“Spread across these categories, our customers won a total of ten titles in the SRO series last year,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “What we’re particularly pleased about is that with Comtoyou Racing and CSA Racing we’re welcoming two teams to GT3 racing for the first time who are now expanding their previous programs with Audi Sport in TCR and GT4. At the same time, several teams are once again strengthening their previous year’s efforts.” Audi will meet seven other manufacturers in the GT3 category this year.

In 2023, the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS will again comprise five rounds each of the Endurance Cup and five of the Sprint Cup as well as an overall classification from both classifications. Only GT3 race cars may take part in these competitions. In the Sprint Cup with two one-hour races per weekend, the Belgian squad Boutsen VDS will compete for the first time with two Audi R8 LMS cars. Comtoyou Racing from Belgium, an up-and-comer from the TCR class, and Saintéloc Racing from France will contest the competitions with three Audi cars each. Team Tresor Orange1 is fielding one Audi, Tresor Attempto Racing two R8 LMS. The latter three race cars are being prepared by Arkin Aka’s team in Hanover. Likewise, the Italian-German partnership is also tackling the endurance season with three race cars in this team formation. Boutsen VDS and Saintéloc Racing, each with two GT sports cars, and Comtoyou Racing with three Audi cars have also signed up for the endurance distance. A car from the French team CSA Racing, previously an Audi customer in GT4 racing, completes the line-up of eleven Audi R8 LMS cars. Audi Sport customer racing supports the teams with the ten Audi Sport drivers Mattia Drudi, Ricardo Feller, Christopher Haase, Simon Gachet, Max Hofer, Gilles Magnus, Dennis Marschall, Christopher Mies, Patric Niederhauser and Frédéric Vervisch. Regularly, the endurance races last three hours. In addition, there is a 1,000-kilometer race at Le Castellet as well as the Spa 24 Hours as the season highlight. There, the Uno Racing Team from China brings a twelfth R8 LMS to the grid.

On two of these race weekends, the Fanatec GT2 European Series will also thrill the public, following a different calendar for its remaining four rounds. With six so-called “Sunshine Circuits” in Western and Southern Europe, SRO is offering the teams a special attraction this year. This season, two customer teams will enter the 470 kW (640 hp) Audi R8 LMS GT2 and face the opposition in two 50-minute races per weekend. Audi’s customers won all classifications last year. PK Carsport from Belgium will enter an Audi as Pro-Am champion to defend its title. LP Racing from Italy was last year’s Am champion and now enters the race with three Audi cars. In addition to privateer drivers, Audi Sport driver Pierre Kaffer will also be fielded there. For the first time, the age limit of 40 years has been abolished in the GT2 European Series, so that not only the “gentlemen” who are usual in this market segment can participate. Seven manufacturers have now homologated high-performance race cars for the GT2 category.

In the GT4 European Series, the signs are pointing to growth. Instead of seven so far, eight Audi R8 LMS GT4 cars from four French customer racing teams are now registered. The total number of all entrants also continues to grow from 37 in 2021 to 50 last year and now 52. Saintéloc Racing as the defending champion in the Silver category for drivers and teams is preparing three Audi cars. The experienced squad from France has won titles at French or European level in every year since the Audi R8 LMS GT4 was released for the 2018 season. Teams Fullmotorsport and Speedcar have each entered two of the production-based coupes from Germany. Fullmotorsport has claimed a total of six titles with the Audi R8 LMS in the past two years. CSA Racing is preparing another Audi for this racing series. At six events – always together with the GT World Challenge – the GT4 European Series holds two one-hour races each weekend with driver changes. Teams from ten nations compete there with the production-based sports cars from nine brands.

The teams and drivers in Monza 

Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup

#9 Boutsen VDS, Adam Eteki/Alberto di Folco/Aurélien Panis
#10 Boutsen VDS, Andrea Cola/César Gazeau/Roee Meyuhas
#11 Comtoyou Racing, Christopher Haase/Gilles Magnus/Frédéric Vervisch
#12 Comtoyou Racing, Sam Dejonghe/Loris Hezemans/Finlay Hutchison
#21 Comtoyou Racing, Nicolas Baert/Max Hofer/Maxime Soulet
#25 Saintéloc Junior Team, Simon Gachet/Christopher Mies/Patric Niederhauser
#26 Saintéloc Junior Team, Erwan Bastard/Grégoire Demoustier/Paul Evrard
#40 Tresor Orange1, Mattia Drudi/Ricardo Feller/Dennis Marschall
#66 Tresor Attempto Racing, Kikko Galbiati/Andrey Mukovoz/Dylan Pereira
#99 Tresor Attempto Racing, Alex Aka/Pietro Delli Guanti/Lorenzo Patrese
#888 CSA Racing, Erwin Creed/Arthur Rougier/NN

Fanatec GT2 European Series

#1 PK Carsport, Peter Guelinckx/Stienes Longin
#18 LP Racing, Michael Doppelmayr/Pierre Kaffer
#67 LP Racing, Anthony Beltoise/Henry Hassid 
#88 LP Racing, Mattia di Giusto/Stéphane Ratel

GT4 European Series

#3 Team Speedcar, Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche
#14 Saintéloc Junior Team, Anthony Beltoise/Cyril Saleilles
#42 Saintéloc Junior Team, Grégory Guilvert/Christophe Hamon
#45 Fullmotorsport, Sacha Bottemanne/Lonni Martins
#46 Fullmotorsport, Noam Abramczyk/Romain Vozniak
#67 Saintéloc Junior Team, Marc López/Paul Petit 
#83 Team Speedcar, Fabien Boeri/Hugo Roch 
#111 CSA Racing, Gaël Castelli/Alexandre Cougnaud

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

The progressive architecture and premium ambience of Audi’s booth at OMR 2023 will invite visitors to come and stay for a while on May 9 and 10. At the same time, the booth’s interactive digital elements provide a playful opportunity to get to know the brand and its technology and discover the driving experience of the future – visitors are sure to be thrilled. 

In addition, two keynote speakers will represent the brand with the four rings: Giorgio Delucchi, Head of Digital Experience and Business at AUDI AG, and Stephan Fahr-Becker, Exterior Design, AUDI AG, will be speaking at the Conference Stage under the heading “Design & Digital: How Audi is driving transformation”. At the Red Stage, under the title “Insight into Audi Design: Aesthetic Intelligence”, Stephan Fahr-Becker will also provide insight into the work of Audi designers. Both keynote speeches can be streamed live and will also be available afterwards in the Audi MediaCenter.

The Audi brand will offer a firsthand experience through four panel discussions focused on its strategic brand fields, including digital, performance, design, and sustainability. In addition to Audi speakers Patrick Lins (Concept Development UI/UX), Tim Miksche (Head of Audi Denkwerkstatt), Stephan Fahr-Becker (Exterior Design), and Dr. Michael Müller (Head of Global Brand Strategy, Customer Insights), panelists Aya Jaff (founder and author, Forbes 30 under 30 keynote speaker), Dr. Cornelius Ringe (WESOUND), Michala Rudorfer (investor and founder), Annika von Mutius (Empion), Jennifer Baum-Minkus (gitti Conscious Beauty), Dirk Pape (LinkedIn Marketing Solutions), Kerstin Weng (Vogue Germany), and Ayke Bogen (Condé Nast) will provide exciting insights.

“Our goal is to continue to surprise our customers with new experiences. That’s why we decided to design our experience at the trade fair stand without a show car for the first time and to focus on people, their feelings and their experience – completely independent of drive forms or models,” says Linda Kurz, Head of Marketing Germany, AUDI AG.

The Sphere concept cars such as the current Audi activesphere concept were the inspiration for the exhibit. Always ready for an adventure in nature or in the urban jungle, the car is a master of metamorphosis, both inside and out. Its innovative operating concept blends the physical and virtual worlds (“mixed reality”) by projecting information, content, and interactive elements onto the surfaces and into the spaces inside the car. By taking a people-centered approach, Audi is breaking with previous conventions of car design in the development of its concept cars.

Audi puts people at the center

In the past, cars were initially thought of from a technological perspective. This orientation set the car’s direction and helped determine the look, features, interior, and even the seating position of the passengers. Audi is now turning this on its head. In the Audi of the future, the focus is on people as individuals. True to Audi’s booth motto at the OMR Festival, “Step into your sphere”, the brand with the four rings is developing the car around these individuals as a “Personal Sphere” – an interactive space that is systematically designed from the inside out. Audi is bringing the future interior experience the Personal Sphere promises to life at its trade fair booth.

The Audi of the future combines an appealing design, high-quality materials, and digital elements to create a seamless and customizable user experience. Cars developed from the user’s perspective outward offer a smart, intuitive, and personal experience. With its interactive space at the OMR Festival, Audi wants to focus on the crucial role played by the individual’s senses and emotions, not to mention data security, when interacting with digital technology.Audi prioritizes design from the inside out, turning the car interior into a crucial interface between people and the brand by placing co-creation at the forefront and making technology available as needed, as demonstrated in the development of the Audi urbansphere concept vehicle where the company actively collaborated with Chinese customers to incorporate their wishes and ideas.

Holistic ecosystem extends the personal sphere beyond the car

Digitalization and connectivity are opening up entirely new opportunities for interaction in and around the car. The number of customer touchpoints is increasing exponentially. With its holistic ecosystem, Audi is leveraging these touchpoints to offer its customers an integrated user experience anytime, anywhere. The key to Audi’s digitally connected world is the myAudi app.

Users can already experience many aspects of this ecosystem today. Functions on demand, for example, Audi lets customers adapt the configuration of vehicle functions to suit their needs, even after the car has been purchased. There is also the digitalized sales process with virtual services such as Audi Live Consultations and a system for reserving new and used cars online. Audi will add even more elements to its digital ecosystem in the future.

Trust as a prerequisite for unique experiences and new services

Nowadays, generating and intelligently analyzing data allows for the provision of customized services and settings, but trust is a crucial prerequisite for creating unique digital experiences like those found in the trade show booth and today's and tomorrow's cars, as users who are willing to share their data can gain the most from the added value of personalized services. This makes users’ trust in the security of their personal data a decisive enabler. For this reason, Audi relies on a privacy concept that offers the best possible transparency as well as the greatest level of security. It’s an approach that lets Audi take a range of personal preferences into account when handling people’s data. Visitors will also be able to experience this commitment to trust at the Audi booth at the OMR Festival.

Giorgio Delucchi says: “Audi cares about security – both in our cars and in our digital world. Because customer trust is our top priority. We never collect or use data without our users’ explicit consent and only do so in compliance with strict privacy laws.”

OMR x Audi: A long-standing partnership

The first OMR Festival took place in 2011, and since then the event has grown year after year, with more than 70,000 visitors in 2022. Today, OMR offers a platform for keynote speeches, master classes, and side events with more than 800 speakers on six stages, an exhibition area with more than 1,000 exhibitors, and a unique atmosphere. Visitors can also look forward to performances by renowned musicians and bands as well as parties.

Audi has been a partner since the very beginning and is now the main sponsor of the event for the third time in a row. Linda Kurz says: “The OMR Festival combines the latest developments in technology and digital marketing with an innovative and lively community. For Audi, it’s the perfect place to showcase our progressive and people-centric mindset.” For the first time, the four rings will be present on-site at a large exhibition stand without a display vehicle, deliver a MasterClass with four panel talks, and will be represented on two stages with keynotes.

The Audi museum mobile is presenting a whole range of Le Mans racing cars for International Museum Day on Sunday, May 21, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Among them are several winning cars such as the Audi R10 TDI from 2006, the first diesel-powered racing car to claim a victory at Le Mans. At 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in the Customer Center of the Audi Forum Ingolstadt, talk sessions will be held with exciting guests from the world of motorsport, including Rinaldo “Dindo” Capello. Following the talks, the three-time Le Mans winner will be available to sign autographs. In addition, there will be a highlight tour in the museum on the motorsport history of the four rings. And there’s also something for the younger guests: In addition to a handicrafts corner, they can look forward to a special driving course with a pit stop where they can demonstrate their tire-changing skills.

Kristensen, Capello and Tréluyer in Le Mans and Goodwood

In this anniversary year, there will also be plenty on offer at the legendary venue of the event, on the Sarthe in France: The organizer of the endurance classic is holding a special exhibition at the “Musée des 24 Heures du Mans” with around 80 winning cars from all decades. The brand with the four rings alone is contributing a dozen Le Mans winning cars. Around the 2023 anniversary race, Audi Tradition will send three winning cars onto the track during the Legends’ Parade on Friday, June 9, and before the start of the race on Saturday, June 10: the Audi R8 from 2000, the R10 TDI from 2007 and the R18 e-tron quattro from 2012 – driven by Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Benoît Tréluyer. An appearance in the “Village des Constructeurs” will round off the Ingolstadt-based company’s commitment at Le Mans 2023: In addition to current product highlights, the brand will showcase the Audi R18 e-tron quattro from 2016 and the Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron, developed for Ken Block. Autograph sessions with Audi driving legends are also planned at Le Mans.

The “Le Mans” theme will also be demonstrated by Audi Tradition at the 2023 “Goodwood Festival of Speed” in England: From July 13 to 16, Capello, Kristensen and Tréluyer will also be on the grid there with the winning cars from 2000, 2007 and 2012. And Vesa and Juha Mikkola, the sons of rally legend Hannu Mikkola, will also be making an appearance at Goodwood – with the Audi Rallye quattro (Group 4) from 1980 and the Audi 200 quattro “Safari” from 1987 – both cars from the historic AUDI AG collection with which their father competed in legendary races. A team from Audi Sport will also be bringing two exceptional racing cars of more recent times to the start at Goodwood: the Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron and the Audi RS Q e-tron Dakar Rally prototype.

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com

In the mid-1990s, the Audi A8 luxury model elevated the Audi brand to a higher position and gradually led to the renaming of the model series: The Audi 80 became the Audi A4, and the Audi 100 was dubbed the Audi A6. Introduced in 1994, the Audi A4 was the first model to embody Audi’s new design language. Next was the Audi A3 premium compact car, launched in 1996, and the second generation of the Audi A6, introduced in 1997. In the course of emotionalizing the brand through a fresh, progressive design, American designer Freeman Thomas, under the then Head of Design Peter Schreyer, created a puristic sports car in the Audi TT Coupé. Audi presented the study to an enthusiastic trade show audience at the IAA in Frankfurt in September 1995. The model name “TT” is reminiscent of the legendary Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man, one of the oldest motorsports events in the world and one where NSU and DKW celebrated great successes with their motorcycles. The name “TT” also recalls the sporty NSU TT of the 1960s. The Audi TT Coupé’s deliberate departure from the usual Audi nomenclature underscored the complete novelty of the model.

Designer Wenzel: “In the Audi TT, every shape has a clear function”

In December 1995, the decision was made to mass-produce the Audi TT Coupé. Torsten Wenzel, the exterior designer at Audi who helped introduce the study to series production, recalls: “To us, the greatest praise was when the trade press noted appreciatively that not much had changed from the study to series model, although we did, of course, have to adapt many details due to the technical specifications for the series version, including the proportions.” Most noticeable was the integration of a rear side window, which elongated the car’s profile and increased the sports car’s dynamics. For Wenzel, the Audi TT remains “a driving sculpture, with highest-quality surfaces and lines.” The body of the Audi TT appears to be made from one piece, he says, and the front end without traditional bumper overhangs emphasizes its clear form. 

Another design element contributes to the unmistakable silhouette of the Audi TT Coupé: the circle – “the perfect graphic shape,” as Wenzel describes it. Numerous circular elements inspired the sports car’s exterior and interior design. Inspired by Bauhaus, every line in the Audi TT has a purpose, every shape a function. “At Audi Design, we always follow the philosophy of ‘less is more’. Bringing out the Audi TT Coupé’s unique character by reducing it to the essentials was a challenging and special undertaking for us designers.”

Two anniversaries in one year: Audi Hungaria celebrates alongside the Audi TT

In 1998, series production of the Audi TT Coupé began. One year later, Audi launched the TT Roadster. Like the show car and the Audi A3 launched in 1996, the sports car was based on the transverse engine platform of the VW Golf IV. From the outset, the TT was produced by Audi Hungaria Motor Kft. in Hungary. The painted TT bodies were transported overnight by rail from Ingolstadt to Győr, where the final assembly took place. This method of cross-site production between Ingolstadt and Győr was unique in the automotive industry at the time. Audi Hungaria, a wholly owned subsidiary of AUDI AG, is also celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023. Founded in February 1993, originally as an engine manufacturing plant only, Audi Hungaria took over the assembly of the Audi TT in 1998 in cooperation with the Ingolstadt plant. In 2013, the company evolved into a full-fledged automotive plant. Since its foundation, Audi Hungaria has built more than 43 million engines and nearly two million vehicles.

The range of engines in the first-generation Audi TT was broad and naturally always sporty. The first-generation TT, for example, came with four-cylinder turbo engines with a power spectrum from 150 to 225 PS and a V6 unit with 250 PS. A highlight of the engine range was the four-cylinder in the Audi TT quattro Sport which was boosted to 240 PS, and 1,168 units were delivered. First-generation TT customers had plenty of choices when it came to selecting special equipment. In addition to exclusive colors such as Papaya Orange or Nogaro Blue, customers could equip the TT with factory-fitted special accessories. For example, the “baseball glove” design for the leather seats in the Audi TT Roadster, originally an eye-catcher in the show car, transitioned to series production. Over eight production years, 178,765 first-generation Audi TT Coupés (Type 8N) rolled off the production line by mid-2006. Exactly 90,733 Audi TT Roadsters were built between 1999 and 2006.

TT portfolio expands to include RS versions in the second generation

In the following two generations, the designers held to “reduction to the essentials” as the dominant design principle, which is made evident, for example, in the minimalist design of the exterior and the sleek, driver-oriented interior. The round shape, and the circular motif, remained typical of the TT portfolio and were unifying elements in the exterior and interior design. For example, in the aluminum fuel tank cap, the round air vents, the gearshift edging, and the distinctive gear knob. 

The second-generation TT was launched in 2006 (Coupé) and 2007 (Roadster) and was based on the platform of the second-generation Audi A3. Adaptive dampers with Audi magnetic ride were used for the first time. Available as an option, this technology continuously adapts the shock absorbers to the profile of the road and the driver’s individual style. In 2008, the TTS sports model was launched with a 2-liter turbo engine and 272 PS, followed a year later by the TT RS with a 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo engine with 340 PS and 360 PS in the Audi TT RS plus. In 2008, the brand with the four rings launched the TT 2.0 TDI quattro – the world’s first production sports car to run on a diesel engine.

The third generation of the Audi TT was launched in 2014 – and once again, Audi used the new generation to reduce its weight. The TT Coupé, with a 2.0 TFSI engine and manual transmission, weighed only 1,230 kilograms, up to 50 kilograms lighter than before. For the new TT and TT RS, the designers reinterpreted the unmistakable lines of the original TT from 1998 for the modern age. They enriched them with numerous dynamic facets, while the round fuel tank cap with typical TT lettering remained true across the generations. Many profile details also deliberately recalled the first-generation design classic. In technical terms, the third-generation TT offered several innovations. For example, this model marked the debut of the Audi virtual cockpit, a fully digital instrument panel with highly detailed, versatile displays that replaced analog instruments and the MMI monitor. In 2016, a new era for automotive lighting technology began in the Audi TT RS, when Audi used organic LEDs, known as OLED technology, for the first time. The sports car’s engine range is also impressive: The top model was initially the Audi TTS with a 2-liter turbo engine and 310 PS, followed in 2016 by the TT RS with the 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo engine, one of the most emotional units the brand with the four rings has to offer. With its 400 PS, this engine boasted a sporty sound and, on top of that, was named “International Engine of the Year” nine times in a row. With the special Audi TT RS Coupé iconic edition5 model, which comes in Nardo Gray and is limited to 100 units, Audi is bringing together the design and technology highlights from a quarter of a century of the Audi TT to celebrate this anniversary year of 2023. 

Article source: www.audi-mediacenter.com