Audi Sport Team ABT Sportsline announces driver line-up for 2010 DTM season

Audi Sport Team ABT Sportsline has announced their driver line-up for the 2010 DTM season today. Changes include Miguel Molina and Oliver Jarvis replacing Tom Kristensen and Katherine Legge. Making his four-ringed debut, 21 year-old Molina becomes Audi's youngest "factory" driver. Full press release after the jump.





Miguel Molina and Oliver Jarvis will replace Tom Kristensen and Katherine Legge in Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline.

At age 21, the Spaniard who hails from Girona near Barcelona is the youngest Audi "factory" driver. After exclusively racing Formula cars so far, he will now compete with a roof above his head for the first time. "For me, a dream is coming true," says Molina. "Driving for Audi in the DTM is simply fantastic. Audi is a fascinating brand with superb cars and the DTM has proven to be one of the world’s toughest racing series. I’ll give everything to live up to the expectations placed on me."

Molina could hardly have wished for a better team in his DTM debut season: like the title defender Timo Scheider, the two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekström, the four-time DTM race winner Martin Tomczyk and the up-and-coming driver Oliver Jarvis, the young Spaniard will compete for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, the team that provided the DTM champion in the three most recent consecutive seasons and, in addition to four current-specification Audi A4 DTM cars (internal designation: "R14 plus"), will again enter a fifth car from the previous model year ("R14") in 2010.

"Withe the new guys we can trust on a strong team again", says team boss Hans-Jürgen Abt. "Although Tom Kristensen left a huge gap in the team, our young Brit will give everything to show a great performance."

Katherine Legge, who contested the series for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline in 2009, will switch to Audi Sport Team Rosberg to become Markus Winkelhock’s new team-mate. "With her strong ambition and her great character, Katherine was a valuable addition to our team. We will keep our fingers crossed for her and I'm sure we will stay good friends anyway."

Source: ABT Sportsline Motorsport

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Tom Kristensen's 2010 Le Mans Countdown - Week 3 - New Audi R15 Plus photo

Our weekly correspondence from Tom Kristensen continues. In this week's letter, TK gives an update from Florida on testing the R15 plus, how he and Audi will only be a spectators at Sebring this weekend and includes a new photo of the R15 plus fresh from testing.



"Hello again! Today I’m writing to you from Florida where we’ve been busy testing our Le Mans car for this year, the R15 plus, since Monday. Before I left for the United States, I made a quick stop at Audi Sport’s workshop in Ingolstadt. Even there I could really feel that the new season is just around the corner and everyone’s just dying for the first race to start – whether they’re part of our sports car team, the DTM squad or in customer sport with the R8 LMS.

This feeling has even been stronger at our first test with the 2010 Audi R15 TDI. Everyone’s fully motivated, focused and has got just one thing on their mind: to give us drivers a car on June 12/13 for the Le Mans 24 hours in which we can fight for victory.

My first impression of the R15 plus is really good: the car simply looks cool and a lot more aggressive than last year’s R15. The split nose is pretty distinctive. Allan, Dindo and I’ve been going back and forth for the past couple of days about what the front reminds us of most: two ivory tusks or the legendary Batmobile. But if it turns out to be the Batmobile, we’re not quite sure yet who of the three of us would be Batman, Robin or the Joker...

But seriously now: the first few miles we reeled off with the R15 plus have been very promising. The car makes a good impression even though the main thing we did this week was to check the wind tunnel results on the track and to collect data. The real job of testing – and that, by the way, will include all the drivers – will only start for us at Sebring next Monday.

Speaking of Sebring – of course it’s a strange feeling to be at the race only as a spectator this year. With five overall wins under my belt, I’m the most successful driver of this American classic. The track isn’t the most modern one in the world but it’s always been a lot of fun for me and my colleagues to drive at Sebring because the atmosphere there is simply great and the circuit is a challenge. I’m hoping to have the chance to race there again in 2011.

It’s a shame that Audi won’t be able to compete at Sebring this year. Audi Sport was originally planning to contest the race with an interim car. But, unfortunately, not all our rivals agreed to that.

The positive thing about it is that now we can fully concentrate on our development work with the R15 plus. And I would have had to skip the race this time anyway because of my injury. I still need crutches to walk. It’s definitely too early for me to contest a race.

Of course I know that I’m still the weakest link in our Le Mans team at the moment. But I’m working feverishly on getting fit again as soon as possible and have got all the support in the world by Dr. Ullrich, Ralf Jüttner, Jo Hausner and all the others who are involved in the R15 project.

Even though I’m not fully fit for racing yet it’s great to be at the tests from day one. Allan, Dindo and I also used this week to optimize our seating position because every little detail counts at Le Mans. I’ll tell you more about that as the race keeps coming closer.

The test here is quite expensive for me, though, because Allan and Dindo have got to stop at every Starbucks – and I’m always the one who has to pay ..."

Yours,
Tom Kristensen

Source: Audi Motorsport

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Audi TT RS reportedly coming to Canada - Limited to 250 units

Canadian Audi enthusiasts may have reason to rejoice today. Autoblog reports that although there were originally no intentions to sell the TT-RS in North America, 250 units are reportedly destined for Canadian consumption. So does this mean that the USA is not far behind? Well we wouldn't jump to any conclusions, though there's now a bit more hope.

Source: Monvolant via Autoblog

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2010 Audi A4 DTM nearly unchanged from last year - development freeze relieves Audi’s budget

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. For the 2010 DTM season, Audi has made the decision to continue competition with the Audi A4 DTM R14. Considering the R14 and R14 'plus' have remained unbeaten so far - Timo Scheider won two consecutive titles in the two most recent model generations - why mess with success. Besides, Audi's 'freeze' on technical development of all DTM vehicles, could result in a reduction of field costs by nearly 30%. Audi refers to this as "maximum efficiency."




Press Release:

DTM countdown: development freeze relieves Audi’s budget

- Five weeks to go before the 2010 DTM season starts
- Audi A4 DTM nearly unchanged compared with last year
- Potential for reduction of fielding costs more than 30 percent

Ingolstadt, March 18, 2010 – The 2010 DTM season that will start at the Hockenheimring on April 25, 2010 is marked by maximum efficiency: Audi will compete with the known model generations of the Audi A4 DTM and is expecting a potential to reduce the fielding cost by more than 30 percent without the sport losing any of its attractiveness to fans, media, drivers and teams. The freeze on the technical development of all DTM vehicles has enabled this step.

The Audi A4 DTM R14 model from the 2008 season and its evolution, the R14 plus from 2009, have remained unbeaten so far: Timo Scheider won two consecutive titles in the two most recent model generations. Audi will compete with the same vehicles again in the 2010 season because a progressive moratorium on developments that was decided in August 2009 has precluded the design changes which are typically made in motorsport from year to year.

This is not the first time for the most popular international touring car race series to set standards in this regard: DTM history saw its first major freeze on developments to relieve budgets as early as in 2006. Currently, the development has been drastically limited in three phases: since August 17, 2009 – the Monday after the race at the Nürburgring – no changes to aerodynamics and the vehicle’s entire mechanical system except for the dampers have been allowed. Neither have any modifications to the engines that were sealed for the whole 2009 racing season been permitted since then. Since March 1, 2010 the damper specifications have been prescribed by the regulations as well.

From the phase up to the development freeze, three different configurations are now available in the area of aerodynamics which may be used depending on the track requirements. The other work during the winter was primarily focused on optimizing the use of the Dunlop tires.

To enable full compliance checks, each manufacturer has deposited all of its parts in a discrete sealed container provided by the German Motorsport Federation (DMSB), which is present at each venue and contains the reference parts. The designs in the form of CAD data records have been deposited with the DMSB as well.

Consequently, there will be no preparation of – typically four – new race vehicles for the new season, nor the usual continuation of development activities to improve performance capabilities. This has resulted in significant development cost reductions. Mattias Ekström, Martin Tomczyk, Markus Winkelhock and Alexandre Prémat will continue to drive their race cars from 2009. Oliver Jarvis will take over Tom Kristensen’s vehicle. Mike Rockenfeller will take the wheel of the car previously driven by Oliver Jarvis. DTM rookie Miguel Molina has received the A4 driven by Katherine Legge last year, while the Briton will drive Mike Rockenfeller’s previous car. Only title defender Timo Scheider has received an A4 DTM (chassis number R14-606) which has not been used in any races before.

When the Audi "factory” drivers hit the track at Valencia, Spain, from Wednesday to Saturday next week for the official DTM tests, the technical equation for set-up work will contain many known quantities for the first time. Nevertheless, the individual work of hunting for tenths and hundredths of a second will start from scratch again for every driver and all engineers – particularly since the circuit at Valencia is new territory for the DTM.

Source: Audi Motorsport

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Video: National Geographic explores the Audi R8 on Megafactories

Take a look as National Geographic's Megafactories journeys to Neckarsulm and shows what goes into the heart of the Audi R8. Commenting on the R8's 'transparent hood,' Jürgen Königstedt, Audi head of V8 and V10 development remarks "the V8 and the V10 engines are true eye-catchers and there's no reason for us to hide them." Well put Jürgen, well put indeed.



For those of you living in the US, you may be wondering what "Megafactories" is. I believe it is the UK equivalent of the American "Ultimate Factories."

Also, we managed to find the full episode online here.

Source: National Geographic

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St. Patrick's Day Green Audi Collective

First off, we'd like to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! In honor of a day marked by ugly green sweaters, emerald-dyed beer and crowded pubs, we figured a homage of sorts was due. Albeit, Audi is German brand - but as they say, everyone's Irish on St. Paddy's Day. So here's a collection of Audis that all share one special characteristic - the color green.

Java Green Audi RS6


Java Green Audi R8


"Limetime Green Pearl" Biodiesel-powered Audi TT (get it, it's not only green in color)


Signal Green Audi S3


Green Audi 100 LS


Green B5 Audi A4 Avant (RS4 look)


Green (pea soup comes to mind) Audi 50 LS


"Porsche GT3" Green MTM Audi R8


Java Green Audi TT


and last but not least... Jack Baruth's one-of-a-kind, 1973 Porsche Green, Audi S5





Photo sources: R8, TT, RS6, S3, 100LS, A4 Avant, 50LS, Java TT, Baruth's S5

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Audi A5 Sportback tuned by Digi-Tec

We found this Digi-Tec tuned Audi A5 Sportback over at the Dutch Audi blog, AudiBlog.nl. It seems that details and photos are pretty minimal for now; in fact, judging from the photo, it seems that the car is still in development. Details of Digi-Tec's A5 Sportback after the jump.

According to AudiBlog.nl, Digi-Tec's enhancements to boost the A5 Sportback's horsepower from 240 hp to 274 hp and torque is bumped from 368 lb/ft to 428 lb/ft. All of this should be good for a 165 mph top speed. Pretty impressive for a mere €1149.

When more information becomes available, we'll be sure to post an update.

Source: Digi-Tec via AudiBlog.nl

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