Audi survives acid test on the Nordschleife
Date: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 @ 15:35:34 BST
Author: audioc
Topic: Audi in Motorsport
Abt TT-R's finish 2nd at the grueling 24 hour race on the Nürburgring. Their best ever result in this challenge. Pobst leads the Speed GT series with consistent finishes in the RS6

24h Nürburgring: During the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race held in front of a record breaking crowd of 194,000, Team Abt Sportsline proved that the DTM championship winning car is also fit for endurance races. Of the 210 teams started, and after more than 3500 kilometres on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, the world’s toughest race circuit, the Audi drivers Kris Nissen, Karl Wendlinger and Marco Werner finished second. “The car was simply perfect,” enthused Werner following his debut in the Abt-Audi TT-R. “That I was so quick right from the word go, shows just how good the car is.”

Team Abt Sportsline took up the challenge, with support from quattro GmbH and the Audi Sport Customer Sport Department, to tackle the long distance classic on the legendary Nürburgring-Nordschleife with modified DTM racecars. Courage pays: The number 8 Abt Audi TT-R took the lead for the first time after only one and a half hours. Kris Nissen, Karl Wendlinger and Marco Werner were engaged in a fascinating duel with the subsequent winners up till Sunday morning. The lead changed repeatedly, even in the early morning hours the two leading cars were separated by less than a tenth of a second, occasionally they raced side-by-side down the start and finish straight. “I think that there has hardly ever been such a thrilling battle on the Nordschleife than the one this weekend – I for one, couldn’t sleep a single minute,” Team Director Hans-Jürgen Abt was fascinated. “I am pleased that with quattro GmbH, we have a partner who shares our passion for the Nordschleife. That was a 24-hour sprint and an acid test for our TT-R.”

The moment of truth in the battle for victory during the 31st running of the long distance classic fell after an incredible 20 hours of racing: A faulty power supply caused gear-shifting problems in the Abt-Audi TT-R. The team decided to change the gearbox, which is identical in all DTM racecars. The number 8 Abt-Audi TT-R was back in the chase after only 40 minutes, salvaging second position as a result. “This result is a tremendous success for us,” said a radiant Christian Abt, who shared the sister car with Mattias Ekström and three-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela. “Only a few people believed we could get a DTM car to finish on the Nordschleife – and on top of that at this incredible speed.”

Abt/Biela/Ekström finished in 29th position after changing the servo pump and gearbox. “Nevertheless, my touring car comeback was a lot of fun,” said Frank Biela.

Frank Biela drives Audi R8 on the Nordschleife

24h Nürburgring: The 194,000 spectators around the almost 26 kilometre long Nordschleife were in high spirits already long before the start of the 24-hour race. Ringleaders were two three-time Le Mans winners: Frank Biela and the Audi R8. Shortly after 30 Audi retailers had been allowed to use the Nürburgring to christen their new Audi RS6 demonstrators, the Audi works driver completed a single lap in the R8 around the legendary Eifel circuit. The last sports car race on the Nordschleife was held in 1983, and now, 20 years later, Biela presented the “Mini Revival”. “Mind-blowing,” explained the racer from Germany, who started the 24-hour race in an Abt-Audi TT-R only two hours later. “Up to now I’ve driven the R8 many thousands of kilometres on the most different race circuits, but the lap around the Nordschleife was something very magical.”

City traffic and banking for Audi Junior

DTM: On Saturday, Peter Terting probably had a unique experience: The
19-year old Audi driver drove several demonstration laps in his Abt-Audi TT-R on the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The DTM teams used the unusual demonstration to advertise for this coming weekend’s race on the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. “It really was a strange feeling to drive the TT-R across completely normal road junctions,” reported Terting.

Terting and his partner, Martin Tomczyk (21), in the S line Audi Junior Team will witness a premiere: DTM race cars will drive through a lightly banked corner, the so-called “Turn 1”, for the first time. “I’m interested to see how our cars handle in this section”, said Tomczyk. “It’s a question of finding an optimum set-up as soon as possible that suits both the tight infield section and the fast Turn 1.”

Audi driver Pobst is new championship leader

SPEED GT: Audi driver Randy Pobst secured the GT class lead of the North American SPEED World Challenge with a second place at Lime Rock (USA) last Monday. Michael Galati, his team colleague, retired the second Audi RS 6 Competition after an accident.


Audi Motorsport in figures

Nürburgring 24-Hour Race (D), 31 May / 1 June
1. Reuter/Scheider/Tiemann/Strycek (Opel) 143 laps in 24h 7m 49.260s
2. Nissen/Wendlinger/Werner (Abt-Audi TT-R) - 5 laps
3. Luhr/Collard/Bernhard (Porsche) - 6 laps
4. Grohs/Scharmach/Fischer/Reisert (Porsche) - 8 laps
5. Zakowski/Lamy/Lechner (Dodge) - 9 laps

Lime Rock (USA), SPEED GT World Challenge round 4, 26 May
1. Bill Auberlen (BMW) 40 laps
2. Randy Pobst (Audi RS 6) + 6.241s
3. Hans Stuck (BMW) + 21.433s
4. Justin Marks (BMW) - 1 lap
5. Jimmy Adams (Porsche) - 1 lap
Positions after 4 of 10 races: 1 Pobst, 113 points; 2 Auberlen, 110; 3 McClure, 108; 4 Stuck, 70; 5 Fellows, 69.

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