DTM: Audi driver Mattias Ekström guaranteed the continuation of an impressive run for Team Abt Sportsline in the DTM at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz: At all four races of the 2003 season at least one Audi driver has stood on the winner’s rostrum.
Le Mans: AUDI AG has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, probably the world’s hardest car race, three times in succession. This coming weekend, three Audi customer teams aim to benefit from the reliability of the Audi R8, which played such a decisive role in the three Audi victories in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
DTM: Audi driver Mattias Ekström guaranteed the continuation of an impressive run for Team Abt Sportsline in the DTM at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz: At all four races of the 2003 season at least one Audi driver has stood on the winner’s rostrum.
In the scorching heat and with 62,000 spectators as witness, Mattias Ekström fought hard for his third position. After having secured second place on the grid during single lap qualifying (“Super Pole”) on Saturday, the Swede initially fell back to fourth position after the start. On the fourth lap he took advantage of a mistake by the Swiss Marcel Fässler driving an AMG-Mercedes and improved to third place, which he defended – apart from during the pit stop phase – to the chequered flag. During the entire second half of the race the Opel driver Timo Scheider was breathing down his neck. “I couldn’t afford to make the smallest mistake,” said a sweaty Ekström. “The race was incredibly tough in this heat and under Timo’s pressure. However, I am very happy – third position at the EuroSpeedway is a good result for us.”
The championship winning team from Kempten had travelled to the Lausitz region with subdued expectations. “The long straights don’t particularly suit our car,” explained Team Director Hans-Jürgen Abt. “The EuroSpeedway has always been a difficult circuit for us. We have however, finished this weekend relatively well.”
Both Abt-Audi TT-R’s of defending champion Laurent Aiello and Christian Abt were so badly damaged following accidents in testing on Friday that it was impossible to repair them before the race. Special permission allowed Aiello and Abt to swap to the cars of their team colleagues Martin Tomczyk and Peter Terting from the S line Audi Junior Team, who agreed to forgo the start. “Of course it hurt to sit and watch,” said Audi Junior Tomczyk. “But Laurent has the most points and the best chances to win the championship. It was difficult to hand over my car, but I was happy to do it for the best interests of the team.”
After swapping to the silver and red Abt-Audi TT-R of Martin Tomczyk, the defending DTM champion was rewarded with a point for eighth position, although Aiello stalled the engine during both pit stops therefore losing valuable time. Christian Abt occupied ninth place after a faultless drive, achieving the season’s best result for a year old car in the 2003 DTM. Karl Wendlinger was thirteenth in the team’s second old Audi.
“We weren’t the fastest this weekend, but made the most of our chances,” said Mattias Ekström after taking stock of the positive result. “I’m also very pleased for my team, as both pit stops were excellent.”
Three Audi R8 racers at season highlight in Le Mans
Le Mans: AUDI AG has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, probably the world’s hardest car race, three times in succession. This coming weekend, three Audi customer teams aim to benefit from the reliability of the Audi R8, which played such a decisive role in the three Audi victories in 2000, 2001 and 2002: Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, Audi Sport UK and Team ADT Champion Racing each enter an Audi R8 in the French endurance classic on 14-15 June 2003. The Audi importers in Japan, Great Britain and North America and the Audi Sport Customer Sport Department support the involvement during the sport car scene’s season highlight.
The three Audi customer teams will compete with last year´s proven Audi R8. Apart from the smaller engine air intake restrictors, which are stipulated by the 2003 season regulations and the subsequent drop in engine power to approximately 550 hp, the Audi R8, when compared with last year’s car, are technically identical. “As no development work had to be carried out, the teams had sufficient time to prepare for the race and used the time available efficiently,” explained Head of Audi Sport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.
Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, Audi Sport UK and Team ADT Champion Racing use the basic data gathered by the works teams from the previous years. During the pre-test at the beginning of May, the single test opportunity on the 13.650 kilometre track that runs partly on roads normally used by the general public, the teams concentrated on suspension and aerodynamic fine-tuning and tyre choice. Important findings: The maximum speed on the legendary Hunaudières straight sank due to the reduction in engine power by approximately ten kilometres per hour to 315 kph, simultaneously the fuel consumption, in comparison to last year, of the already incredibly economical Audi R8 FSI engines is further reduced.
The Audi Sport Customer Sport Department provide the teams with spare parts and engineering know-how during the Le Mans week, which already begins on in the town centre on Monday with scrutineering. In addition to the engine engineers and engine technicians, Audi Sport has made available an experienced race engineer from the successful Audi works team. “He will contribute his experience collected from the successful works programme,” said Head of Audi Sport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.
The driver squads are also very experienced: Three Le Mans winners, Stefan Johansson, JJ Lehto and Emanuele Pirro share driving duties in the Champion R8. In the Audi Sport UK Audi R8, three time Le Mans winner Frank Biela is supported by the two former Formula 1 drivers Mika Salo and Perry McCarthy. Seiji Ara, Jan Magnussen and Marco Werner drive the “Japanese” R8. “I don’t believe that we will have the quickest car this year,” said JJ Lehto on behalf of his driving colleagues. “However, I think we have a good chance: The R8 is well developed, and the FSI engine incredibly economical and reliable. And this is of particular importance in Le Mans.”