von Moltke and Audi stars take Rolex 24 GT victory at Daytona

Dion von Moltke Press Release

Daytona, FL (Sunday, January 27, 2013): GRAND-AM Rolex Series young star Dion von Moltke teamed with a trio of Audi factory drivers today to take the German manufacturer to its first victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

von Moltke; Brit, Oliver Jarvis; Italian, Edoardo Mortara and Portugal's, Filipe Albuquerque drove the No.24 Alex Job Racing R8 to victory in the GT class, greeting the checkered flag 1.476 seconds ahead of the No.52 car of Rene Rast to make it a 1-2 finish for Audi.

After starting fifth, the Alex Job Audi stayed in contention for the entire 24 hour journey before disaster struck with two and half hour remaining when the car was assessed a penalty for avoidable contact with the No.61 Ferrari.

Despite assertions from the Ferrari team that they hadn't been hit, Mortara was forced to head to pit lane to serve a one minute penalty.

This put the car one lap adrift of the leaders and back in seventh place. However, clever pit strategy from the Alex Job Racing team over the remaining 150 minutes of the race not only put the No.24 car back on the lead lap, Albuquerque was able to drive into the lead.

The Audi squad faced a nervous final stint, uncertain as to whether they would need to make one final pit stop for a splash of fuel. Albuquerque's late race pace actually enabled the team to call him in for fuel with a mere five minutes remaining and return to the race with a slim lead.

Despite late race pressure, Albuquerque was able to hold on to take the victory.

“I’m completely speechless. With more than two and half hours to go we got a penalty for avoidable contact and went a lap down,” von Moltke said.

“We thought we were down and out but we kept fighting, we kept digging, we kept trying to find any way, and Filipe (Albuquerque) probably put in the best drive I've ever seen a race car driver do in my life, and that's what it really takes to win this race, and to pull it off is really special.

“It was going to close on fuel and when we had to come in for a splash we thought “oh no” but we came back out in the lead and the whole team just erupted. I’ve never seen an atmosphere like that."

The victory is the second major sportscar endurance victory for the PR Newswire-supported driver von Moltke and Alex Job Racing in less than twelve months. The combination was also victorious in the GTC class in the American Le Mans Series in last year's 12 Hours of Sebring.

Today was the second victory for Alex Job Racing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona - the previous one coming in 1999.

“To win a Rolex watch at Daytona is incredible. This was only my fifth time doing this race and it is the first attempt for Olly (Jarvis), Edo (Mortara) and Filipe. Until this year I’d never even led a lap here. I managed to do that in my stint and now to come away with a victory is just amazing," von Moltke said.

“I’ve got a great relationship with Audi and I’m thrilled to be a part of their first win here at the Daytona International Speedway. To get to drive with these three guys was a great experience they have already become some of my best friends in two weeks. They really are some of the best drivers I've ever got the honor to work with.

“I've always really enjoyed and loved driving for Alex (Job). Everyone on the team really gets along, and I've always said chemistry is the most important part of winning any race, especially Sebring or Daytona or Petit or any of those races.

"To be standing here on the podium as a winner at the Rolex 24 at Daytona is quite surreal. I have to say a big thanks to everyone who has helped my career including everyone at PR Newswire. Their backing and support has played a key role in my career so far.

“Of course everyone at Alex's team and everyone at Audi. We all had one goal this weekend and we all worked together towards that goal.”

Photo credit: Audi Media

von Moltke teamed with Audi factory stars for Rolex 24 at Daytona

Dion von Moltke Press Release

GRAND-AM Rolex Series hot shoe Dion von Moltke is ready to team up with a trio of Audi factory stars for an assault on this weekend's 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

von Moltke will drive the No. 24 WeatherTech Audi R8 GRAND-AM with PR Newswire alongside Italian, Edoardo Mortara; Brit, Oliver Jarvis and Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque. The quartet were consistently fast at the recent "Roar before the 24" pre-season test in early January - kicking off the event by being third fastest in the opening session and repeating the effort in the final run of the weekend with a time of 1 minute, 49.887 seconds. The 22-year-old von Moltke has a unique opportunity at the Rolex to be teamed with three of Audi's top young stars. The 25-year-old Mortara finished fifth in last year's DTM championship with two wins.

Former A1GP race winner Albuquerque (aged 27) also enjoyed a strong season in 2012 finishing just outside the top 10 in 11th - beating the likes of David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher in the standings. After four seasons of DTM competition, the 29-year-old Jarvis switched to the FIA GT1 World Championship with Audi last season and also drove their P1 class R18 prototype at the 24 Hours of Le Mans where he finished third with Marco Bonanomi and Mike Rockenfeller. von Moltke is looking forward to sharing seat time with three of the hottest stars for the famous German marquee.

"For any driver, the eventual goal is to become a factory driver and for me to be able to work not only with any factory drivers, but some of the best, from an organization like Audi, is an amazing experience," von Moltke said. "Edoardo Mortara, Oliver Jarvis, Filipe Albuquerque... they've been very successful in the DTM, one is driving the R18 prototype and they just had a dominant year. They're also very young and very hungry. They haven't had a long, extensive career with five or six Le Mans wins. This isn't just another race to them. They're coming here and are extremely determined, as is Audi. The energy that they bring with them and the confidence as well really rubs off on the team and on me as well. So it's been really nice being able to work with them and see what they do differently. You can take little points from each driver - you never stop learning from guys you are working with. Each of us have different driving styles and through the data, we're able to pick apart what I do better, what they do better and combine it all together. We not only have an open environment within Alex Job Racing but also within all the Audis here for the Rolex 24. Where we're all working together with data and setups. It's really great to see the teamwork and camaraderie all pushing each other to get faster, and hopefully get an edge on the competition. You not only have to have a quick car, but also be very confident in what you have under you is going to be reliable, in order to push. Not only is Audi and Alex Job Racing really focused on making the car fast, they're also committed to making it reliable."

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of the toughest endurance races on the global calendar. With 59 entries, the number of cars is similar to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the pack is squeezed into a 3.81 miles road course compared to 8.46 miles in France. By racing early in the year during the winter, the Rolex 24 also has considerable more running at night compared to Le Mans - up to 13 hours of the race is contested in the dark.

"As a driver, you used to be able to baby the car around and you'd start pushing only for the last six hours or so. But in reality nowadays, it's really 24 one-hour stints," von Moltke said. "I remember at the start of the race last year, already 30 minutes into the race, people were blocking and fighting for positions and being very aggressive. You never used to see that, but the dynamic of this race has changed. Everyone's flat-out and you need to be flat-out as well and trust that your car will be reliable. Luckily when you work with a manufacturer like Audi and you have a really good team like Alex Job Racing, you have a lot of confidence in that aspect of the race. Going into it, we know we have as good of a chance as anyone else, team-wise and car-wise to make it through the race reliably. The competition is going to be really strong. I think this might be the strongest competition in GT, or even in DP, that we've ever seen for this race."

Despite the strong performance of the Alex Job Racing at the pre-season test, von Moltke is under no illusions as to the big task ahead he and his Audi factory teammates face.

"While we were quick at the test, you unfortunately never really know how you stack up until race day. I think the Porsches are going to be strong, as well as the Ferraris. BMW has a really good lineup and the Stevenson Chevrolet did well last year. There are a lot of cars that might not be ultra-quick around Daytona, but they know how to make it strategy wise. To be able to get a top-5 or even a top-10, you have to be perfect. The drivers cannot make any mistakes and the team cannot make any mistakes. The whole mindset going into this race is that you have to look after your own responsibilities and that's not always easy to do, especially in a big team when there is a lot of pressure. But you have to focus on what your job is and on the task at hand. If everyone does their own jobs to the best of their ability, I think we have as good of a chance as anyone else to go out and win this race. It will really be down to everyone bringing their 'A' game."

Photo credit: Endurance-Info

Positive Daytona tests for Audi R8 GRAND-AM teams

By Tarek Ramchani

Daytona hosted the annual "Roar Before The Rolex 24" last weekend, the official test days of the Rolex 24 Hours. Audi was well represented at the world famous speedway. Four Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars were there and they did really well.



Audi debuted the R8 GRAND-AM spec car last year in the Rolex Series. It was a really mixed season, as APR Motorsport had a lot of ups and downs with the car. The team really improved during the season and achieved a sensational second in class at the season finale. Later towards the end of 2012 the Audi R8 GRAND-AM again proved that it was heading in the right direction. Audi Sport customer racing and quattro GmbH were among the fastest in the last December tests at Daytona.

Now the Audi Rolex Series squad has increased, welcoming two new comers. Both Alex Job Racing and Rum Bum Racing are fielded a single car each. They join APR Motorsport, the Alabama based team, who is back for the second straight year this time with two cars. All three teams worked very hard in these tests this weekend. Most of the time they were able to enter the top 10 in the very demanding GT class. The R8s were as fast as the world class rivals from the Porsche, Ferrari, Chevrolet and Mazda teams.

The amount of the support from Audi is clearly showing. The Four Ringed brand really wants to add an Audi victory in the Florida classic to their already impressive results with the Audi R8 in the other big endurance classics. Proof of that is the massive presence of Audi works drivers and Audi Sport customer racing engineers who are present with each of the three teams. In end the best result for the Audi R8 GRAND-AM was a fine second place in class, set in the third session with the #52 car of APR Motorsport.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is set for the end of January. And as seen last weekend Audi will be one of the big favourites for the GT class win.

Photo credit: APR Motorsport / Daytona International Speedway