Audi news: Weekend round up

The 2013-2014 Australian Targa Championship held the Targa Wrest Point this weekend, round three of the championship. Two Audi TT RS cars were entered in the Modern classes. The first entry was that of Matt Close, a regular Targa entrant in the Modern Outright class. His co-driver in the #913 TT RS was Gary Mourant. The second TT RS, the #959 entry, was driven by Michael Minshall and Kirrilee Gentleman in the 4WD Showroom Sports class.

Michael Minshall and Kirrilee Gentleman finished first in the Showroom Sports class with their Audi TT RS. Matt Close and Gary Mourant finished eighth amongst the Modern Outright runners.

Zwartkops Passion for Speed

Zwartkops in South Africa hosted the thirteenth annual Passion for Speed event. The event, which mainly aims at classic racing, also hosted a number of Modern classes. One Audi A4 took part in the Extreme Supercars races. Mark du Toit was behind the wheel of the ex-Terry Moss Racing national Class A Audi A4.

Other Audi News

Audi Sport will be revealing their FIA World Endurance Championship driver line-up during February. Currently it is known that Tom Kristensen and Filipe Albuquerque have been confirmed as part of the drivers. The 2013 driver-line up is pictured above.

The final 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar was released this week. The change in the calendar was regarding the 6 Hours of São Paulo. The race will now be taking place at the end of the season, due to the Soccer World Cup and the Brazilian Grand Prix preparations.

Sébastien Loeb Racing has announced that they will be switching to Audi R8 LMS ultra race cars for their GT program this year. The team is switching to Audi after running a pair of McLaren MP4-12C GT3 cars during 2013. Sébastien Loeb Racing’s 2014 GT program is still being finalised and will be announced soon.

Audi Communications - Motorsport

Rob Austin Racing had their rollout on Thursday, where they unveiled the first of their two updated Audi A4 NGTC cars. The car, still in an all black livery, has undergone a lot of work during the winter. On Friday the team was out testing at a very wet Silverstone. Rob Austin and his team were very positive after the testing.

Photography: Phil Laughton

DRIVE has released their latest video part of the "Inside quattro GmbH" series. This video features a twenty-one minute look into the world of Audi Sport customer racing.

Leo Parente tours through the Audi Sport customer racing facilities and speaks with key personal, including Jürgen Zürn and Romolo Liebchen.

It is a very insightful video and is well worth the watch. It can be seen HERE.

Two Audi R8 LMS cars were seen taking part in testing at Zolder on Thursday. The cars from PK Carsport and MOMO Megatron DF1 were both used at the test.

Anthony Kumpen was one of the drivers on hand at Zolder this week. Neither teams have announced their 2014 plans as of yet, but it is very exciting to see both of these cars taking part in testing.

The Belgian Racing Car Championship, wherein PK Carsport won the 2013 Endurance title with Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin and Maarten Makelberge, will be hosting its official Zolder test day on 20 March.

Rotek Racing recently announced that they will be entering one Audi S3 sedan in the 2014 British Touring Car Championship. Shortly thereafter Rotek Racing announced that their fans would be able to vote for their favourite possible livery. The team provided twelve possible liveries and the votes were counted this week and a winner was announced. Option one was the winning livery, pictured above, and it will be seen on Rotek Racing’s Audi S3 race car this year.

PK Carsport’s Audi R8 LMS was on display at the Liège Motor Show this weekend. The team won the 2013 Belgian Racing Car Championship (BRCC) Endurance title with Anthony Kumpen, Bert Longin and Maarten Makelberge.

RS Werkes Racing (Istook’s Motorsports) will be fielding a new car in the SCCA Pirelli World Challenge this year. They will continue using their Audi TT RS in the GTS class, alongside a brand new Audi A3 TDI in the new TCA class. RS Werkes will be using the older Audi A3 type vehicle, the 2010-2013 chassis configuration. The new Audi A3 models, based on the MQB chassis, are not available in the North American market as of yet.

Rotek Racing will be taking part in the Bathurst 12 Hour next weekend. On the entry list they are listed as Rotek Racing, but this week it was revealed that the project includes both Rotek Racing and Peter Conroy Motorsport, who have joined forces for the event.

They will be running the Peter Conroy Motorsport #14 Audi R8 LMS in Class B, a class for older specification GT3 machinery. Peter Conroy Motorsport competed at the 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour and finished within the overall top ten, in eighth place. Their 2013 entry, as pictured above, was driven by Peter Conroy, Rob Huff and James Winslow.

The 2014 entry from Rotek Racing and Peter Conroy Motorsport includes a four driver line-up: Oliver Gavin, Rob Huff, Richard Meins and Kevin Gleason.

The team was out testing at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday, completing their preparations for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour, which will be held from 7-9 February.

A total of six Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars will be taking part this year. Four cars in Class A from Phoenix Racing, United Autosports and Melbourne Performance Centre; and two cars in Class B from Equity-One Motorsport and Rotek Racing / Peter Conroy Motorsport.

Audi Communications - Motorsport

The latest Bathurst 12 Hour entry list was released on Wednesday and it confirms a total of six Audi R8 LMS and ultra race cars from four different teams.

Four of the six Audis are entered in Class A GT3 Outright, a class for the newer GT3 machinery. The two remaining Audis are in Class B GT3, for older GT3 cars. The six Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars had been confirmed some time ago, but this week the driver line-ups and race numbers were also confirmed.

Four Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be taking part in Class A. Phoenix Racing will be fielding the only 2013 specification Audi R8 LMS ultra in the race. Three 2012 specification cars will be fielded by United Autosports (x1) and Melbourne Performance Centre (x2). MPC is fielding the cars for their customers: Rod Salmon and Mark Eddy / Marc Cini.

Class B will see the participation of two older 2011 specification Audi R8 LMS cars. Rotek Racing will be running with a R8 LMS for the first time and they will be joined by Equity-One Motorsport (MPC) and their R8 LMS.

The latest entry list now only includes six Audis. Eight Audis had previously been entered for the 2014 event, but Absolute Racing withdrew their Class A Audi R8 LMS ultra entry, along with the withdrawal of Rotek Racing's Audi RS 4 in Class D.

The 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour will be taking place from 7-9 February.

Phoenix Racing - #3 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2013)

Drivers: Rahel Frey, René Rast and Laurens Vanthoor

Rod Salmon - Melbourne Performance Centre - #5 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012)

Drivers: Rod Salmon, Warren Luff, Jason Bright and Liam Talbot

Mark Eddy / Marc Cini - Melbourne Performance Centre - #9 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012)

Drivers: Mark Eddy, Marc Cini and Christopher Mies

United Autosports - #25 Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012)

Drivers: Markus Winkelhock, Mark Patterson and Eric Lux

Rotek Racing - #14 Audi R8 LMS (2011)

Drivers: Oliver Gavin, Rob Huff, Richard Meins, Kevin Gleason

Dean Koutsoumidis - Equity-One Motorsport / MPC - #71 Audi R8 LMS (2011)