Today Highcroft Racing has announced that their relationship with Honda is coming to an end after 5 very successful seasons. Due to the situation in Japan Honda can no longer afford to maintain their racing partnership. We were very much looking forward to seeing the HPD ARX-01e compete during next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 42 races Highcrot was able to achieve 11 wins, nine pole positions and 28 podium finish including their 2nd place finish at Sebring were they showed themselves as a viable entry against Audi and Peugeot.
We wish them the best and hope to see them back on the track very soon.
The full press release is available after the break.
Continue reading ’24 Hours of Le Mans: Highcroft Racing and Honda part ways’
Virginia International Raceway is a notoriously tough course — arguably one of the toughest in the country. The Bosch Engineering 200 ran at VIR this weekend and did nothing to dispell these beliefs. In fact, several major incidents added to VIR’s infamy. Our friends at APR Motorsport entered 3 VW GTIs in ST class and their 2010 S4 in the GS class. All four cars showed promise throughout the weekend. However, due to mechanical failures they all put up less than spectacular qualifying results. Though during the race APR moved up in the pack and showed progress.
The race abruptly ended for the APR Motorsport Audi S4 after suffering a crash as the driver attempted to avoid a spinning car in front of him. As we can see from the pictures there’s massive damage to the car. Luckily the driver Gary Gibson was unhurt and was able to walk away. QuattroWorld would like to wish to the best to the APR Motorsports team and hope to see the S4 back on the track as soon as possible. Their next scheduled race is May 29th and 30th at Limerock, Conneticut.
Once again, QuattroWorld was on location for this challenging race and we have an in depth gallery for your enjoyment.
Continue reading ‘Gallery: Bosch Engineering 200 at Virginia International Raceway’
- Dream weekend for Audi in customer sport with the R8 LMS
- Three DTM drivers participate in charity run
- World Ski Championship entrants visit Zandvoort
Audi’s customers had plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend as victories were scored in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Sweden. After just 25 months the “young” GT3 sports car can look back on a set of remarkable interim statistics.
A dream weekend for the R8 LMS: Two years and one month after its debut on April 4, 2009 the Audi R8 LMS has achieved a special mark of success. On Saturday the customer sports car from Audi clinched its 75th victory. Team ABT Sportsline with Christopher Mies and Luca Ludwig popped the champagne bottles at the Sachsenring. Christer Jöns/Jens Klingmann complemented the team’s one-two result. On Sunday the Audi R8 LMS even managed a one-two-three-four result: Andreas Simonsen/Christopher Haase won in front of their Phoenix team-mates René Rast/Stefan Landmann and the Abt line-up of Luca Ludwig/Christopher Mies andChrister Jöns/Jens Klingmann.
Continue reading ‘Motorsport Newsletter 09/2011: Audi R8 LMS celebrates 75th victory’
- First DTM victory for Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller
- Martin Tomczyk in year-old A4 on podium too
- Five Audi racers on eight point-scoring positions
A great motorsport weekend for Audi: A few hours after a 1-2-3-4 success of the Audi R8 LMS at the ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller clinched the first victory of the 2011 DTM season at Zandvoort (the Netherlands) for Audi.
For Audi this marked the fifth exploit at Zandvoort since the brand’s return to the DTM with a “factory” commitment in 2004, for Mike Rockenfeller its was the first ever triumph in the most popular international touring car racing series. The 2010 Le Mans winner laid the foundation for his win by making a perfect start which allowed him to push himself between Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green. By making an early first pit stop “Rocky” managed to overtake Spengler as well. He then managed to gain a lead of up to three seconds in a perfectly setup A4 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and to control the pace at the front of the field.
Continue reading ‘Audi recaptures Zandvoort’
33 minutes ago the APR S4 was showing progress and moving up in position after a caution lap. Shortly after that the race abruptly ended for the S4 after suffering a crash as the race went back to green. As we can see from the pictures there’s massive damage to the car. Luckily the driver Gary Gibson was unhurt and was able to walk away. QuattroWorld would like to wish to the best to the APR Motorsports team and hope to see the S4 back on the track as soon as possible.
As of 15 minutes ago the GTIs piloted by Ryan Ellis in the 171 and Chris Gleason in the 181 is running in first and third.
We have a photographer there covering the race and we will post an update later today with more information and pictures.
- The VW DriverGear GTI MK6’s Present a Strong Showing Qualifying 3rd and 4th in the ST Class While the Audi S4 Suffers a Braking Failure 3 Laps Into Qualifying After Good Practice Sessions
The behind the scenes trials and tribulations every race team experiences very rarely make it into public view in the world of motorsport but two completely unique situations occurred just before and during APR Motorsport’s qualifying session that simply must be shared. Understanding of how awesome it was for Chris Gleason, Jr to be able to secure 3rd in his #181 VW DriverGear GTI MK6 during qualifying can only be relayed by those present and working on the car. For the Audi S4 in the GS Class, the tale to be told is not one of great results but more of great disappointment. Fortunately, for Ryan Ellis and Ian Baas, Championship Points Leaders, in the #171 VW DriverGear GTI MK6 qualifying 4th was a smooth and almost seemingly routine event.
Continue reading ‘APR Motorsport Qualifying Results at the Bosch Engineering 200 at VIR’
- quattro GmbH builds technology platform at satellite site in Biberach
- Werner Frowein, Managing Director of quattro GmbH: “The staff is highly skilled in small series production.”
The first all-electric Audi will be built at the Neckarsulm site, with a small production run of the R8 e-tron sports car to hit the roads in late 2012. quattro GmbH is currently building the first technology platform for the electric model at the Neckarsulm plant’s satellite site in Heilbronn-Biberach. Specially qualified employees are borrowing from the series production of the successful Audi R8 mid-engine sports car as they assemble the R8 e-tron at the development workshop.
Continue reading ‘Audi R8 e-tron: A look inside the development workshop’
- Construction of the Audi R8 LMS based on the production model
- Werner Frowein, Managing Director of quattro GmbH: “Race car developed specifically for customer racing”
- Impressive success rate with seven titles and 65 wins
Audi has been a successful participant in customer racing since 2009 with the R8 LMS. quattro GmbH builds the racing models at its motorsports factory in Heilbronn-Biberach. 35 units are currently being raced worldwide by customer and importer teams.
“The R8 LMS is the first race car from Audi developed specifically for customer racing,” says Werner Frowein, Managing Director of quattro GmbH. “The car allows our customers to also experience the sporty genes of the R8 family on the race track.” The R8 LMS is entered in 17 race series and numerous individual races in 2011 in the hope of expanding on its successful record of seven titles and 65 wins so far.
Continue reading ‘Audi customer racing’
Tomorrow, Thursday May 2nd, Audi will be hosting it’s 122nd Annual Audi AG General Meeting in Neckarsulm. With 2010 being Audi’s biggest year in company history and 2011 already shaping up to be even better. Audi has just completed the best-ever first quater. We can expect to hear further details on Audi’s business development plans to continue it’s current growth trend and a full recap of last years achievements.
To celebrate the occasion Audi has posted a gallery of the Audi Forum Neckarsulm. The Audi Forum at Neckarsulm allows customers to pickup their new car in a beautifully designed customer delivery area. The design of the building was heavily influenced by cars being delivered inside. There’s a large display area that is filled with Audi exclusive models and allows the customer to enjoy the Audi experience first hand and experience cultural,culinary and shopping highlights as well.
[Image Source: Audi AG]
