Audi R8 LMS dominates at Assen
ADAC GT Masters: At the only foreign round of the ADAC GT Masters the two Audi R8 LMS cars entered by Team ABT Sportsline were the measure of all things. In qualifying the GT3 sports cars secured the pole position for both races. In Saturday’s rain race Luca Ludwig and Christopher Mies were victorious, fourth place went to the R8 LMS fielded by Heiko Hammel and Jimmy Johansson’s Pole Promotion team. On Sunday the Audi drivers even managed to clinch a one-two-three-four victory on the fastest track of the ADAC GT Masters calendar. This time, the second ABT Sportsline vehicle driven by Kuba Giermaziak and Jens Klingmann was the front runner. Second place was captured by Johansson/Hammel and position three went to Mies/Ludwig. Jan Seyffarth and Bernd Herndlhofer from Team Rosberg in fourth place completed Audi’s exploit.
Podium place for Phoenix Racing
VLN: Hans-Joachim Stuck, Frank Stippler and Marc Basseng in the Audi R8 LMS took second place for Team Phoenix Racing at the fifth round of the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring for the third consecutive time. The trio was leading the four-hour race for some of the time but had to admit defeat at the finish with a mere gap of 26 seconds.
Mattias Ekström visits Sebastian Vettel
DTM: Together with Sebastian Vettel Audi driver Mattias Ekström got the fans in Germany into the mood for the Formula 1 race at Hockenheim next weekend. The two-time DTM Champion did some demo laps in his Audi A4 DTM in front of a crowd of 120,000 spectators in Vettel’s home town Heppenheim and signed numerous autographs for the enthusiastic motorsport fans.
Race truck challenges DTM Champion
DTM: The Nürburgring will see an equally unusual and spectacular duel next weekend. As part of the ADAC Truck Grand Prix there will be a battle between an MAN race truck and an Audi A4 DTM with Timo Scheider at the wheel. The two-time DTM Champion accepted the challenge by Hans-Joachim Stuck, who made a bet that he would even be able to beat a DTM car. The race will be staged across one lap on Sunday, July 25.
Results and points
Assen (NL), July 17, ADAC GT Masters, round 7
1 Ludwig/Mies (Audi R8 LMS) 31 laps in 1h 01m 51.694s
2 Wirth/Matzke (BMW-Alpina) + 4.501s
3 Knop/Rehfeld (Ascari) + 38.464s
4 Hammel/Johansson (Audi R8 LMS) + 45.265s
5 Kentenich/Asch (Porsche) + 1m 24.672s
...
9 Heyer/Ammermüller (Audi R8 LMS) - 1 lap
14 Herndlhofer/Seyffarth (Audi R8 LMS) - 1 lap
Assen (NL), July 18, ADAC GT Masters, round 8
1 Klingmann/Giermaziak (Audi R8 LMS) 31 laps in 1h 00m 03.972s
2 Hammel/Johansson (Audi R8 LMS) + 3.902s
3 Ludwig/Mies (Audi R8 LMS) + 10.280s
4 Herndlhofer/Seyffarth (Audi R8 LMS) + 19.921s
5 Winter/Veltmann (BMW-Alpina) + 24.279s
...
10 Heyer/Ammermüller (Audi R8 LMS) + 1m 02.093s
Standings after 8 of 14 rounds: 1 von Thurn und Taxis and Kox, each 43 points; 3 Mies and Ludwig, each 37; 5 Bergmeister, 31; … 10 Giermaziak and Klingmann, each 23; 12 Johansson, Hammel, Hannawald and Jäger, each 23; … 25 Herndlhofer and Estre, each 8; … 27 Heyer and Ammermüller, each 7; … 29 Seyffarth and Geipel, each 5.
Next race: EuroSpeedway (D), August 14
Nürburgring (D), July 17, VLN Endurance Championship, round 6
1 Arnold/Menzel (Porsche) 28 laps in 4h 02m 42.240s
2 Stippler/Stuck/Basseng (Audi R8 LMS) + 25.994s
3 Hahne/Krumbach/Gindorf (Porsche) + 4m 54.128s
4 Riebensahm/Kohlhaas/Brück (Chrysler) + 7m 52.146s
5 Zehe/Schelp/Roloff (Porsche) + 7m 52.487s
Standings after 6 of 10 rounds: 1 Leisen, Knechtges and Böhm, each 56.30 points; 4 Jurek, 53.46; 5 Forbes, 49.47.
Next race: Nürburgring (D), July 31
Coming up next week
July 24 - 25: Italian GT Championship Monza (I)