme 
2 Hennie Groenewald – Subaru WRX STi – Team Sasol Subaru 
3 Etienne van der Linde – BMW 335 – Team Afrox
4 Melvill Priest – Audi S4 – VMP Meuller Sports Medicine
5 Tschops Sipuka – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
6 Richard Pinard – Subaru WRX STI – Team Sasol Subaru 
7 Gennaro Bonafede – Audi S4 – Ferodo
DNF Johan Fourie – BMW 335i – Team Afrox 

Class A Race 2
1 Tschops Sipuka – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
2 Hennie Groenewald – Subaru WRX STi – Team Sasol Subaru 
3 Michael Stephen – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
4 Etienne van der Linde – BMW 335 – Team Afrox
5 Johan Fourie – BMW 335i – Team Afrox 
6 Richard Pinard – Subaru WRX STI – Team Sasol Subaru 
7 Gennaro Bonafede – Audi S4 – Ferodo
8 Melvill Priest – Audi S4 – VMP Meuller Sports Medicine

Class A Race 3 
1 Johan Fourie – BMW 335i – Team Afrox 
2 Michael Stephen – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
3 Melvill Priest – Audi S4 – VMP Meuller Sports Medicine
4 Richard Pinard – Subaru WRX STI – Team Sasol Subaru 
5 Etienne van der Linde – BMW 335 – Team Afrox
6 Tschops Sipuka – Audi S4 – Engen Xtreme
7 Gennaro Bonafede – Audi S4 – Ferodo
8 Hennie Groenewald – Subaru WRX STi – Team Sasol Subaru

Photo credit: MotorPics website / Production Cars website

Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (23-24/02/2013)

By Johan Laubscher

1. The Weekend

Focussing this week on the weekend of 23 - 24 February 2013

2. The Events

•           SA Production Cars
•           Race Retro 
• 
  

2.1. SA Production Cars

The South African Bridgestone Production Cars Championship got underway this weekend. Four Audi S4s were entered, the same team and driver combinations as in 2012. Terry Moss Racing returned with reigning champion Michael Stephen and his teammate Tschops Sipuka. VMP Motorsport were back with Melvill Priest and Gennaro Bonafede. The weekend took place with very warm conditions. Michael Stephen put his S4 on pole and then maintained that by setting the fastest lap in SuperPole as well. The first race saw a flag to flag victory for Stephen with the other Audis in the lower half of the field. The reverse grid for race 2 ensured a front row start for Stephen’s teammate, Tschops Sipuka. Sipuka made good use of the standing start and rocketed into the lead and went onto victory, with Stephen rounding out the podium in third. Two Audis were on the front row for race 3, Sipuka and Priest. The two battled hard during the race. Both were eventually being passed by Johan Fourie (ex-Audi driver and two time Audi champion) in his BMW and Michael Stephen. Fourie and Stephen lead the way for the rest of the race. Ultimately Stephen finished in second place, ensuring that he was the overall victor for the day and the current championship points leader. Priest made it another double Audi podium by finishing third. The youngster, Bonafede, had a very difficult day as his S4 suffered a number of problems.

SA Production Car website / MotorPics website

Results

2.2. Race Retro

The 2013 International Historic Motorsport Show, also known as Race Retro, took place in Britain this weekend. A number of rally cars took part in a special live rally stage at the event. A few Audi quattro cars were amongst the entries.

Phil Laughton Photography FB page

Results

2.3. Other Audi News

Audi Sport will have a special display at the Sebring 12 Hours. As it is the last LMP1 Sebring it will be a very special event. A collection of legendary Audi LMP1 race cars will take part in demo runs at Sebring. The cars will include the Audi R8, Audi R10 TDI, Audi R15 TDI and the Audi R18 TDI.  

Audi Sport Media

The annual Audi winter camp has been completed. At the beginning of each year Audi Sport hosts this fitness camp for all their factory drivers. This year all nineteen official Audi Sport drivers were present along with many of the top team organisers (Joest, ABT, Phoenix, Rosberg)

Audi Sport Media

Team Novadriver have been teasing conceptual livery designs via their Facebook page this week. Two similar liveries have been shown, one red and the other yellow. The team have also mentioned that they will be the first customer team to receive the new 2013 R8 LMS ultra upgrade packages to update their 2012 ultra cars.

Team Novadriver FB page

The French JWS Racing team have announced a name change. The team will now be known as BR Racing. They have mentioned that they will be running one 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra in the French GT Tour this year. They will also take part in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the Spa 24 Hours. The BR Racing team will again be receiving technical support from Saintéloc.

BR Racing Team

GMG Racing took part in a promotional video with Simraceway which was published this week. The GMG Audi R8 LMS of James Sofronas was used in the Simraceway Real vs Virtual series. In this video series they look at the real car, in this case the real GMG R8 LMS, and then the virtual car on Simraceway.

Simraceway video

The Nigerian Racing Eagle team have not announced their plans for the 2013 season as of yet. The R8 LMS team revealed a racing simulator mod this week, a version of an existing GT3 mod, which features an Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Racing Eagle livery. The mod is for the race simulator/pc game called rFactor.

Racing Eagle FB page

DragonSpeed, the only American Audi R8 LMS ultra team, have already taken part in the 2013 Dubai 24 Hours and the Bathurst 12 Hour. It was confirmed this week that they will now be preparing for the Spa 24 Hours, which takes place later in the year.

DragonSpeed FB page

The Limitless Racing team were at Road Atlanta this weekend. They were testing their Audi R8 GRAND-AM race car ahead of upcoming SCCA events which will take place at the circuit.

Kyle Connery FB page

3. Next Weekend’s events (2-3/03/2013)

•           Australian GT
•           Grand Am
•           Jamwest Raceway Jamaica

All photos are hosted at their respective website which are listed within the Weekend Round Up

Positive start for the Audi S4 teams at Kyalami

By Johan Laubscher

The 2013 South African Bridgestone Production Car Championship has gotten underway at Kyalami. Practice and qualifying took place on Friday. Four Audis have been entered by two teams for the 2013 season. Reigning champion, Michael Stephen, returns with teammate Tschops Sipuka in the Terry Moss Racing Audi S4 cars. VMP Motorsport are again running a pair of Audis for Melvill Priest and Gennaro Bonafede. 

The first free practice session got the ball rolling at 10:00 am local time, on an increasingly warm day. As the sun rose higher into the sky, the Production Cars headed out onto the track for the first time during 2013. The Audis and BMWs immediately shot to the top of the time sheets, followed by the brand new Subaru WRX STI sedans which were slightly off the pace. By the end of the session Johan Fourie, a two-time champion with Audi, was the fastest in his Team Afrox BMW. The leading BMW was followed by a trio of Audis with Gennaro Bonafede followed by Melvill Priest and Michael Stephen. Tschops Sipuka completed the Audi set in sixth place. 

Free Practice two saw increased track temperatures and a slight increase in pace, with most of the competitors remaining in the 1:50 minute bracket. This time Michael Stephen came out on top leading Melvill Priest for an Audi 1-2. The BMW of Etienne van der Linde was the meat in an Audi sandwich as he split the quartet of Audis by placing in third. Sipuka and Bonafede finished fourth and fifth respectively. 

Qualifying came after the two free practice sessions late in the afternoon. For the VMP Motorsport team it was a race against time to replace the gearbox in Gennaro Bonafede’s Audi S4. They managed to work at a frantic pace to complete the change in only two hours, ensuring that all four Audis could take part in qualifying. The reigning champ Michael Stephen went on from where he left off last year by placing his Audi S4 on provisional pole position. He set the fastest time of the weekend so far, and was the only driver to drop into the sub 1:50 bracket with a 1:49 minute lap. Stephen was followed by both the Team Afrox BMW entries in second and third. The top three will take part in the Super Pole tomorrow morning which will decide the final top three starting order. 

Melvill Priest qualified in fourth and Tschops Sipuka in sixth. The Subaru of Hennie Groenewald proved it was up to pace by placing in the top five, well within a competitive time bracket in the brand new Subaru WRX sedan. The top six were separated by less than a second. Gennaro Bonafede finished in seventh, less than two seconds from pole, despite another gearbox issue which left him with only two gears on his flying lap. 

The scene is set for another tremendous SA Bridgestone Production Car event. All the top teams are very close together and it is anyone’s guess as to who will lead the first race tomorrow. Super Pole is scheduled for 10:45 followed by race one at 12:50 local time. We wish the best of luck to the Audi S4 teams.

More information:
Production Cars FB page

Production Cars / Super Series website

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page
Kyalami results

Photos from the Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page / Johan Laubscher

Real vs Virtual - GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS on Simraceway

By Johan Laubscher

GMG Racing have an arsenal of Audi R8 LMS race cars ready for the 2013 SCCA Pirelli World Challenge. James Sofronas is one of the GMG R8 LMS drivers and he recently took part in a Simraceway Real vs Virtual promotional video. Within this video they have a look at both the real GMG R8 LMS and the virtual Audi R8 LMS on Simraceway.

More information:
GMG Racing FB page
Simraceway FB page

Photo credit: Screenshot from the Simraceway video

Red Camel Audi R8 at Hungary 12 Hour

By Tarek Ramchani

After two great endurance events, the Dubai 24 Hour and the Bathurst 12 Hour races, the next 24H Series event is the Hungary 12 Hour race in Budapest. 

A single Audi car is so far listed on the provisional entry list. An Audi R8 from the Dutch team, Red Camel-Jordans.nl. The car is not a factory built Audi R8 LMS from quattro GmbH. This R8 racer from Holland was privately built by Creventic, and named the CR-8. Two of these cars have been built and competeting since 2008. The car will be in the SP2 class. The driver line-up will be announced later.

An Audi won the event overall back in 2010. The victory came with an Audi R8 LMS from the Austrian based team, Lechner Racing. The 2013 Hungary 12 Hour race is set for April 6th. We wish the best of luck to Red Camel Racing and their R8 effort.

Photo credit and more information:
24H Series official website