Audi Motorsport Newsletter - 23rd August, 2009

* Christian Abt defends championship lead * Team Kolles narrowly misses podium finish

Christian Abt defends championship lead
 
ADAC GT Masters: Christian Abt defended the ADAC GT Masters championship lead with Team ABT Sportsline’s Audi R8 LMS, although Abt and team mate Jan Seyffarth retired due to a puncture in the first of the two races supporting the 1000 kilometer race at the Nürburgring. With the heaviest car in the entire starter field Abt and Seyffarth clinched a notable second place in the second race on Sunday. With their third place the day before, Frank Kechele and Kuba Giermaziak (ARGO Racing) presented the Audi R8 LMS with yet another podium result.

Team Kolles narrowly misses podium finish
 
LMS: At the 1000 kilometer race at the Nürburgring the privateer team Kolles scored its best result to date in the European based Le Mans Series (LMS) with fourth place overall. After a faultless race Andy Meyrick, Narain Karthikeyan and Charles Zwolsman finished fourth in their Audi R10 TDI behind the three Aston Martin "factory" cars. After almost six hours of racing only 14.5 seconds separated them from a podium finish. The second Audi R10 TDI retired at the start of the second hour due to an accident when lapping a GT car.
 
Results and point scores
 
Nürburgring (D), 22 August, ADAC GT Masters round 9
1 Wirth/Klingmann (BMW Alpina) 29 laps in 1h 00m 04.748s
2 Hennerici/Ludwig (Corvette) + 14.784s
3 Kechele/Giermaziak (Audi R8 LMS) + 16.401s
4 Hohenadel/Seiler (Corvette) + 16.865s
5 Bergmeister/Schmickler (Porsche) + 46.379s
6 Haase/Moser (Audi R8 LMS) + 50.643s
7 Armindo/Campanico (Audi R8 LMS) + 55.433s
8 Terting/Gruber (Audi R8 LMS) + 58.819s
...
18 Yamamoto/Binder (Audi R8 LMS) - 8 laps
Nürburgring (D), 23 August, GT Masters round 10
1 Hennerici/Ludwig (Corvette) 29 laps in 1h 00m 08.358s
2 Abt/Seyffarth (Audi R8 LMS) + 12.178s
3 Bergmeister/Schmickler (Porsche) + 18.408s
4 Hohenadel/Seiler (Corvette) + 26.088s
5 Armindo/Campanico (Audi R8 LMS) + 26.993s
6 Haase/Moser (Audi R8 LMS) + 28.049s
7 Terting/Gruber (Audi R8 LMS) + 40.174s
...
9 Mies/Outzen (Audi R8 LMS) + 55.415s
18 Yamamoto/Binder (Audi R8 LMS) - 2 laps
21 Kechele/Giermaziak (Audi R8 LMS) - 8 laps
Positions after 10 of 14 rounds: 1 Abt, 56 points; 2 Seyffarth, 54; 3 Hennerici/Ludwig, 51; 4 Hohenadel/Seiler, 44; 5 Armindo/Campanico, 43; 6 Moser, 42; 8 Outzen, 34; 9 Giermaziak/Kechele, 23; 10 Haase, 18; 13 Mies, 10; 16 Terting/Gruber, 3; 17 Williams, 2; 18 Yamamoto/Mayer, 1.
Next race: Sachsenring (D), 19 September
 
Nürburgrig (D), 23 August, Le Mans Series (LMS) round 4
1 Charouz/Enge/Mücke (Lola-Aston Martin) 195 laps in 5h 57m 26.595s
2 Primat/Turner (Lola-Aston Martin) + 1m 04.856s
3 Buncombe/Hall/Ramos (Lola-Aston Martin) - 2 laps
4 Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman (Audi R10 TDI) - 2 laps
5 Ragues/Mailleux (Courage-Oreca-Judd) - 5 laps
Positions after 4 of 5 rounds: 1 Charouz/Enge/Mücke, 32 points; 2 Boullion/Tinseau, 26; 3 Primat/Turner, 16; 4 Ramos, 14; 5 Senna and Mailleux/Ramos, 12; ... 9 Meyrick/Zwolsman, 9; 10 Karthikeyan, 8; 16 Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini, 2.
Next race: Silverstone (GB), 13 September
 
Coming up next week
 
Round 6 of the BFGoodrich Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring (Saturday).