The 6 Hours race served mainly as a real-life test and to qualify all drivers ahead of the 24 Hours in June

G-Drive Racing had an excellent start of the 2014 season, as the Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Roman Rusinov, Stephane Ortelli, Nico Muller and Edward Sandstrom finished 6th yesterday in the 6 Hours Qualification race at the Nurburgring. This race served as general preparation for the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, the landmark endurance marathon to be raced later in the year, on 21-22 June, but also had a very specific purpose: to allow Ortelli and Müller to qualify for the longer race.

As known, drivers competing on the 24 Hours need to have a minimum of race experience on the 23-km legendary track of the Nordschleife in order to be allowed to compete in the 24 Hours. Of the four G-Drive Racing, Ortelli and Muller were seeking the ‘green’ card. The expert Monegasque, despiter his long career, had never driven before in the 24 Hours while the young Swiss has raced mainly single-seaters so far.

After solving some tire problems encountered on Saturday’s free practice and qualifying 1, the Audi took an excellent third position in the final qualifying. Nico Müller and Stephane Ortelli were logically the two first drivers in the sequence, performing each one the required double stint, followed then by Roman Rusinov, who raced the 24 Hours last year, and Edward Sandstrom. While the race was dominated by the BMWs, thanks to their higher top speed, the G-Drive Audi was always among the front-runners, completing a trouble-free race in P6, ahead of all other R8s LMS ultra.

This Nurburgring race has been as well an excellent rehearsal for the entire team ahead of the start of the team’s main programme, the Blancpain Sprint Series, which will kick-off at Nogaro, France on Easter’s weekend (20-21 April). Roman Rusinov and Stephane Ortelli will be at the wheel of the car for the entire Sprint Series season.