ADAC GT Masters: Impressive Outing at Zandvoort [source: Audi Sport]
Twin double podium in spite of adverse weather conditions: the Audi R8 LMS ultra monopolized the winners’ podium during the second ADAC GT Masters race weekend at Zandvoort. In the first race, Christer Jöns/Markus Winkelhock from Audi customer team Prosperia C. Abt Racing clinched second place. Their team mates René Rast and Kelvin van der Linde Rang finished close behind in third place. In the third Audi R8 LMS ultra from Prosperia C. Abt Racing, Fabian Hamprecht and Nicki Thiim finished in a good fifth place. Rast/van der Linde finished the second race on Sunday in second place and, in doing so, celebrated their fourth podium finish in as many races this season. Hamprecht/Thiim Position finished behind in third place. Jöns/Winkelhock completed the outstanding team performance in fourth place.
ADAC GT Masters: Strong Team Showing from Prosperia C Abt Racing [source: ADAC GT Masters]
Van der Linde and Rast were at the vanguard of an impressive team performance from Prosperia C Abt Racing at Zandvoort. The three Audi R8s entered by the team championship title holders monopolised second, third and fourth places. Having briefly run second after the mandatory pit stop, Hamprecht and Thiim finished third, while Christer Jöns (26) and Markus Winkelhock (33) narrowly missed out on a podium in fourth.
ADAC GT Masters: Rene Rast Leads the Way in Audi Double Pole at Zandvoort [source: ADAC GT Masters]
René Rast (27, Germany/ Prosperia C Abt Racing) secured his second pole position on the trot in the Audi R8 LMS ultra during a rain-hit qualifying session for the ADAC GT Masters race in Zandvoort/Netherlands (live on kabel eins at 11:45 am). As the rainfall increased on a sodden track, the winner of the season opener in Oschersleben won through against his team-mate Nicki Thiim (25, DK / Prosperia C Abt Racing), who, in second place in another Audi R8 LMS prepared by Prosperia C Abt Racing, ensured a front-row lock-out for the team. “The rain really played into our hands today. Had it been dry, pole position would certainly not have been possible,” said Rast. In the first race of the ADAC GT Masters on Saturday in Zandvoort (live on kabel eins at 11:45 am), Robert Renauer (29, Germany / TONINO Team Herberth) is in P1 in the Porsche 911. The Porsche driver achieved his maiden pole position in the ADAC GT Masters during Friday’s qualifying.
Rast was not only best at coping with the difficult track conditions on the demanding Dutch circuit by the North Sea but was also very lucky. Qualifying was interrupted a total of four times as various drivers spun and skidded off track, and was finally abandoned with three minutes still on the clock. Rast, too, had a bad skid and was forced to end qualifying prematurely. However, the Audi driver was already in the lead at that point and Thiim, who had previously taken the lead from Rast, could no longer beat his team-mate’s time in the final few minutes.
“I’m very happy”, said Rast. “We’re in pole position on Sunday, and my team-mate Kelvin van der Linde is in grid position four today. These are excellent grid positions in both races.”
Blancpain Sprint Series: Alessandro Latif to Contest First-Ever Motor Race on “Home” Soil [source: Alessandro Latif]
Alessandro Latif heads for his Blancpain Sprint Series “home” races at the wheel of a Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra sportscar next weekend. London-born Latif, who turned 18 only last month, drives for reigning DTM champions Phoenix Racing in the seven race “Sprint” series which includes Brands Hatch on Sunday (18 May).
Latif shares the Phoenix Audi with German Marc Basseng, the 2012 FIA GT1 World Champion, in his maiden Blancpain campaign which got off to a solid start with two top-10 results at Nogaro in France last month.
Latif, who began karting seven years ago, has never raced until now in the UK. He’s not ever visited the Kent venue that is just 25miles from his Kensington home and so has been attempting to learn the layout of the 2.30-mile Brands “Grand Prix” track.
The Blancpain Sprint Series is a seven-event series that began at Nogaro last month and concludes in Azerbaijan in November. It features “Qualification” and “Feature” races both lasting 60mins. Around 20-cars will contest the two races both staged on Sunday that will see Latif’s Indian-born father and Italian-born mother in attendance along with his two younger sisters.
BRCC: Podium Place for Audi customer Team WRT [source: Audi Sport]
At the second round of the Belgian GT Championship, the Audi customer team celebrated a podium finish. In the ‘Trophée de Bourgogne’ in Dijon, France, Harry Teneketzian and Maxime Jousse clinched second place in an Audi R8 LMS ultra fielded by W Racing Team. After 121 laps and more than three hours of racing, the French duo were only 1.267 seconds behind the winners.
Campionato Italiano GT3: Twin Wins in Italy [source: Audi Sport]
Audi Sport Italia starts season in perfect style: Audi Sport Italia celebrated double wins at the opening round of the Italian GT Championship season. The first race was won convincingly by Dindo Capello and Emanuele Zonzini in an Audi R8 LMS ultra. In the second race, their team mates Marco Mapelli and Thomas Schöffler held the upper hand in the sister car. In overall classification Mapelli/Schöffler take the lead over Capello/Zonzini.
Campionato Italiano GT3: Audi Sport Italia Newcomers Make Waves in Italian GT: Emanuele Zonzini Wins Home Race Alongside Dindo Capello [source: Audi Sport Italia]
Audi’s twentieth season of racing involvement in Italy began in style with a stark success. Taking the start from row three in the first round of the Italian GT Championship, the R8 LMS ultra of Dindo Capello and Emanuele Zonzini quietly rose through he ranks, then staging a comeback from P5 after the mandatory pit stop, with the 20-year old born in San Marino stubbornly making up ground until he could take the lead with five laps to go. Home boy Zonzini, who received accolades from Audi mainstay Capello for his run, has just moved to sportscars after a season spent in GP3, and he took the checkered flag ahead of a trio of Ferrari 458 Italy. Zonzini has not been the lone high-performing Audi Sport Italia newcomer. Marco Mapelli and Thomas Schoeffler have concluded the second round in P8, a result that fails to show their committment: the Monza-based driver had grabbed a stunning pole position and led until Lap14 (also posting the fastest lap in the process) in spite of electronic gremlins that hindered his early run and then forced him to give way to the competition just before the drivers swapped places. His German colleague was then blighted by these same problems until the end of the race, moreover having to fend off occasionally reckless moves from rivals. The young pair has a score to settle with luck now, and they could well do so as early as tomorrow morning, when the track named after Marco Simoncelli will host the second round of an Italian Gran Turismo, a series whose level is enviable this year after many under-average seasons.
Campionato Italiano GT3: Marco Mapelli and Thomas Choeffler Break Their Duck Claiming Race Two and Italian Gran Turismo Lead at Misano [source: Audi Sport Italia]
Misano Adriatico, Italy – Marco Mapelli and Thomas Schoeffler reply to Saturday victory of team mates Dindo Capello and Emanuele Zonzini clinching the second round of the Italian GT Championship today at the Riviera venue named after Marco Simoncelli. The German-Italian couple (which started on pole yesterday before having their dreams shelved by an electrical problem) today was moving from row three with their Audi R8 LMS ultra and had to stage a comeback race, as the young German was eighth on the opening lap. With Zonzini closely behind him, the Singen-based EuroGTSprint champ began to press Stefano Pezzucchi’s Porsche managing to move on the inside of him on lap seven. The move wasn’t as smooth for the 20-year old from San Marino, who was pushed onto the grass at the last corner by the rival, therefore dropping to P12. More bad news were still ahead for Zonzini, who on lap nine made contact at Sunset bend with Lorenzo Case’s Ferrari. The two drivers went out and the safety car came in for a 6-lap spell. The pit stop benefitted Schoeffler’s team mate Mapelli, who resumed the race in P3 after a near miss in the crowded pit lane with a GT Cup class Porsche. It was the start of the Lombard comeback, who as the track returned to green moved past Alvaro Barba’s Ferrari on lap 16 and then grabbed P1 the following lap moving past Vincenzo Donativi’s Porsche at the first corner. It was not the end of the day, for Mapelli, tho: the timekeepers mistakenly handed him a 10-second penalty, forcing him to push hard until the chequered flag, which the race one polesitter did, claiming the first place in front of the Ebimotors Porsche. After the prizegiving Mapelli and Schoeffler learned that their penalty had been uphold to the wrong pair of drivers, and besides their silverware they also got the 10-second plus edge that they had deservedly built on track on the opposition. After two rounds Mapelli and Schoeffler lead the points standings, three points ahead of unlucky Capello and Zonzini.
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