Audi R8 LMS wins the Bathurst 12 Hour

Audi R8 LMS wins the Bathurst 12 Hour

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Audi R8 LMS wins the Bathurst 12 Hour

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:20 PM PST

Audi R8 LMS wins the Bathurst 12 Hour

After 12 hours of racing it still came down to the final minutes to decide the race. The pair of Audi R8 LMS cars dominated the race with zero mechanical issues. After numerous lead changes, Darryl O’Young brought the #8A Audi Top Service in for its last pitstop but Craig Lowndes could not real him in. The #29 VIP PetFoods Porsche GT3 R was the only other car/team to maintain pace with the Audi’s but in the end could not split them.

Full report a bit later. We’re headed to bed! Thanks to all for following along.

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Bathurst 12 Hour gallery updates

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 06:48 PM PST

Audi R8 LMS's head in the Bathurst sun

Gallery after the jump!

Just updated our gallery from the Bathurst 12 Hour race at Mount Panormama. 7.5 hours in, #29 VIP PetFoods Porsche GT3 R leads the two Audi R8 LMS cars. All three on the lead lap with 4th two laps back.

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  1. Bathurst 12 Hour Gallery from Craig Coomans


Bathurst 12 Hour Gallery from Craig Coomans

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 02:33 PM PST

Photo: © 2011 Craig Coomans, Bathurst 12 Hour

Photo: © 2011 Craig Coomans

Check out Craig’s site for some amazing shots from the Bathurst 12 Hour at Mount Panorama, including this Porsche from the Historic races. You can follow him on twitter as well.

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Road Review: Audi S4 gets Bridgestone Blizzak’s to battle Boston winters

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 02:12 PM PST

Audi S4 gets Bridgestone Blizzak WS60's

Buying winter tires was something that I was dreading… Almost as much as the weather that they are designed for. I went back and forth between buying all-seasons or dedicated snows, which brand performed the best under the expected conditions, their performance rating and ice versus snow traction.

After consulting several different shops, friends and OEMs I settled on Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 — They are stud-less ice and snow tires. I decided to stay away from the performance snow tires due to their mixed reviews.

As somebody who has lived in New England his entire life and had only driven all-season tires. The handling characteristics of the snow tires forced me to change my driving habits in a major way. I had them installed in November just when the  summer tires had just started to become useless due to the plummeting temperatures. The temperature was still not cold enough for the very soft snow tire compound and living with them for the first few weeks was an adventure. The  car change was dramatic — it was scary on the highway. Turning the wheel slightly gave me more response than I was expecting. Once the temperature dropped into the 20s the handling changed again and for the better.

Audi S4 gets Bridgestone Blizzak WS60's

Once the snow started to fall I didn't regret my buying decision for one minute. It's been a very harsh winter and there is much snow and ice on the ground. The only standout limiting factor on the car is it's ground clearance. I've yet to get stranded and as long as I let the ABS rattle the car apart I haven't had any issues.

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Road Review: Clean Audi S4

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 02:10 PM PST

The Audi S4 has been washed

We finally had a break in the weather today and I decided to get the car washed. Too bad it’s already covered in road salt.

Mileage: 7300

Road Review: Clean Audi S4

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Pair of Audi R8 LMS storm Bathurst 12 Hour qualifying

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:19 AM PST

Gallery after the jump!

Watch LIVE coverage

Things got off to a great start for Audi, the Audi R8 LMS and the Customer Sport program. The Bathurst 12 Hour marks the first race of the 2011 season for these three and it could be any better. A 1-2 in qualifying puts the Audi’s out front and sets up a clean get away.

With the new qualifying format, the pair of Audi Race Experience / Team Joest V10-powered R8 LMS cars landed in top spots with combined driver times over the two sessions. Audi Australia #7a posted a combined time of 6:35.3 with Lowndes, Luff and Eddy at the wheel. Warren Luff posted the faster time of the weekend the a 2:09.63.

Audi Top Service R8 LMS #8 will start second. Christopher Mies, Marc Basseng and Darryl O’Young had a combined time of 6:35.6, three-tenths behind.

James and Theo Koundouris, along with Steve Owen, will start third in the Supabarn Supermarkets Porsche GT3 Cup S with a 6:36.6.

Audi starts on pole position into the 2011 motorsport season: Audi race experience Team Joest qualified its brace of Audi R8 LMS cars on the first row of the grid at the Bathurst 12 Hour race in Australia. The Australian driver trio Warren Luff/Craig Lowndes/Mark Eddy clinched first place ahead of the sister car of Marc Basseng/Christopher Mies/Darryl O’Young (D/D/CN).

  • Audi R8 LMS stuns on demanding circuit
  • Dream result for Australian line-up on home ground
  • Prize money donated to victims of flood and cyclonic devastation

In spite of a very short period of preparation, Audi race experience Team Joest had a dream start to the Bathurst weekend. After two free practice sessions of only 50 minutes each, the outfit achieved the best possible result on the demanding track with the Audi R8 LMS claiming first row in qualifying. An evenly-balanced performance of the line-ups paid off as the individual best time of each driver was taken into account for an aggregate result that determined the starting grid. In the field of 26 entries, it was not the car with the individual best time of one driver that eventually led the standings.

Inside the Audi camp, the chase for the best time turned into a “Luff affair”: Warren Luff claimed the best time of an Audi driver, setting a lap time of 2m 09.6s. The aggregate time of all Audi R8 LMS #7 drivers added up to 6m 35.3s. A balanced team result was completed by the Audi R8 LMS #8 car: Its sum of the three drivers’ times on the undulating 6.213 kilometre Australian circuit was only three tenths slower. Marc Basseng was fastest of the three Bathurst rookie drivers and drove a 2m 10.8s lap.

Audi race experience Team Joest focused only in first qualifying on the battle for pole position. The team based in Wald-Michelbach (Germany) used the second qualifying session predominantly as a chance for the drivers to familiarize themselves with the car and the circuit as they did in free practice, and to simulate race conditions with full fuel loads in preparation for Sunday’s race.

The fastest drivers were awarded a prize money of 5,000 Australian dollars by the organizers. Audi race experience Team Joest and its drivers decided to donate the money to the people of their host country who have been affected by natural disasters recently. Audi Australia supported this move so that a total sum of 10,000 dollars was donated. The sum will be directed towards the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal that supports the victims of floodings and cyclone Yasi.

Quotes after qualifying

Romolo Liebchen (Head of customer sport, quattro GmbH): “We can be happy with our positions on the grid as it is the first time that we took to the track at Bathurst. We focused on first qualifying because we then expected the best results – this was precisely what happened. We’ve used second qualifying to prepare perfectly for the race. Each driver gave us a positive feedback on the set-up of the Audi R8 LMS.”

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi race experience Team Joest): “We came to Bathurst without even a shakedown test, plus the free practice sessions were very short. Our drivers either didn’t know the car or they didn’t know the track. Now we have ticked every box of a full program we had to go through. In second qualifying, we did our homework for Sunday and no longer fought for positions. Our six drivers did their best laps in the morning. That worked really well with every driver. We are well-prepared for the 12 hour race.”

Mark Eddy (Audi Australia R8 LMS #7)
“Working with Audi race experience Team Joest is great fun. After qualifying, we are starting to have a handle on what the car does at Mount Panorama. I’m sure that we should have a really good race car. Of course we want to turn this into a winning result on Sunday.”

Craig Lowndes (Audi Australia R8 LMS #7)
“It’s a great opportunity to have a new exposure to a new team. Audi came to Australia and are providing a first-class outfit – not only the garages but also the cars. And it’s good to see the support that Audi Australia has given to Audi race experience Team Joest. The circuit we love, but the car is not so familiar to me. Each time I get in the car, I get more comfortable. The 12 hour race will be a long day. It’ll be no different to any normal endurance race: look after the car, look after the fuel consumption and hopefully be on the lead lap at the end of the last hour.”

Warren Luff (Audi Australia R8 LMS #7)
“It’s been an amazing opportunity. The car has been so good to drive. In qualifying, I was very happy with the car and the time that we did. I’m very much looking forward to the race and hopefully we can have a good result for both Audi and Audi race experience Team Joest.”

Marc Basseng (Audi Top Service R8 LMS #8)
“We have used the first qualifying to achieve good times. In the second session it was all about longer distances. So we could see how the car’s temperatures progress and how the tires worked. So we have concentrated on race preparation as it is crucial to have a good car for that. I think that’s precisely what we’ve achieved. It is all the better that the qualifying result is that good.”

Christopher Mies (Audi Top Service R8 LMS #8)
“This is a nice result as Marc, Darryl and myself didn’t know the track at all. I’m very positive about it. We are an evenly-matched driver pairing. Hence we have a chance for a podium result. At the end, we’ve tried a harder tire compound under a full fuel load to generate reference data. Even then, I could drive consistent times which was a surprise. So we are well-prepared for the race.”

Darryl O’Young (Audi Top Service R8 LMS #8)
“I’m quite pleased with the way the weekend has evolved so far. It’s tough to learn the circuit with just two free practice sessions. Before qualifying, both Christopher and me each drove seven laps. Still, we were able to get decent times. What matters the most is the 12 hour race not the position on the grid. We want to drive a clean race and keep out of troubles in traffic. The team has been working really well and set the car up perfectly.”

Qualifying results

1 Eddy/Lowndes/Luff (Audi R8 LMS) 6m 35.3s
2 Basseng/Mies/O’Young (Audi R8 LMS) 6m 35.6s

3 Owen/Koundouris/Koundouris (Porsche) 6m 36.6s
4 Baird/Quinn/Quinn (Porsche) 6m 37.9s
5 Reynolds/Fiore/Cini (Porsche) 6m 41.9s
6 Wall/Mawer/Crick (Porsche) 6m 43.5s
7 Russell/Kingsley/Lago (Porsche) 6m 48.6s
8 Bowe/Leahy/Edwards (Ferrari) 6m 50.2s
9 Simonsen/Searle/Lester (Ferrari) 6m 52.0s
10 Emery/Twigg/Grant (Mosler) 6m 52.3s

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