Audi newsletter 2003-07-06

Audi R8 drives through the streets of Beijing

Le Mans: Emanuele Pirro has an extraordinary appointment on his schedule for next Sunday (13 July): The Audi works driver will chauffer the Audi R8, with which he won the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen for the third time in succession last year, through the city centre of Beijing, the Chinese capital city.

To coincide with the market launch of the Audi A8 in China, Pirro will drive the powerful 610 hp racing sports car along Chan An Avenue, Beijing's splendid boulevard, and make a lap of the "Forbidden City" before finally stopping in front of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel where the Audi R8 will be put on display.

"It will definitely be an incredible experience," said Emanuele Pirro. "China is a large, expanding country with a very unique culture. Motorsport is still relatively unknown in China. That's the reason why I am really looking forward to be able to present the Audi R8 to so many people in the city centre."

Pirro will travel a second time to China at the end of July to show the Audi R8 in action on a race track close to Beijing.

Audi driver Fredrik Ekblom increases lead

STCC: Audi driver Fredrik Ekblom increased his lead in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) to 23 points in Falkenberg. Ekblom, driving the Team KMS Motorsport Audi A4, was narrowly beaten by his archrival Jan Nilsson in a Volvo S60 in the first of two races.

After a hard fought duel with Nilsson in the second race, Ekblom was later awarded a controversial 20-second time penalty, throwing him back to tenth position from sixth. Nevertheless, Ekblom was able to increase his lead in the overall classification as Nilsson retired due to technical problems. "We really hadn't expected such a good result, as Falkenberg isn't exactly our favourite circuit," explained Team Director Tommy Kristoffersson, who finished in fourth place in both races in another Audi. "The A4 really is fantastic, especially in the corners and under braking. We are really looking forward to the next race in Knutstorp - our car is much more suited to this circuit."

Fredrik Ekblom leads the Swedish Touring Car Championship at the half way stage of the season, which Team KMS Motorsport have gone on to win three times in the last four years. The race version of the new Audi A4, which won on its debut in May, was developed with support from the Audi Sport Customer Sport Department for the 2003 season. <pre> Audi Motorsport in numbers

Falkenberg (S), 6 July, Round 7 of the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) 1 Jan Nilsson (Volvo) 21 laps 2 Fredrik Ekblom (Audi A4) + 0.215s 3 Tommy Rustad (Opel) + 3.051s 4 Tommy Kristoffersson (Audi A4) + 7.267s 5 Tomas Engström (Honda) + 13.126s

Falkenberg (S), 6 July, Round 8 of the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) 1 Patrik Ernstson (BMW) 33 laps 2 Mattias Andersson (BMW) + 2.297s 3 Carl Rosenblad (BMW) + 2.431s 4 Tommy Kristoffersson (Audi A4) + 3.103s 5 Tommy Rustad (Opel) + 6.402s

Positions after 8 of 16 races: 1 Ekblom 123 points 2 Nilsson 100 3 Engström 88 4 Rustad 87 5 Johansson 74

Next race: Knutstorp (S), 20 July </pre> Coming up

Emanuele Pirro presents the Audi R8 in the Beijing city centre (Sunday) ... Mattias Ekström will be 25 years old on Monday (14 July) ...

-audi.de-