In future, the AUDI AG motorsport programme will be based on three pillars: During the 2009 season, the brand with the four rings will compete once again in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the DTM. Additionally, with the new Audi R8 LMS, Audi Sport offers for the first time a racing sports car specifically developed for customer use.
With the GT3 race version of the R8, Audi has specifically developed a racing sports car for customer use for the first time. The Audi R8 LMS is powered by a 500 hp plus V10 engine and is available from autumn 2009 for a proposed price of 262,000 Euro plus VAT.
Audi aims to demonstrate "Vorsprung durch Technik” specifically in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Audi is just one victory behind Ferrari in the French endurance classic’s all time winners’ list following its eighth victory last June. Only Porsche has more wins at Le Mans.
Audi competes in the DTM as defending champions with a development of the 2008 championship winning car and with an ambitious target: Audi aims to be the first automobile manufacturer in the history of the "new” DTM to win the title three times in succession.
Four rings, four wins. The end of season party at the Audi Forum Neckarsulm was celebrated under this motto, and at which Audi thanked its teams and drivers for the most successful motorsport season in the company’s history. Chairman of the Board of Management Rupert Stadler and Michael Dick, Member of the Board of Management with responsibility for Technical Development, emphasised the importance of motorsport for the brand.
29-year-old German Timo Scheider is the new DTM Champion, who thus takes over from his team-mate Mattias Ekström. Even though the Audi factory driver ranks among the stars this season there are several facts you may not have known before.
The new DTM Champion has been crowned: With a victory in the finale at Hockenheim, Audi driver Timo Scheider clinched the title win in the most popular international touring car racing series and celebrated the biggest triumph in his career. In his private life, the 29-year-old driver from Lahnstein is a family man who prefers spending time with his girlfriend and his son to the stereotypical life of a racer.
The most extensive motorsport programme in the history of AUDI AG is now the most successful one as well: following the triumph at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the title wins at the Le Mans series in North America and Europe, Timo Scheider with a victory at the finale at Hockenheim also secured the title in the DTM. This means that, for the first time since 1990/1991, Audi successfully defended the title in the most popular international touring car racing series. In addition, with eight pole positions and six victories, the new Audi A4 DTM in its debut year was the most successful car of the season and superior to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
Eleven races, eight best times in qualifying: the Audi A4 DTM is clearly the quickest car of the 2008 DTM season. At the finale at the Hockenheimring the Swede Mattias Ekström clinched the eighth pole position of the year for Audi. Leader of the standings Timo Scheider will start to the most crucial race (Sunday, starting at 1:45 p.m., local time, live on "Das Erste") from position three, just behind his rival for the title Paul di Resta (Mercedes). A total of six Audi drivers made it into the top ten.
It was the most extensive factory programme in AUDI AG motorsport history to date. On Sunday, 26 October it could become the most successful ever: If Timo Scheider clinches the DTM title for Audi at Hockenheim, then the brand with the four rings will have won everything there was to win this season.
Audi was able to complete their successful 2008 sportscar season with another 1-2 victory. In the finale of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca (U.S. state of California), the two Germans Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner celebrated a narrow victory in front of their team mates Christijan Albers and Emanuele Pirro.
Emanuele Pirro has captured the LM P1 pole position at Laguna Seca (U.S. state of California) in his last race with the Audi R10 TDI. On Friday, the Italian won the qualifying battle against his team-mate Lucas Luhr.
After Swiss driver Marcel Fässler, Audi now gives another driver the opportunity to contest a race with the powerful 650 hp plus Audi R10 TDI: At the American Le Mans Series finale at Laguna Seca (US state of California) on 18 October, the former Dutch Formula 1 driver Christijan Albers starts together with Emanuele Pirro (Italy) for Team Audi Sport North America. The Audi R10 TDI with start number 2 will be driven by the usual German duo of Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner.
In the hot phase of the 2008 motorsport season Audi again underlined their "Vorsprung durch Technik" last weekend with two victories linked to "Le Mans" – in the DTM and in the American Le Mans Series. In the year of the company’s most extensive motorsport programme ever the motorsport squad headed by Dr Wolfgang Ullrich thus has the chance to achieve a historically outstanding tally of success in the sport.
At Le Mans, Audi celebrated their fifth DTM victory of the season with Mattias Ekström, and with Alexandre Prémat, at the latter’s home race, the first podium result of a year-old car in the current season. Timo Scheider defended the lead of the standings with a two-point advantage – the title decision from an extremely thrilling starting base will therefore be made at the finale at Hockenheim three weeks from now. The constantly changing intensity of the rain turned the tenth round into a lottery and thus the most action-packed race of the season so far: only four of the 19 drivers came in for the two mandatory pit stops, all other classified drivers pitted three, and two drivers even as much as four times.
With an impressive success at Road Atlanta (U.S. state of Georgia) Audi continued its winning streak at the prestigious 1000-mile race "Petit Le Mans". In front of a record crowd of 113,000 spectators, Dindo Capello, Allan McNish and Emanuele Pirro achieved Audi’s ninth consecutive victory. Audi thus remains unbeaten at "Petit Le Mans".
After qualifying, Audi factory driver Tom Kristensen, the record winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with eight wins under his belt, is also at the very front of the DTM grid in France. At the "Circuit Bugatti", the Dane in the Audi A4 DTM secured the pole position in front of Jamie Green (Mercedes) with a lead of eight hundredths of a second. The next position is occupied by Audi team-mate Mattias Ekström. The leader of the standings, Timo Scheider, achieved fifth place on the grid in his Audi A4 DTM, and will thus be going into the race directly behind his immediate championship rival Paul di Resta (Mercedes).
Team Audi Sport North America’s two Audi R10 TDI prototypes will go into Saturday’s "Petit Le Mans" race at Road Atlanta (U.S. state of Georgia) from second and third positions on the starting grid. In a more than thrilling qualifying session, Allan McNish lost the battle for pole position by just 0.085 seconds.
Audi victories at Le Mans are nothing unusual. Audi technology is unbeaten at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans since the year 2000. On 5 October Audi wants to celebrate yet another victory in the West France city – this time in the DTM.
After the triumph at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the early title win in the American Le Mans Series, AUDI AG performed another feat with the Audi R10 TDI diesel sportscar: At the 1000-kilometre race at Silverstone (Great Britain), Audi Sport Team Joest – clinching victory as well as fourth place – secured also the champion’s title in the European Le Mans Series (LMS).
The two Audi R10 TDI cars of Audi Sport Team Joest will start to the finale of the European Le Mans Series at Silverstone (Great Britain) from the second row.
Audi competes in a second race in Great Britain only 14 days after Timo Scheider’s victory at Brands Hatch in the Audi A4 DTM: The finale of the European based Le Mans Series (LMS) is held on 14 September at Silverstone where Audi Sport Team Joest still has chances of winning the title.
With a cleverly clinched second place, Audi driver Timo Scheider defended his overall DTM lead at Barcelona. Before the last two rounds, the 29-year-old German has a seven-point advantage over the Scot Paul di Resta (Mercedes) and thus the chance of securing the champion’s title early at the next race at Le Mans on 5 October.
At the DTM’s ninth round at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona (Spain) leader of the standings Timo Scheider will again start from the first row of the grid. In the most gripping qualifying session the season has seen so far the Audi "factory" driver was merely 31 thousandths of a second short of reaching the pole position.
Two of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race winners Dindo Capello (Italy) and Allan McNish (Scotland) strengthen the Audi driver squad at the 1000-mile race Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (Georgia) on 4 October.
On 21 September at the "Circuit de Catalunya" on the outskirts of Barcelona the final phase begins in the DTM, the most popular European racing series after Formula 1. Like last year, Audi travels to Spain as championship leader. The proposed target: a repeat of the 2006 win.
At the eighth DTM round at Brands Hatch, Audi celebrated their fourth win of the 2008 season. In unstable weather conditions Timo Scheider defended an extremely narrow lead against Mercedes driver Paul di Resta on the British circuit. In front of 26,800 spectators (throughout the weekend) Timo Scheider thus extended his leadership of the standings to nine points. Mattias Ekström shone with a brilliant recovery from seventh to third place.
Despite not finishing the city street race in Detroit, the two German Audi "factory" drivers Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner have already clinched the Drivers’ title in the LM P1 class of the American Le Mans Series.
Audi drivers Marcel Fässler and Emanuele Pirro achieved their first victory in the LM P1 class of the American Le Mans Series in the city street race in Detroit (U.S. state of Michigan). After a faultless drive they finished third overall with their Audi R10 TDI. Lucas Luhr and Marc Werner retired early following an accident and, after seven consecutive victories, for the first time this year did not score any points.
At Brands Hatch Audi managed setting their sixth best qualifying time in eight races: Timo Scheider secured the pole position with a lead of nine hundreths of a second. This means that the Audi factory driver and leader of the standings starts from the top grid position for the fourth time this year. A total of four Audi A4 DTM cars will start to the race from the first four rows of the grid on Sunday.
Like last year, the Audi drivers are facing an extremely difficult task in the race of the American Le Mans Series on the "Belle Isle Street Circuit” in Detroit (U.S. state of Michigan). Team Audi Sport North America’s pair of Audi R10 TDI prototypes will start Saturday’s race from the fourth and fifth row of the grid on the bumpy city street circuit.
For the first time, Audi Sport will offer a racing sports car specifically developed for customer use in the form of the powerful 500 hp plus GT3 version of the Audi R8 which will be available from autumn 2009. The logistics and factory space required for the AUDI AG customer programme will be created over the next few months in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Györ.
Audi have prematurely clinched the LM P1 Manufacturers’ Championship in the American Le Mans Series with their third consecutive 1-2 victory. Before the last three races, the brand with the four rings is out of reach in the classifications for engine and chassis manufacturers.
Audi driver Dindo Capello has turned the former Canadian Grand Prix circuit at Mosport into the fastest racetrack of the American Le Mans Series. In Saturday’s qualifying, he beat last year’s pole time with the over 650-hp Audi R10 TDI by almost two seconds. With an average speed of 138.116 mph, Capello recorded the fastest lap ever in the history of the American Le Mans Series thus beating the record which his team-mate Lucas Luhr had established just a fortnight ago at Road America.
Audi youngsters Alexandre Prémat (26) and Mike Rockenfeller (25) again clinched a podium result at the fourth round of the European-based Le Mans Series. With third place at the 1000-kilometre race at the Nürburgring, they maintained their chance in the fight for the title. Dindo Capello and Allan McNish in the second Audi R10 TDI finished in fourth place.
At the fourth round of the Le Mans Series at the Nürburgring, the Audi youngsters Alexandre Prémat (26) and Mike Rockenfeller (25) won the qualifying duel against their more seasoned team-mates Dindo Capello and Allan McNish for the first time. The Frenchman Alexandre Prémat was 49 thousandths of a second quicker than the Italian Dindo Capello in the qualifying for the 1000-kilometre race at the Nürburgring.
In the last week in August the Audi R10 TDI competes on two race tracks which could hardly be more different: On 24 August the American Le Mans Series appears at the Canadian circuit Mosport, one of the fastest tracks on the calendar. On the agenda only six days later on the Belle Isle in Detroit (USA) is the slowest street circuit on the US sportscar series’ calendar.
The Audi R10 TDI has won the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in succession. For the first time the ground breaking diesel sportscar competes in the 1000-kilometre race at the Nürburgring on 17 August in the country where it was designed: Germany.
Audi has clinched the second consecutive 1-2 victory in the American Le Mans Series. At Road America (U.S. state of Wisconsin), the German duo Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner celebrated their sixth victory of the season thus taking a further step towards the title. Marcel Fässler completed the Audi triumph in his first race with the Audi R10 TDI alongside Emanuele Pirro.
Lucas Luhr has captured the pole position for Audi in the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series with a record lap at Road America. The German beat the previous track record held by Allan McNish by 0.730 seconds. With an average speed of 136.277 mph, the Audi "factory” driver also recorded the fastest ever qualifying lap in the history of the American Le Mans Series.
The Swiss racing driver Marcel Fässler (32) gets the chance to contest two races in the American Le Mans Series with the Audi R10 TDI. The former DTM driver starts at Road America (9 August) and Detroit (30 August) for Team Audi Sport North America as team-mate to Emanuele Pirro.
With a fifth-place finish Audi driver Timo Scheider defended his overall lead in the DTM. However, a tyre choice that failed to work out deprived Audi of a possible fourth victory of the season in the Eifel.
Seven races, five pole positions: The qualifying performance of the new Audi A4 in the DTM remains impressive. At the Nürburgring, Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen secured the best spot on the grid. Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel of his A4 from last year in second place caused a huge surprise. A total of three Audi A4 DTM cars will be starting to the race from the top grid positions on Sunday at 5:35 p.m.
Audi Sport North America’s two Audi R10 TDI prototypes were in a class of their own in round six of the American Le Mans series at Mid-Ohio (U.S. state of Ohio). Lucas Luhr/Marco Werner and Dindo Capello/Emanuele Pirro achieved a comanding 1-2 victory for Audi – on a track which in the past favoured the lighter LM P2 cars and on which Audi last scored an overall victory in 2004.
Marco Werner has set a new track record for LM P1 sports cars in an exciting qualifying for the sixth round of the American Le Mans Series at Mid-Ohio (US state of Ohio). On Friday, the German beat the previous record by over a second.
Podium lock-out on debut at Hockenheim, one-two finish at Oschersleben, and now the first four finishing positions at Zandvoort: The new Audi A4 is clearly the car to beat in the 2008 DTM. Audi also wants to demonstrate this in no uncertain terms to the spectators at the Nürburgring on 27 July.
Audi showed a dominant performance at the sixth DTM round at Zandvoort and, like last year, celebrated a one-two-three-four victory in the Netherlands. It was the new Audi A4 DTM’s best result so far and Audi’s 45th victory in the DTM. One day before his 30th birthday, title defender Mattias Ekström celebrated his second exploit of the season, after winning the season opener at Hockenheim. Following the twelfth DTM triumph of his career, the two-time champion is now the best Audi driver in DTM history.
Small errors, big impact. That is the bottom line for Audi after the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock (U.S. state of Connecticut). In front of an impressive crowd, Audi’s diesel sports car was the fastest car of the field. However, Team Audi Sport North America had to settle for fourth place overall and a victory in the LM P1 class after a thrilling race.
The qualifying at the sixth DTM race weekend at Zandvoort was marked by nail-biting suspense when as many as three Audi drivers fiercely fought for the pole position. In the end, Mattias Ekström prevailed as the front runner with a lead of more than two tenths of a second, thus setting a new track record on the Dutch dune circuit. Timo Scheider and Tom Kristensen completed the trio on the top grid positions.
Following a chaotic practice day at Lime Rock (US state of Connecticut), Team Audi Sport North America must be satisfied with starting positions eight and nine for the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series.
Summer, sun, sand and almost 80,000 spectators, but also sand on the track, an extremely demanding track layout and correspondingly meticulous technical preparation dominate the impressions of Zandvoort. At a glance all the interesting facts about the mid-point of the season marked by the sixth race of the eleven round DTM season.
If there is one track on which Audi feels particularly at home then it is Zandvoort. Audi won three of the last four DTM races on the circuit around the sand dunes on the North Sea coast of Holland. Last year Audi even filled the top-four positions. The anticipation for the sixth race of the 2008 DTM season is correspondingly great in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm.
In front of 140,000 spectators (throughout the weekend) Audi maintained its lead in the DTM standings in Nuremberg. Finishing the race in third place, Timo Scheider defended his overall lead and gave Audi its first Norisring podium since 2005. With Mattias Ekström in fourth, and Tom Kristensen in seventh place, two other Audi drivers scored points.
The fifth round of the 2008 DTM in Nuremberg promises to become the most thrilling one of the year. The fiercely competitive qualifying on Saturday confirmed that Audi with the new A4 has realistic chances of putting an end to the string of Norisring wins Mercedes has clinched since 2003.
