Audi R13 enters GT Championship in Norway

By Johan Laubscher

The Norwegian NBF GT Championship got underway at Våler this past weekend. This series has seen a number of very interesting Audi cars in recent years, all of which were privately entered. This season opener had another new and very special Audi car competing.

Three Audis were present at the event. The first two Audis also competed in the series last year. An Audi 80 driven by Eivind Nernes and the Audi A5 3.0 TDI driven by Per Støldal. The Audi A5 has also previously been test driven by Tom Kristensen at a Shell promotional event.

The third Audi at the event was an Audi R13. Jan Hroar Bjørklund drove the R13 and it is a great addition to the Norwegian series. This is the second Audi R13 to appear in competition this year, following the R13 which was acquired by Jose Antonio Lopez-Fombona for the Spanish Hillclimb Championship. More can be read about the Spanish R13 HERE.

The Norwegian season opener saw good results from Per Støldal in the Audi A5. He achieved second place (GT4 class) in race one followed by two more top five results. Jan Hroar Bjørklund, driving the R13, retired from the first race after sustaining damage and finished eighth in races two and three. The Audi 80 was not classified as a finisher in any of the three races on the day. The results can be seen HERE.

It is great to see these older and retired Audi race cars still competing outside of the DTM. The Audi R13 is the 2007 Audi A4 DTM (B7) car, the same version which took Mattias Ekström to the 2007 DTM driver’s title. These cars were seen in the DTM from 2007 until 2009, when they were last officially run by the Kolles DTM team. In recent years a number of older Audi A4 DTM cars have been run by private teams in many European series. These included the R11, R12 and R12 plus models, but the R13 was only seen again in 2012, when the Czech BRT team competed with a R13 in the Czech MMČR series. The two cars in Spain and Norway now add to the list of private R13 appearances. The Audi R14 and R14 plus (2008 & 2009 A4 DTM cars) are now the only modern Audi DTM cars which have not yet been acquired and raced privately.

More information:

GT Racing - NBF GT Championship wesbite
GT Racing - NBF GT Championship Facebook page

Photo credit: RaceFoto.se / GT Racing - NBF GT Championship wesbite [Images linked]

Video: Audi R13 in the Spanish Hillclimb Championship

By Johan Laubscher

The Spanish Hillcimb Championship has been the scene for many Audi race cars in the last decade. The Audi A4 STW (Super Touring) has been a very popular choice of car amongst the competitors. For 2013 a very special Audi race car has been added to the series.

One of the long-time drivers, who has been competing with Audis in this series, is Jose Antonio Lopez-Fombona, competing with his Audi A4 STW since 2002. He is a multiple hillclimb champion and has been loyal to Audi A4 Touring cars for over a decade. For 2013 Fombona has decided to retire his older A4 STW, having sold it to another competitor. This decision does not mean the end for Fombona and his hillclimb racing with Audis. He has acquired an Audi R13, and will be competing with the car in Spain this year.

The Audi R13 is the 2007 Audi A4 DTM (B7) car, the same version which took Mattias Ekström to the 2007 DTM driver’s title. Fombona debuted his A4 DTM at the end of April and will continue to compete in the Spanish Hillclimb Championship this year. The car has a beautiful white, grey and orange livery. It is wonderful to see these older race cars still competing.

A number of YouTube videos featuring Fombona’s Audi A4 DTM, including an onboard video, have been embedded below. 

Photo credit: Screenshots from this video

Audi teams do the Harlem Shake

By Johan Laubscher


The Harlem Shake has been a video phenomenon spreading all over the internet. All kinds of different versions have been made by people from around the world. The short video clip performance has even been adopted by three top Audi racing teams. 

The first Audi team to release a Harlem Shake video was APR in North America. The team's video featured a number of cars in their workshop, including an Audi R8 GRAND-AM. ABT Sportsline was the second Audi team to release a Harlem Shake which featured their mechanics having some fun with two Audi A4 DTM cars. The third video to come to light is that of WRT. The Belgian team revealed their Harlem Shake today and it features their mechanics with one of the team's Audi R8 LMS ultra cars. We have embedded all three videos below. Enjoy the lighter side of the Audi racing teams having some fun.

Photo credit: Screenshot from the above embedded WRT video.

Artwork: Audi A4 IMSA GTO

By Tarek Ramchani

When looking at numbers the A4 DTM "R14" is the most successful Audi race car in the brand's DTM history. The car was based on the B8 generation model of the Audi A4. The car gave the Four Rings three championship titles in its four year life between 2008 and 2011 . Two titles with Timo Scheider in 2008 and 2009 for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. The final title came with Martin Tomzcyk in 2011 for Audi Sport Team Phoenix. The DTM rules changed at the end of 2011 and the R14 has been retired and replaced by the Audi A5 DTM R17.

This victorious DTM machine is also available in the famous Forza Motorsport 4 video game for the Xbox 360. Here is a very nice render by yuli288 featuring the Audi A4 in old style Audi Sport colors. This R14 is carrying the livery of the legendary 90 quattro IMSA GTO.

Photo credit:  yuli288 on forzamotorsport.fr

 

Video: Closer look at Phoenix Racing

By Johan Laubscher

Phoenix Racing have always been one of the top German race teams. In recent years they have been closely associated with Audi by running factory Audi teams in the DTM and GT racing. The team is very professional and operates with two types of car, the DTM Audis (A4 and A5 DTM) and the R16 (R8 LMS and ultra). During 2011 Motorvision, a German television network, visited the headquarters of Phoenix Racing and produced a video feature. They have just uploaded this video onto their official YouTube channel. We included the embedded video below. It is a great watch, but it is unfortunately only available in German. Luckily the images speak a universal language as they allow us a glimpse into the operations of this Audi team, the video is well worth the watch.