Audi customer teams in Australia and New Zealand had a successful race weekends: they won a championship title and finished on the podium.  Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen opened in Abu Dhabi the first Audi Sport Center and Rally World Champion Sébastien Ogier tested the Audi S1 EKS RX quattro, with which Mathias Ekström won the World Rallycross Championship. 

Steven McLaughlan wins title

Rejoicing in Australia: at the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships (VSCRC) finale on Phillip Island, Steven McLaughlan secured the title in the ‘Sports Cars’ class in an Audi R8 LMS ultra.  The driver competing for Audi customer team Jamec Pem Racing won two of the three races and was second once.  Stablemate Ross Lilley took one win and finished second once. 

Podium finish in New Zealand

Audi drivers Daniel Bilski and Garth Tander clinched a podium finish in the third round of the Australian Endurance Championship held at Hampton Downs (New Zealand).  The duo from Audi customer team Jamec Pem Racing finished third at the wheel of their Audi R8 LMS in the near three-hour race.  At the finish, they were only about six seconds behind the winners Roger Lago/David Russell (Lamborghini). 

Tom Kristensen opens first Audi Sport Center

Nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen and Stephan Winkelmann, Managing Director at Audi Sport, opened the world’s first Audi Sport Center in Abu Dhabi.  Audi partner Ali and Sons exclusively presents Audi’s R and RS models there in an area of 1,122 square meters.  Visitors of the Audi Sport Center also had the opportunity to marvel at vehicles from the motorsport world of the four rings at the event.  Alongside the Audi R18 e-tron quattro that was victorious in 2014, the legendary Audi Sport quattro S1 that Audi caused a sensation in the 1980s and the Audi R8 LMS were showcased.  In addition, Kristensen did some hot laps in the GT3 sports car on the Dubai Autodrome.  The opening of the first Audi Sport Center was celebrated as well by the world’s largest Audi R8 Owners Club whose members drove to the event in a convoy. 

World champions among themselves: Ekström meets Ogier

Following his early title win in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Mattias Ekström invited another champion to drive his Audi S1 EKS RX quattro.  World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier was delighted to accept his friend’s invitation and took the wheel of Ekström’s 560-hp rallycross race car at Munich airport.  After a few laps in Ekström’s World Championship winning car, the French Volkswagen factory driver was obviously thrilled. “ That was tremendous fun,” said Ogier, who celebrated his fourth consecutive overall victory in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) this year. 

Nico Müller and Rahel Frey in “Car of the Year” voting

This year, Audi drivers Nico Müller and Rahel Frey are again involved in the “Swiss Car of the Year” readers’ choice awards competition of the “Schweizer Illustrierte” magazine.  Müller, who won his first DTM race at the Norisring this year, presents the nominated cars in a video.  As a member of the jury, GT3 campaigner Frey, a candidate for the Audi R8 LMS Cup title and race winner in the ADAC GT Masters, scrutinized the ten finalists at the Betzholz driver safety center on the big test day.  The vehicles included the new Audi Q2. 

Guests of Audi’s partner Castrol were treated to a very special adventure during their visit to the Audi driving experience center in Neuburg.  The group of some 160 visitors met with DTM drivers Timo Scheider and Edoardo Mortara there who offered them opportunities to ride in the Audi R8 racing taxi.  In addition, with guidance provided by Audi instructors, they took part in a driver safety training session and were taken on a tour of the Motorsport Competence Center. 

International talents apply for 2017 Audi Sport TT Cup

The 2017 Audi Sport TT Cup is on the horizon.  After the second season in Audi’s one-make cup has ended and the new champion, Joonas Lappalainen, has been determined, the international talent search for the coming year is already in full swing.  More than 80 young talents from 18 countries have applied to date. “ The quality of the applicants is very promising,” says Project Leader Philipp Mondelaers. “ We have again received numerous international inquiries, including from Asia, Australia and the United States.”  The first evaluation event in Groß Dölln has already taken place.  It will be followed by others at the Audi Motorsport Competence Center in Neuburg an der Donau.  For the session on November 26, openings are still available.  The registration form for the 2017 Audi Sport TT Cup 2017 can be obtained online: http://www.audi-motorsport.com/de/en/tt-cup.html

A word from … Mike Rockenfeller

Mike Rockenfeller celebrates his 33rd birthday on Monday.  Last Friday, he sat at the wheel of an Audi test car for the 2017 DTM season. 

How did the test at Oschersleben go? 

It was very interesting for me to drive for the first time the different tire compounds, which we can choose from in the 2017 season.  The car was also not the same as the ones we drove at the season finale, but in fact a hybrid.  It still wasn’t the final car for the 2017 season, but it had several things for next year.  It was very intriguing to see how the tires and the car behaved.  Oschersleben is also a good circuit where you can be hard on the material – this is very important at this stage because it involves testing the reliability of the new components and to release the parts for competition.  In my opinion it was a very good test. 

Is the DTM developing in the right direction? 

Basically yes.  The tire is certainly going in the right direction, if it comes like this.  The car will also be more interesting.  But the tire will make the biggest difference.  Driving without pre-heated tires is also a new challenge in the DTM, which I already know from other racing series’ and that will make a big difference.  There are many new challenges for next year, which in my opinion will ensure that the DTM evolves positively. 

What’s it like to drive a DTM car without pre-heated tires? 

It was obviously very cool at this time of year in Oschersleben.  You have to be very cautious on the first lap out of the pits.  On the other hand you have to push immediately in the race.  The trick will be to find the balance between making no mistakes and not losing too much time. 

After three years in an almost unchanged car there is plenty of development work on the agenda over the coming winter with the successor to the Audi RS 5 DTM.  Are you looking forward to this? 

Absolutely, this is an exciting phase.  Since the omission of the option tire, there were actually no other changes in the DTM.  During the winter it was just detail work.  Now there is another big step and more room to maneuver.  This is always interesting, because the driver will move more into the limelight in the DTM next year. 

It is now official that only 18 instead of 24 cars will race in 2017.  Do you view this point as negative as some of the media? 

Not at all.  Of course, every driver and every fan wants as many cars as possible on the grid.  But I think the focus in the races is anyway on the top third.  It’s crucial that the races are exciting with many overtaking maneuvers and the cars are fascinating.  And in these aspects the DTM is on the right path. 

Further information about the official fuel consumption figures and official, specific CO2 emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the “Guide to fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and electricity consumption of new cars,” which is available free of charge from all sales outlets and from DAT (Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH), Hellmuth-Hirth-Strasse 1, 73760 Ostfildern-Scharnhausen, Germany (http://www.dat.de).