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Mattias Ekstrom Beats Loeb And Baumgartner
Mattias Ekström celebrated his first victory of the 2013 season. Jamie Green tested the Audi A5 DTM for the first time. Various Audi drivers experienced the snow in Kitzbühel. And Markus Winkelhock was the tragic hero of the Daytona 24 Hours.
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Mattias Ekström beats Loeb and Baumgartner
First victory for Mattias Ekström in 2013: The Audi factory driver won a snow buggy race in Kitzbühel, which Audi partner Red Bull had organized on the fringes of the famous Hahnenkamm race. The Swede prevailed against prominent and high-caliber competitors: At the finale of the fun event on snow and ice he defeated the rally stars Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier as well as space jumper Felix Baumgartner.
Award in Switzerland
Marcel Fässler received a special accolade in his home country on Wednesday. The Swiss, who together with André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer won the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2012, was awarded the Prize of Honor of the Auto Illustrierte special interest magazine. Editor-in-chief Ulli Safferling presented the prize to the Audi factory driver in Zurich. Fässler is the first Swiss to have won a world champion’s title in automobile racing.
Honors for World Champion’s title winner
Audi was honored at the "Gala of Champions" of the German Motorsport Association (DMSB). The trophy awarded to the brand in recognition of its title win in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) was accepted by Dieter Gass, Head of Racing Commitments at Audi Sport. DMSB President Hans-Joachim Stuck presented the accolade in Frankfurt am Main on Saturday, January 19.
Victory at the Cologne 24 Hours
Audi factory driver Timo Scheider and endurance racer Christopher Mies have clinched their first victory in the 2013 season. The duo won the 24-hour kart race in Cologne together with Bernd Schneider, Christopher Brück and Maximilian Götz. The best time in qualifying and fastest race lap went to All-Stars Team Urbat as well.
Appearance in front of the Opera
The world-famous Sydney Opera House in the background: The organizers of the Bathurst 12 Hour selected one of Australia’s most prominent landmarks as the backdrop for their presentation. On January 18, several teams, including Audi privateer Peter Conroy, answered the journalists’ questions under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The media highlight of the event was coverage by Australia’s top-rated Breakfast show, the Seven Networks’s Sunrise. Seven Audi R8 LMS cars in total will be contesting the race at Bathurst on February 9 and 10.
World Champions at Audi driving experience
The World Champions and Le Mans winners Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer as well as the two-time DTM Champion Timo Scheider enjoyed an afternoon on snow and ice. At an Audi driving experience event in Kitzbühel, they demonstrated all the things that are possible with quattro drive in winter terrain to the German Olympic winners in rowing Andreas Kuffner, Karl Schulze and Tim Grohmann, among others. The Olympic athletes were impressed with the capabilities of the permanent all-wheel drive.
Successful test
Audi Sport successfully completed its first step in preparation for the new DTM season. In action during the test at Valencia were two Audi A5 DTM cars as well as the Audi factory drivers Mattias Ekström and Jamie Green. The test ran according to plan and the entire program was worked through without problems. "The high level of motivation to do everything possible for a successful season is noticeable in every member of the team member," concluded Mattias Ekström positively. Newcomer Jamie Green was in action on track for the first time for Audi. "For me it was mainly a question of familiarizing myself with the car and team. After these two days I can honestly say that I already feel extremely comfortable at Audi."
Comprehensive program
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT will again compete in a challenging international program in 2013. The 24-hour races at Spa-Francorchamps and at the Nürburgring are on the Belgian team’s 2013 schedule again. Also, the squad founded by Vincent Vosse, René Verbist and Yves Weerts will be defending the Blancpain Endurance titles it has won in 2011 and in 2012. In addition, the team will contest the inaugural SRO sprint racing series.
Guest appearance in London
Former Audi works driver Emanuele Pirro attended an event at West London Audi on Wednesday. As the latest-generation Audi R8 was introduced there, the five-time Le Mans winner drove the new car on stage. The 150 guests included former English Rugby Union player Matt Dawson who was part of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup winning side.
Audi supplies official pace cars
The Daytona 24 Hours organisation relied on two pace cars supplied by Audi. The Audi R8 V10 was the car to lead the field during caution periods. One of the 525 hp sportscar came in Phantom Black Pearl Effect, the other one fittingly in Daytona Grey Pearl Effect.
Audi factory drivers walk the red carpet
Appointment on the red carpet: the endurance World Champions and Le Mans winners Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer as well as the two-time DTM Champions Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider were guests at the Audi Night in Hotel "Zur Tenne" in Kitzbühel. At the traditional opening of the Hahnenkamm weekend they met Audi Boss Rupert Stadler and Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen AG Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn. Before Lisa Stansfield took centre stage, the race drivers explained their personal experiences with quattro drive and their victories on the race track to the 350 assembled guests.
Fun and aching muscles
Audi Sport Team Joest staged a kart race as belated Christmas party and warm-up for the season. Winner of the ‘Drei Stunden von Mannheim’ was the team with Stefan ‘Grimmi’ Grimm, Enrico Röth and Dave Brown. Mechanic Christian ‘Bungi’ Bungart recorded the fastest race lap. Every participant was accompanied home from the track by the ‘souvenirs’ aching muscles and innumerable bruises. A dinner for everybody rounded off the day.
A word from ... Markus Winkelhock
When thinking about the 2013 Daytona 24 Hours in the future, what will stick in your memory? Looking at the finish straight, because that’s what was right in front of my eyes when I coasted with an empty fuel tank on the last lap. That was definitely bitter after such a hard battle for success for 24 hours.
On the whole, it was an emotional roller-coaster for you… That’s right. After the time penalty at night, which cost us two laps, we battled to make up ground again and took the lead. Then, in the last hour, I had to make sparing use of my fuel. We knew that it would be incredibly tight. The others came up from behind, so I had to step on the gas pedal again and still save fuel. That really wasn’t easy but we almost made it - running out of fuel only 200 meters before the finish line was obviously painful. But it was still a great race and a cool experience for me. It was fun for me and the guys from the team anyway. I hope that next year we’ll be able to strike back and complete the 200 meters that were lacking today.
What was going on in your mind at that moment? Well, I knew that it would be a tight situation. My display was already showing "fuel alarm" on the last two laps, so I was expecting it in a way. But when the first misses actually started on the last lap I couldn’t help but think: "This can’t be true now!"
After qualifying, would you have expected such a big success for Audi? Honestly speaking: no. But it was like it had often been the case in the past: We thought that it would be hard. But across the distance the Audi R8 was very, very good again. The R8 has meanwhile become an almost unbeatable endurance car that has won all the major endurance races that exist. But it was also a superb performance by all the teams, mechanics, drivers and everyone who was involved in this project. The entire team performance was right on the mark.
In which areas did the R8 GRAND-AM have its strengths at Daytona? Things went really well across the distance and there was relatively little tire degradation. The car was consistently fast everywhere. The speed deficit we had in qualifying wasn’t quite as large in the race. Still, we lost a tiny bit on the straight. That made overtaking difficult for us. With a little bit more power I wouldn’t have had to stay behind a Ferrari here and there quite as long in traffic. But the car felt fantastic nonetheless: at night in cooler conditions just like in the heat - it was really good fun.
Will it be possible now to battle for victories with the R8 in the GRAND-AM at other races too? I think that at Daytona we proved that the R8 GRAND-AM is capable of winning. I’m sure this will not have been the last GRAND-AM victory this year.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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Also in WRC Rally News 2010: |
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