The weather and traffic dominate Bathurst

Melbourne Performance Centre Press Release

The weather and traffic dominate Bathurst
Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS ultra
10 February, 2013

After coming so close in 2011 and falling foul of the weather after leading in 2012, Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff entered the 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour as one of the firm favourites. On paper they looked the goods, with support from Australian Audi Sport Customer Racing agent Melbourne Performance Centre [MPC], the car that won the 2012 event, and a co-driver with a 12-Hour winning pedigree.. all the pieces were there.

Joined by fellow Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra pilots Mark Eddy and Marc Cini, Dean Grant and reigning 12-Hour winner Christopher Mies [D], they looked very much the benchmark team, but as Bathurst has done so many times in the past, you can never discount ‘the mountain’.

Quick throughout practice, the two MPC cars focused more on the long game, preferring to send out their car owners than circulate with their ‘pro’ drivers looking to break records.

Luff though was quick early, topping the second practice session, but admitted that the chances of completing a string of quick laps was going to be almost impossible in a field of more than 50 cars, with as much as 45-seconds separating one end of the field from the other.

“Traffic will be a big key in this race,” he admitted. “There are so many cars on the circuit, and such a big disparity between speeds that you’re really going to have to be patient.”

They would turn out to be prophetic words, with traffic - and in the end, weather - impacting the overall result.

By qualifying both teams were in the ball-park, but neither could match the pace of GT lap-record holder Allan Simonsen, although the youngest member of the team - Christopher Mies - felt he could have gone much faster.

“In the end, fifth was the best we could do, but I know I could have done a low six, and if the restriction on lap times [a 2:06 benchmark was set as the fastest lap time, anyone below that was handed a 50kg weight penalty for the race] wasn’t there, I think we also had a five in the car.”

Whilst Luff and Lowndes received two flying laps apiece, the bulk of the 90-minute qualifying session went to Salmon, although Luff’s flyer - which included an excursion into the grass on the exit of turn one - was enough to give them a sixth row start.

With renowned V8 Supercar strategist Ken Douglas wearing MPC colours too for the weekend, a variety of scenarios played out about the start of the race. In the end Rod Salmon and Dean Grant started their respective cars, and after double-stinting the crazy opening stanza of the race, they were comfortably within reach of the leaders.

The race hadn’t even gone long enough for the tyres to have gained much in temperature, when the first Safety Car came onto the circuit after impact between the Maranello Ferrari and a Class B Posrche. The subsequent clean up took a handful of laps, before a second incident occurred at the start of Conrod Straight on the restart, bringing to a close the opening round of the combined Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, and with it, a sixth placed finish towards Salmon’s championship aspirations.

“As we expected it’s been a very frantic start to the race, the back-markers have been the big issue so far, but as a fast car out there, you’ve got to be able to clear them,” Warren Luff said. “In the last incident we saw a back-marker remove two of the faster cars from the race on the run onto Conrod Straighht, but that’s part of this style of racing, you’ve got fast cars and you’ve got slow cars. As I’ve said all along, this race will be won by traffic management, not by outright speed.”

Salmon looked fresh and buoyant after his long opening stint. “Our strategy was not to run with the fast guys, we knew that they were going to go hard, but we knew there’d be an early Safety Car, and that’s what happened.

“I was getting quicker as I became more comfortable in the car, and in the end, when the team asked me to go a little quicker, I could find that speed, but I was still well within my comfort level.

The two MPC Audis had been running together for much of the stint. With Salmon working his way forward, and Grant dropping back a couple of paces, aided by an errant Maranello Ferrari.

“He clipped me after he spun,” Grant explained. “That gave me a left front puncture. It was a bit of a shame obviously, and we missed the Safety Car by one lap, so we went a lap down as a result.”

With Grant out, Cini climbed in for his maiden stint, but like his team-mate, his opening session ended prematurely after a hit from another competitor in the Dipper which forced him to pit head of time for repairs.

“We put Christopher in the car then to assess it rather than Mark Eddy, as was originally scheduled, just to make sure everything is okay.”

From Mies immediate pace it was clear the Audi was still strong, the two-time Bathurst winner charging back into the top ten before handing over mid-race to Mark Eddy.

“You’ve got to get to the end, but unfortunately there’s been a lot of Safety Cars, probably more than we’ve ever had in the past,” Eddy suggested. “The size of the field mixed with the huge speed difference between cars has made it a tough day. Towards the later stages in the day it was getting pretty warm in the car which makes you a bit more fatigued - its been a tough day at the office for a lot of people.

“We’ve had some dramas with the car, but that happens in a 12-Hour, but it’s still going. I think to the credit of how good the car is, it’s had a couple of big hits, yet it’s still quite drivable.”

That wasn’t the end to the dramas for the #9 car, with Grant copping a big hit from the race leading Clearwater Ferrari in the closing stages on the run into the final corner.

“The boys told me afterwards it was the race leader, that’s incredible, he dove in from way back and went well past the brake marker. I spun and tried to restart, but it went into limp mode, so I had to shut it down and reset the system.”

After that the job was down to Mies to make up the lost ground, and the young German showed exactly why he is on Audi’s payroll as a hired-gun.

He didn’t have it easy though, as with his return to the car came an aggressive weather pattern which the weather bureau suggested included heavy hail.

Fortunately the hail didn’t come, but the heavy rain certainly added to the degree of difficulty, as did the opening downpour, which disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

“I honestly have to say, I was waiting for the rain, because we had our rain tyres on - I think one hour and 45 minutes, even when it was dry, so every lap I crossed the start-finish line, I just hoped ‘let it rain, let it rain’,” Mies explained afterwards.

“Unfortunately the rain came 20 minutes too late, but fifth is good, we ended where we started. All of the boys did a fantastic job. We had some issues. 

We lost first gear and our pit limiter, and we had contact with cars and walls, so for that I think we can be happy.”

Watching the young German battle in the closing stages with DTM ace Bernd Schneider in the slippery conditions was one of the highlights, as was his pace in the challenging conditions, his fifth placed finish earning him the respect of his team, and an invite back for 2014. “We’ve already sent the invitation,” Cini admitted with a grin post-race.

Whilst the Network Clothing/Hallmarc R8 LMS ultra managed to salvage a solid run from a difficult day, across in the Skwirk.com.au pit, things weren’t quite so buoyant.

After Warren Luff returned the car to the lead lap and battled with the Maranello Ferrari and the two Erebus Mercedes, he turned the car back over to Salmon, who unfortunately made contact with the wall on the exit of the Dipper late in his final session.

“I wasn’t 100% by that stage,” he admitted afterwards. “I was starting to get fatigued. The cool suit had failed, the air hose had come off my helmet and the drinking fluid was hot. I radioed the boys a couple of laps before the hit saying I was struggling with the heat, but we were working to a strategy, and it was working well.

“I knew I wasn’t hitting all my markers like I was in that opening double stint, but I hung on. It wasn’t a big hit, but I came straight into the pits afterwards. The team replaced a control arm, and sent Craig out, but fairly early in his session a bigger problem developed,”

“I went across Skyline and into the Esses and the car snapped around on me and put me into the fence,” Lowndes confirmed. “It appears to have broken the left rear upright or a link, and that caused the spin, which subsequently put the other side into the wall and broke that upright as well.

“It wasn’t that big an impact to be honest. All-in-all its disappointing because the car was quick, the car was good - it was much better than the car we ran last year.”

Fortunately, despite the attitude of the rear end of the car, the team felt that it was repairable in time for Clipsal, where Salmon will return to the seat for the second round of the Championship.

“Like Craig said, we had great car speed, and the ace card we had was the longevity of the Pirelli tyre,” Luff added. “It seemed to be able to cope with a double stint a lot better than it did in the past. It’s a disappointing way to end the race, because we were certainly in with a shot at the podium at the end of the day, but that’s endurance racing.”

For the MPC team, it’s a relatively fast turnaround to the second round of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli, with 100 minutes of racing scheduled for the February 28-March 3 weekend.

Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour
1. Schneider/Jaeger/Roloff (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 268-laps
2. Weng Sun/Baird/Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 267-laps
3. Quinn/Van Gisbergen/Kingsley (VIP Petfoods Porsche Type 997 GT3-R)
4. Kristofferson/Primat/Simonson (Pheonix Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) - 266-laps
5. Eddy/Cini/Grant/Mies (Network Cloth/Hallmarc Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) - 263-laps
6. Slade/Holdsworth/Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3)
7. Wyatt/Rugolo/Cioci (AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 261-laps
8. Conroy/Winslow/Huff (Peter Conroy Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 260-laps
9. Johnson/Reid/Russell (Hunter Sports Group Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) - 257-laps
10. Koutsoumidis/McInnes/Middleton/O’Young (Equity-One Audi R8 LMS) - 255-laps
17. Zugel/Lux/Julian (Dragonspeed Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) - 233-laps
DNF. Patterson/Li/Hartley (United Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) - 259-laps
DNF. Salmon/Lowndes/Luff (Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 162-laps

Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Rnd#1 - Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour (50-minutes)
1. Quinn/Quinn/Van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Porsche Type 997 GT3-R) - 14-laps
2. Edwards/Bowe/Simonsen/Salo (Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
3. Manolios/Murphy/Capelli (Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3) 
4. Koutsoumidis/McInnes/Middleton/O’Young (Equity-One Audi R8 LMS)
5. McMillan/Richards/Lilley (GB Galvanizing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)
6. Salmon/Lowndes/Luff (Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS ultra)
7. Weng Sun/Baird/Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
8. Slade/Holdsworth/Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3)
9. Schneider/Jaeger/Roloff (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3)
10. Tony Quinn (VIP Petfoods Aston Martin Vantage GT3) - 11-laps
11. Lago/Russell/Kox (JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)
12. Michael Hovey (ESP Print Management Ginetta G50 GT4) - 13-laps
13. Ben Foessel (Motor School Porsche Type 996 GT3 Cup)
14. Mark Griffith (Griffith Corporation Ginetta G50 GT4) - 5-laps

Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
GT Championship points (after round one of six)
1. Klark Quinn/Shane Van Gisbergen (54 points), 2. Peter Edwards/John Bowe/Allan Simonsen/Mika Salo (50), 3. Jim Manolios/Greg Murphy/Ivan Capelli (37), 4. Dean Koutsoumidis/Andrew McInnes/Simon Middleton/Darryl O’Young (30), 5. Justin McMillan/Steven Richards/Ross Lilley (28), 6. Tim Slade/Lee Holdsworth/Peter Hackett (26), 7. Craig Baird/Mok Weng Sun/Matt Griffin (25), 8. Rod Salmon/Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff (21), 9. Alex Roloff/Bernd Schneider/Thomas Jaeger (19), 10. Roger Lago/David Russell/Peter Kox (16), 11. Tony Quinn (12)

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Melbourne Performance Centre is proudly supported by Network Clothing, Hallmarc Developments, Pirelli Australia, Skwirk.com.au, One World Bar, The Audi Race Experience, PH Motorsport Trailers - supplier of the new Audi Sports Customer racing transporter, BluFi Wireless Australia, Questek Australia and Top Gun Restorations.

The Audi Race Experience
Get behind the wheel yourself to discover a new level of excitement with the Audi Driving Experience. Refine your technique, develop more skilled control at higher speeds and pursue the ultimate in performance.

From advanced programs, right through to the Audi race experience, there is a program to suit every kind of driver.

The Audi Driving Experience makes use of a range of Audi’s vehicles, from sports road cars right through to their Bathurst winning race vehicles. From Audi’s advanced driving courses, you can move through to the Audi sportscar experience and finally, the Audi race experience where you can slip behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 racecar that holds the mantel of Australian GT and Bathurst 12-Hour Champion.

To find out more, call Melbourne Performance Centre today.

Melbourne Performance Centre
521 Mountain Highway,
Bayswater VIC 3153
Phone: 03 9738 2294
Fax: 03 9738 2296
info@melbourneperformance.com
www.melbourneperformance.com

Photo credit: MPC 

After strong pace throughout - heartbreaking end to Bathurst 12 Hour for United Autosports

United Autosports Press Release

After battling on track for eleven hours and fifty minutes, the United Autosports team had to admit defeat when an incident on track saw Brendon Hartley in the No 23 Audi R8 LMS Ultra pit for repairs with ten minutes to go.

Mark Patterson took the start and managed to keep out of trouble and stay close to the leaders. All three drivers did an incredible job and kept up a strong pace, bringing the car as high as fifth from a 14th place qualifying position, putting themselves in contention for a solid result. Alain Li and Brendon Hartley put in strong performances and at one stage the United Autosports No 23 was the highest placed Audi on track. With the predicted wet weather coming into play, it was an action-packed final half hour. Then with a mere 10 minutes left, the skies opened again and virtually all of the cars stopped for wet weather tyres. With conditions on the track worsening, Brendon slid into the wall and had to return to the pits. Despite the best efforts of the team who worked frantically to repair the car, they were unable to get it back on track to take the flag.

Erik Petersen (USA) Engineer, United Autosports
"It was a really tough race this year with traffic and some very questionable driving from some of the lower classes but in the end it is the same for everyone. Mark, Alain and Brendon drove a fantastic race. The weather played its hand in the last hour and twenty minutes that had everyone scrambling for wets and then dry, then back to wets in the last 10 minutes. We were hoping to just hang on as the rain was heavy up at the top of the mountain but less in the pit lane. With 8 minutes left we unfortunately made slight contact with the wall and that ended our day in pit lane with a damaged left rear wheel. All the team did a fantastic job in the pits with flawless stops, and the drivers delivered on the track. Just not on our cards this year. But, a great effort by everyone."

Alain Li (F), Born: Caen, France. Lives: Hong Kong:
"The Bathurst event just gets better and better. I had a memorable weekend with the team and with my buddy Mark. Our teammate Brendon impressed me not only with his speed but with his modesty and team spirit. I am hoping he can join Mark and me at Spa. The race was filled with as much drama as any I have ever seen let alone was part of. Our car was not as quick as some of the others but by being consistent we found ourselves running fifth and the leading Audi by the 9th hour that was a great achievement and certainly had the attention of the pit lane. Unfortunately, when the weather gods decided to make the race a little more interesting we were unlucky and got caught out with 10 minutes to go when a storm erupted while we were coming in for wets. I hope that United will come back again next year and that they will let me drive with them again. I could not imagine doing the Bathurst 12 Hours with anyone else. Perhaps it will be third time lucky for Mark and me."

Mark Patterson (SA), Born: Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Lives: Bronxville, NY, USA
"It was 11 hours and 50 minutes of flawless Audi parts, mechanics operating on all cylinders and all three drivers putting in lap times they could only have dreamed about. Problem is, this is a 12 hour race and a rainstorm right at the end created an unmanageable situation on slicks. Nicking a wall on Mount Panorama is like detonating a hand grenade at a Guy Fawkes party. Just a mess. I'm up for any endurance race with Alain, my trusted partner (in the car I mean), and this hot shot discovery, Brendon Hartley. What a great team and what a great disappointment for United Autosports.

Brendon Hartley (NZ), Born: Palmerston North Lives: NZ
"We had problems before the car went off. We had swapped between slicks and wet weather tyres, but it really didn't matter. The car was still handling poorly. We actually went back to slicks at one point, and in hindsight we should have gone back to wet weather tyres a lap earlier. However, I'm not sure that it would have made a difference. When the rear finally broke, I was just a passenger. I'm really disappointed for the crew and for my co-drivers. They all did a great job. I was quite happy that we were able to be the top Audi for several hours. Had it not been for getting caught in the back for three or four of the safety car sessions we would have been fighting for a podium spot."

Richard Dean (GB), Managing Director & Co-Owner of United Autosports
"With just ten minutes to go after such a tremendous showing by the whole team the result is heartbreaking and hard to take. Brendon had no chance on slicks with the dramatic changes in conditions. The winds and rain were almost of biblical proportions at the end! This is a tough place but despite the heartache at the end, I am already thinking how we can improve for next year."

Photo credit: United Autosports

Follow the Bathurst 12 Hour LIVE

By Johan Laubscher 

The Bathurst 12 Hour is taking place this weekend. Audi R8 LMS cars have been victorious at Mount Panorama for the last two years, and no less than seven Audis will line up for the start this year. We have included a collection of links below with which you will be able to follow the race live. 

The race is scheduled to start today at 21:00 CET (7:00 am local time in Australia).

Live Video Stream
Audi Live Racing Video Stream Link

B12H Live Video Stream Link       

Live Radio
Radio Le Mans (English)
Sport Audi Radio (German)

Live Timing

Live Timing Link

Facebook

Bathurst 12 Hour on Facebook
Official Audi Sport on Facebook
Audi Motorsport Blog on Facebook

Audi Teams

Melbourne Performance Centre
Phoenix Racing
Peter Conroy Motorsport
United Autosports
DragonSpeed
Minda Motorsport

Twitter
Bathurst 12 Hour on twitter

Official Audi Sport on twitter
Audi Motorsport Blog on twitter
l'endurance on twitter
John Dagys on twitter
Jake Yorath on twitter
Jarryd Bermingham on twitter

Websites

Bathurst 12 Hour website
Bathurst 12 Hour on 24H Series website
Event Schedule

Photo by Audi Sport Media

Video: Audi onboard videos from 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour

By Johan Laubscher

Seven Audis are competing at the Bathurst 12 Hour this weekend. The cars have done well so far and will be trying to continue Audi’s stronghold on the event, after cars wearing the four-rings have taken victory in 2011 and 2012.

Bathurst is a beautiful race track and even more so when these wonderful GT3 cars are competing. Below we have included some of the Audi onboard videos which are available. The videos feature Craig Lowndes (#6 Audi), Rob Huff (#14 Audi) and Warren Luff (#6 Audi) respectively. These videos allow a glimpse of this scenic track from the perspective of the Audi drivers.

Photo by MPC

MPC and Audi still on target at Bathurst

Melbourne Performance Centre Press Release

Still on target.
Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS ultra
 9 February, 2013

By the close of qualifying the twin Melbourne Performance Centre [MPC] Audi R8 ultras were holding down positions five and 12, but whilst some were battling over starting position and glory, the MPC team were satisfied with the result and pace of their cars.. well, at least some of them were..

“I wanted pole,” factory German Audi star and reigning 12-Hour winner Christoper Mies admitted matter-of-factly. “We had trouble with the alternator on my out lap.. I only got 100 metres up Mountain Straight and the car stopped. By the time they replaced it, the radio also stopped working, so when I hit the track I was a little bit aggressive, and a little bit angry.”

His sideways exit of turn one on his first flying lap suggested that he was on a charge, but like MPC team-mates Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff, he soon fell victim to traffic.

“It wasn’t great, but I found if you were a little more aggressive, you could force the other cars to give you room.

“In the end, fifth was the best we could do, but I know I could have done a low six, and if the restriction on lap times [a 2:06 benchmark was set as the fastest lap time, anyone below that was handed a 50kg weight penalty for the race] wasn’t there, I think we also had a five in the car.

“I’ve never raced on the Pirelli tyre before, but I heard good things about them and it’s true, they have very little drop off and the car is very consistent on them.”

Whilst Mies was clearly the standout in the #9 car, car owners Mark Eddy and Marc Cini, and fellow sports car pilot Dean Grant too were improving with each session, and by the close of the second qualifier, there were smiles all round.

“We’re all within a second of each other, and capable of getting to within five or six seconds of Christopher on race pace,” Mark Eddy admitted. “Personally I like to settle in over a few sessions, but with limited time and four drivers, we don’t really have the luxury, but I think if pushed in the race we could run in the 11s and 12s.”

Across in the Salmon/Lowndes/Luff camp, they too were comfortable with their position.. well, about as comfortable as any driver that has the equipment to be on pole would be given the situation..

“Audi has dominated this event the last two years and we’ve seen the car has great pace through practice and qualifying,” Warren Luff admitted. “We were probably a little bit unlucky in qualifying today that we didn’t get a clear lap to show what the true pace of our car is, but we know we’ve got a car that is going to be incredibly fast in the race.

“It’s one of those things. Ego-wise you’d like to go out and have a serious crack in qualifying to see what the car can do, but there’s no trophies for qualifying, it’s Sunday afternoon that we’re about.”

“12^th isn’t where we wanted to be, we were expecting to be in the top six,” Craig Lowndes added. “We are disappointed, but it’s very difficult to get a clear lap around this circuit, especially with so many cars.

“We ran to our schedule. I did my allocated two laps, and then we wanted to get Rod in the car to get him comfortable and do the bulk of the 90-minute session, and then throw Luffy in for a couple of laps at the end. We gave him a new set of Pirellis and sent him out, but he buggered up turn one. He did go faster, but we know the car is so much better than where we’re starting.”

“Look I’m very comfortable now,” two-time race winner Rod Salmon admitted. “I’ve had some time in the car, some time on the simulator, and I’m happy with my pace. I got into the low 13s, and feel I could easily have been in the 12s. The car is perfect, and I think we’re pretty well placed, but anything can happen across 12-Hours..!”

With the team keeping a close eye on the weather, early predictions suggest that the car owners are likely to start the race, with the ‘hired-guns’ likely to close out the event and put the teams in a position to challenge for the win.

Current weather predictions suggest a clear start to the day and 33 degrees (celcius) before showers develop ahead of a possible late storm.

Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli
Rnd#1 - Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour - combined Qualifying (sessions 1/2)

1. Slade/Holdsworth/Hackett (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 2:06.2730
2. Edwards/Bowe/Simonsen/Salo (Il Bello Rosso Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:06.4839
3. Weng Sun/Baird/Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
- 2:06.8857
4. Lago/Russell/Kox (JBS Swift Lamborghini Gallardo LP600)
- 2:06.9615
5. Eddy/Cini/Grant/Mies (MPC/Network Cloth./Hallmarc Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:06.9835
6. Schneider/Jaeger/Roloff (Erebus Racing Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) - 2:07.2389
7. Kristoffersson/Primat/Simonson (Pheonix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:07.5672
8. Quinn/Quinn/Van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Porsche Type 997 GT3-R) - 2:07.6015
9. McMillan/Richards/Lilley (GB Galvanizing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600) - 2:07.6838
10. Wyatt/Rugolo/Cioci (AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:07.9320

12. Salmon/Lowndes/Luff (MPC/Skwirk.com.au Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:08.7569
13. Koutsoumidis/McInnes/Middleton/O’Young (Equity-One Audi R8 LMS) - 2:08.8931
14. Patterson/Li/Hartley (United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 2:08.9790
15. Conroy/Huff/Winslow (Peter Conroy Motorsport Audi R8 LMS) - 2:09.8581
16. Zugel/Lux/Julian (Dragonspeed Audi R8 LMS) - 2:11.0050

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Melbourne Performance Centre is proudly supported by Network Clothing, Hallmarc Developments, Pirelli Australia, Skwirk.com.au, One World Bar, The Audi Race Experience, PH Motorsport Trailers - supplier of the new Audi Sports Customer racing transporter, BluFi Wireless Australia, Questek Australia and Top Gun Restorations.

The Audi Race Experience
Get behind the wheel yourself to discover a new level of excitement with the Audi Driving Experience. Refine your technique, develop more skilled control at higher speeds and pursue the ultimate in performance.

From advanced programs, right through to the Audi race experience, there is a program to suit every kind of driver.

The Audi Driving Experience makes use of a range of Audi’s vehicles, from sports road cars right through to their Bathurst winning race vehicles. From Audi’s advanced driving courses, you can move through to the Audi sportscar experience and finally, the Audi race experience where you can slip behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 racecar that holds the mantel of Australian GT and Bathurst 12-Hour Champion.

To find out more, call Melbourne Performance Centre today.

Melbourne Performance Centre
521 Mountain Highway,
Bayswater VIC 3153
 Phone: 03 9738 2294
Fax: 03 9738 2296
info@melbourneperformance.com
www.melbourneperformance.com

Photo credit: MPC 

Positive qualifying for Audi teams at Bathurst 12 Hour

By Tarek Ramchani

Qualifying for the Bathurst 12 Hour took place today. Audi dominated most of the sessions yesterday, topping two out of three free practice sessions. The Audi Sport customer racing teams were not able to top the time sheets again.

The overall pole position went to # Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 from Erbus Motorsport. The best ranked Audi team was the #9 Network Clothing / Hallmarc. Christopher Mies, the 2011 and 2012 overall event winner with Audi, was able to qualify the "Red" Melbourne Performance Centre R8 LMS ultra in a very honorable 5th position. The defending champions from Phoenix Racing will start from seventh place on the grid. Only two Audi cars entered into the top 10, however the R8 LMS strength, as seen in countless endurance events, is consistency and reliability. Adding to that some strong driver line-ups and the Audi squad will be one of the favourites for the overall win. Qualifying result are here and here.

Here is how all seven Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars qualified for the Bathurst 12 Hour:

P5 #9 Network Clothing / Hallmarc

P7 #1 Phoenix Racing

P12 #6 Skwirk / Oneworld Bar

P13 #71 Equity-One Mortgage Fund

P14 #23 United Autosports

P15 #14 Peter Conroy Motorsport

P16 #81 DragonSpeed 

Photo credit: Bathurst 12 Hour /Phoenix Racing / United Autosports

MPC Audis right where they want to be at Bathurst

Melbourne Performance Centre

Right where they want to be..
Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS ultra
8 February, 2013

“I would say this is the best prepared I’ve ever come into a Bathurst 12-Hour event,” two-time winner and new Audi R89 recruit Rod Salmon admitted at the close of the opening days practice for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour.

It was a sentiment echoed by both Melbourne Performance Centre [MPC} supported teams, with former GT Champion Mark Eddy suggesting that whilst still getting comfortable in his new car, that he was certainly feeling comfortable ahead of the race.

“Our pace is where we want it to be,” the 2011 race runner-up with then team-mates Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff agreed.

Paired with two-time winner Christoper Mies [D], the Eddy/Cini/Dean Grant car was one of the early pace setters along with Warren Luff, who this years joins Rod Salmon with Craig Lowndes to complete the Skwirk.com.au lineup.

Luff was quick early, topping the second practice session, but admitted that the chances of completing a string of quick laps was going to be almost impossible.

“Traffic will be a big key in this race,” he admitted. “There are so many cars on the circuit, and such a big disparity between speeds that you’re really going to have to be patient.”

“It’s hard to predict with some of the cars which way they’re going to move, so you’ve really got to be cautious,” Craig Lowndes added.

Both drivers were quickly into the 2:09/2:10 bracket and within touch of the leaders and running full tanks, but the focus was more on providing car owner Rod Salmon with valuable seat time.

Salmon relished the extra laps, the two-time 12-Hour race winner [2008/09] settling into a pace in the mid 2:15s. 

“This is a race that’s about racecraft, and not so much about speed,” Salmon said. “I have to be careful not to get sucked into trying to race a faster pace, because at the end of the day, I’m racing guys for a championship, as well as the 12-Hour, so I need to focus on matching the guys I’m actually racing in that championship, and give the car to Warren and Craig to go after the outright race win.”

Whilst Mies adopted the pace-setting role for the Network Clothing/Hallmarc Audi R8 ultra, he turned relatively few laps, leaving the bulk of the three 50-minute practice sessions to his ‘local’ team-mates.

“The car is very nice. I haven’t done too much running on Pirelli tyres before, but I was very impressed with their pace and consistency, so I think we really have a great package for Sundays race.”

“The car is fantastic, no question,” Mark Eddy admitted. “All three of us are running at a similar pace, which is what we were looking for, but I think we’ll all feel more comfortable once we’re into a rhythm and running longer sessions - but that won’t come until race day. All up though, we’re on target and ready for Sunday.” 

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Melbourne Performance Centre is proudly supported by Network Clothing, Hallmarc Developments, Pirelli Australia, Skwirk.com.au, One World Bar, The Audi Race Experience, PH Motorsport Trailers - supplier of the new Audi Sports Customer racing transporter, BluFi Wireless Australia, Questek Australia and Top Gun Restorations.

The Audi Race Experience
Get behind the wheel yourself to discover a new level of excitement with the Audi Driving Experience. Refine your technique, develop more skilled control at higher speeds and pursue the ultimate in performance.

From advanced programs, right through to the Audi race experience, there is a program to suit every kind of driver.

The Audi Driving Experience makes use of a range of Audi’s vehicles, from sports road cars right through to their Bathurst winning race vehicles. From Audi’s advanced driving courses, you can move through to the Audi sportscar experience and finally, the Audi race experience where you can slip behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 racecar that holds the mantel of Australian GT and Bathurst 12-Hour Champion.

To find out more, call Melbourne Performance Centre today.

Melbourne Performance Centre
521 Mountain Highway,
Bayswater VIC 3153
Phone: 03 9738 2294
Fax: 03 9738 2296
info@melbourneperformance.com
www.melbourneperformance.com

Photo credit: MPC

Impressive day 1 for Audi teams at Bathurst 12 Hour

By Tarek Ramchani

The track action started at Mount Panorama on Friday ahead of the Bathurst 12 Hours. Seven Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars are there trying to defend the 2011 and 2012 titles. A big GT3 field has been entered for the Bathurst 12 Hour comprised of challengers and regular Australian GT competitors. Three closely fought practice sessions got proceedings underway, the Audi squad did very well right from the start.

In the first free practice session it was the #9 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Mark Eddy/Mac Cini that was the fastest car of the field. A last lap charge from Christopher Mies, setting a 2.09.8768, put the "Red" Melbourne Performance Center supported R8 on the top, right ahead of a Ferrari 458 GT3. Phoenix Racing who are the defending champions ended in 9th place. The other Audis finished in 7th, 12th, 13th, 16th and 20th.

Results of the first free practice session here.

The second free practice session was a kind of deja vu. A very last lap performance from Warren Luff, driving the #6 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Rod Salmon, ince again gave the Inglstadt brand the lead on the time sheets. A very fast 2:09.3050 lap time from the "Orange" R16 ahead of the reining Australian GT Championship winning Porsche GT3 R car. Phoenix Racing improved from ninth to fifth during the second session. The other R8 LMS cars were 7th, 11th, 14th, 18th and 21st.

Results of the second free practice session here

The third and final session of the day had the #6 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Rod Salmon as the best R16 car in sixth. Phoenix Racing were in the top 10 yet again, ending in 9th place. The other Audi cars were in 12th, 14th, 16th, 19th and 23rd.

Full results of the third free practice session here.

Day 1 at Bathurst was a very positive one for the Audi squad. Two qualifying sessions are set for tomorrow and we hope the Mount Panorama enduro will have a R8 LMS pole position.

Photo credit: Bathurst 12 Hour

Video: Looking back at the 2012 Bathurst 12 Hour

By Johan Laubscher

As the Bathurst 12 Hour is taking place this coming weekend, let us have a look back at Audi’s second victory at the event in 2012. The highlights from the race have been embedded below.

The 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour is set to be another great race at The Mountain. Audi R8 LMS race cars have been victorious at the previous two events (2011 and 2012) and with no less than seven Audis on the gird this year. The previous races were a brilliant showing from the Audi teams and the same can be expected this year.

This is part 1 of 4, watch the rest HERE. 

Photo by Audi Sport Media

Video: Looking back at the 2011 Bathurst 12 Hour

By Johan Laubscher

As the Bathurst 12 Hour is taking place this coming weekend, let us have a look back at Audi’s first victory at the event in 2011. The highlights from the race have been embedded below.

The 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour is set to be another great race at The Mountain. Audi R8 LMS race cars have been victorious at the previous two events (2011 and 2012) and with no less than seven Audis on the gird this year, the brand will be very well represented. The previous races were a brilliant showing from the Audi teams and the same can be expected this year.

Photo by Audi Sport Media

Audi Reunion for Zugel, Lux, and Julian at Bathurst 12 Hour

DragonSpeed Press Release

This week sees the second stop on the DragonSpeed Classic Enduro Challenge world tour of GT3 endurance races, when the Bathurst 12 Hours reunites the driving squad which tasted American Le Mans Series success in 2011. Back then, Christian Zugel and DragonSpeed team principal Elton Julian helped Eric Lux to the LMPC class drivers title. Now the trio will take on the spectacular 4.0-mile Mount Panorama circuit, legendary home of Australia's Bathurst 1000 touring car race, in one of no less than seven Audi R8 LMS and LMS ultra GT3 entries in the 51-strong field.

"Yes, I announced my retirement last fall," Julian said, "but Bathurst has always been right there near the top of my bucket list and, along with the chance to drive with Christian and Eric again, that made the idea of a one-off comeback irresistible. We've also added Mark Scott from the 2011 LMPC program to our fantastic crew from Dubai, so with the management side in excellent hands I can concentrate on driving."

"I have high hopes after my run with DragonSpeed in Dubai," said Eric Lux. "The car was great there, and seeing how the Audis dominated Bathurst last year, I believe we can aim for the win this time. Elton's already brought the team to a very high level, and I'm also impressed with how strong a driver Christian has become. I'm sure our history together will help as we take on the challenge of this amazing track."

Christian Zugel said, "I feel very privileged to be driving at Bathurst with two of my former coaches, who over the years have not only become friends, but helped me to accomplish so much more in the sport than I could have ever hoped. The track and the chance to visit Australia make it even more special."

Photo credit: Endurance-Info