Audi Motorsport Newsletter
• DTM season start drawing nearer• Audi drivers at press conference in Wiesbaden• Johnny Herbert in the Audi R8 LMS
Mattias Ekström has some catching up to do physically, just as official dates for the start of the DTM season become the focus of attentions.
Things are going according to plan for Mattias Ekström, whose cast has now beenremoved 34 days after his sporting accident. His doctors at Movemed in Zurichexamined his injured left wrist last Wednesday and were happy with the level ofhealing. The Audi factory driver’s medical rehabilitation then began that same day.Things are gearing up for the DTM presentation on Wiesbaden’s Wilhelmstraße onApril 10: Filipe Albuquerque and Mattias Ekström will be in the city’s Kurhaus onMonday as guests at a press conference concerning the DTM presentation.Flying visit: Audi factory driver Rahel Frey was at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt for twodays last week, where the seat of her Audi A4 DTM was customized to fit the 25-year-old driver perfectly.
Welcome back:
The Audi customer sport team United Autosports has signed up theformer Le Mans winner Johnny Herbert to enter the 24 Hours of Spa in an Audi R8LMS. Other team members include the former Formula 1 drivers Mark Blundell,Stefan Johansson, and Eddie Cheever. Herbert previously drove the LMP1 prototypeAudi R8.
The 2011 VLN endurance racing season on the Nürburgring got underway lastweekend with the first test drives. On Friday Frank Stippler got behind the wheel ofan Audi R8 LMS belonging to Phoenix Racing, while on Saturday Mike Rockenfellerand Marco Werner took turns in the GT3. A second Phoenix R8 was put through itspaces by Jan Brunstedt of Sweden and Christopher Haase.
Martin Tomczyk went to the Rosenheim-Bad Aibling branch of Sparkasse lastTuesday to give a talk entitled “Achieving success through team spirit—parallelsbetween the trades and motorsport” to 70 guests. At the event to honor newlyqualified master craftsmen within the craftsmen’s guilds, the Audi factory drivertold the craftsmen and the officers of the chambers of trades and crafts about theimpact of team spirit, self-confidence, and changing technology on the trades andmotorsport.
On Friday, the TV channel Sport1 welcomed an expert co-commentator to itsstudios: Audi driver Timo Scheider was there to comment on the first two practicesessions ahead of the Formula 1 race in Melbourne.
Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard came tenth at the ADAC Wikinger Rallye in a Porsche911 GT3. The Audi sports car driver was hit by a malfunction on the first day of thefirst stage of this year’s German Rally Championship. But after some repairs, he putin some fast times on the second day, including a special stage best time, and wasable to work his way up into the top ten of the overall classification.
An interview with ... Allan McNishDid the testing of the second development stage of the R18 in Sebring pay off?It was a very helpful session. We spent four days testing, from Monday to Thursday,and all the Audi sports car drivers were involved. The weather was mainly hot andthere was high humidity—all combined with the mercilessness of the Sebringracetrack. So we had authentic conditions as if it were a race weekend. And on oneof the days, the track was also slightly wet for a time.
What did the R18 feel like?I was pleasantly surprised, because the windscreen of enclosed vehicles tends to getdirtier quicker when it’s raining, which means cars without a windscreen are then atan advantage. The last time I drove an enclosed prototype in wet conditions was in1999. And I was amazed at the progress that has been made since then, because Ifelt really good in the Audi R18, even in these conditions. It felt great to drive in dryconditions too and the vehicle responded with precision.So what’s your conclusion after testing the second evolution?On the Monday, I got behind the wheel of the R15 TDI for comparison purposes.The Audi R18 is one step ahead of the R15 TDI in an incredible number of areas—even though the rules stipulate a much smaller and therefore less powerful engine.It goes without saying that we are still learning a lot about this new car and haven’tyet put it to the test against the competition.
Coming up next weekMarch 28 Kurhaus Wiesbaden (D), DTM press conferenceApril 2 Nürburgring (D), 1st race of the VLN Endurance ChampionshipApril 3 Estoril (P), 1st race of the Portuguese GT ChampionshipApril 5 Audi Contact Center, Kortenberg (B), presentation of the Audi customersport team Belgian Audi Club
