Audi Motorsport newsletter 2004-06-19

DTM

Audi "home game" in front of record crowd

The "home game" of the Audi factory team in the DTM is set to be held in front of a record crowd: More than 40,000 tickets have been sold in advance for Nuremberg's Norisring race. After the city track between the football stadium and the Dutzendteich lake attracted an impressive crowd of 128,000 fans last year, the organisers expect even more spectators for the upcoming weekend. Therefore, in the "S" corner, even an additional grandstand has been built. Audi works driver Mattias Ekstrom comes to the Norisring as the series' leader. He proved that the 2.3-kilometre track suits him well when he took his first ever DTM pole position at the Norisring in 2002. Apart from the DTM race, Audi fans can look forward to a parade of historic Audi race cars prior to the 2 p.m. start.

Ekblom moving up, SEAT wins guest race

STCC

By finishing fourth and fifth at Mantorp Park, Audi driver Fredrik Ekblom moved up into third position in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) classification. Rain between the two races made the tyre choice a gamble for the second heat. Ekblom chose rain tyres and looked right with his choice. Until the second last lap of the race he was running second before eventually dropping to fifth on a now almost dry track. However, as all his championship rivals finished behind him, the Audi driver was still able to reduce the gap to the championship leader. The second race was won by Rickard Rydell in a SEAT Toledo Cupra. The Swede, starring in a guest appearance for the SEAT factory team from the FIA European Touring Car Championship, started from pole position.

Two ALMS races within eight days

ALMS

After the season opener at Sebring, there has been no event on the American Le Mans Series' (ALMS) calendar for over three months. Now things are becoming busy: Within eight days, two races are scheduled. Next Sunday (June 27), there is a race at Mid-Ohio before ALMS' first ever race on the East Coast at Lime Rock on Monday, July 5 (a holiday in the United States). Supported by Audi Sport North America, Team ADT Champion Racing is running an Audi R8 for JJ Lehto and Audi works driver Marco Werner. At the season opener at Sebring Team ADT Champion Racing finished second.

More weight for Audi RS 6 Competition

SPEED GT

Next weekend, Audi drivers Randy Pobst and Michael Galati will face a tough challenge in round three of the SPEED GT World Challenge at Mid-Ohio. Following their 1-2 victory at Lime Rock, the organisers of the series decided to increase the weight of the Audi RS 6 Competition by an additional 100 pounds (app. 45 kilograms). This weight is added to the obligatory rewards weights imposed by the rules for top five finishes.

Results and points

Mantorp Park (S), 20 June, Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) round 7
1 Robert Dahlgren (Volvo) 12 laps in 22m 08.867s
2 Johan Stureson (Peugeot) + 1.701s
3 Tomas Engstrom (Honda) + 2.938s
4 Fedrik Ekblom (Audi A4 STCC) + 3.425s
5 Rickard Rydell (SEAT Toledo Cupra) + 6.377s
...
8 Tommy Kristoffersson (Audi A4 STCC) + 10.317s

Mantorp Park (S), 20 June, Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) round 8
1 Rickard Rydell (SEAT Toledo Cupra) 15 laps in 23m 10.623s
2 Johan Stureson (Peugeot) + 1.189s
3 Tommy Rustad (Opel) + 1.904s
4 Johan Landegren (Volvo) + 2.117s
5 Fredrik Ekblom (Audi A4 STCC) + 5.261s
...
8 Tommy Kristoffersson (Audi A4 STCC) + 8.015s
Positions after 8 of 20 rounds: 1 Dahlgren, 86 points; 2 Goransson, 83; 3 Ekblom, 73; 4 Nilsson, 66; 5 Engstrom, 58; ... 9 Kristoffersson, 30.

Next race: Falkenberg (S), 4 July

-audisport-