Audi drivers in 2007

[Mal]

Just picked this off Club Arnage - interesting and disturbing comments about LMS though - hopefully this is Audi trying to put pressure on the ACO

"Just found this on a german sportscar-site, it's in German only, so here in brief what is says. They interviewed Ralf Jüttner, Chief-Technician of Team Joest about their plans for 2007:

- Nothing is confirmed yet, but likely that they will run at Le Mans
- 3 more Audi R10 chassis will be build, total of 6 cars then, theoretically allowing 2-car efforts in both ALMS and LMS
- No cars for customer teams, e.g. Champion
- Competing with Peugeot in LMS would be nice, but this series is virtually non-existent in the public, no appropriate TV coverage
- Situation in ALMS is much better, better coverage, more races, larger variety of race tracks, e.g. 3 downtown tracks"

[gwyllion]

The original interview can be found at http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?...sk=view&id=969

Originally Posted by Mal

- No cars for customer teams, e.g. Champion

The French translated this wrongly

Bei dieser Konstellation mit sechs existierenden Wagen sind weitere Kundeneinsätze des Wagens, von Champion Racing abgesehen, nahezu ausgeschlossen.

At this constellation with six existing cars, further customer employments of the car, apart from champion Racing, are almost impossible.

[gwyllion]

Can a German native translate this sentence exactly?

Uns ist lediglich beim Premierenrennen in Sebring und später in der Saison ein Motor eingegangen, wobei letzterer aufgrund der hohen bis dahin angefallenen Kilometerzahl ausfiel, was uns nicht wirklich überrascht hat.

Does this explain that the engine failure at Sebring was down to the fact that the engine had too much mileage on it?

Apparently Reinhold Joest really wants to do LMS to challenge Peugeot. But they will have a hard time convincing the Audi marketing departement because of limited TV coverage and public.

The management restructuring in VW group/Audi is delaying the final decision.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

But they will have a hard time convincing the Audi marketing departement because of limited TV coverage and public.

Which brings us, from the opposite direction, to the issues discussed in the 'speccie interest' thread. Manufacturers don't want to enter as there's not the audience and there's no audience as there's no big teams to get the headlines and alert people to the sport's presence.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

Which brings us, from the opposite direction, to the issues discussed in the 'speccie interest' thread. Manufacturers don't want to enter as there's not the audience and there's no audience as there's no big teams to get the headlines and alert people to the sport's presence.

It's an interesting situation. I'm of the opinion that Audi are just posturing. They are well aware that a season long Audi/Peugeot confrontation in the LMS should boost the profile of the the series in the media, even if it's 2008 before they see a significant increase in exposure. Moreover, with no customer teams apart from Champion on the horizon, do you really build three new cars just in case?

Have they said whether the ALMS campaign will be under the Audi Sport North America banner or Champion in 2007, I can't remember?

Which begs the question of how many cars they will race at Le Mans if they do enter the 2007 ALMS in the name of Champion Racing?

[The Badger]

I reckon Audi is just sabre rattleing about the LMS ..... cuz they can , and maybe the people who make the decisions might take heed of a huge manufacturer and series supporter .

Wouldnt surprise me to see 3 cars there , possibily devided between teams . 2 for Audi Sport North America and maybe 1 for Joest or Champion .

[HORNDAWG]

Well is not the ACO taking notice, that it needs to reach the public (fan) a good thing? With Audi's sabre upside their noggin, maybe they will take note, and start the process of improving the series for the fan. This is a good thing, no?????

L.P.

[The Badger]

I reckon the ACO do a great job but , there is always room for improvement . In one way I dont blame Le Mans for not listening sometimes . The last time they listened they had a 29 car grid in 1992 . But they shouldnt sit on their laurels either . All in all , ACO do a great job .

[jhansen]

Are the ACO even bothered about low fan attendance at the LMS races? Let's face it, as long as the 24 Hours continues to be huge they're happy. Through the LMS they've provided a stable place for the European prototypes to race. In the process they've built a good GT base as well. Objective accomplished I would imagine.

If the manufacturers want to join in and promote the series for them I'm sure the ACO wont mind.

[russ250575]

Maybe its me reading between the lines or making it up as i go but I dont get it.. Why will Audi have 6 cars unavailable to customers and only race in one seris..

Maybe im vicious but I see this as "we can carry on beating the Alms P1 field" lets stay here and dominate it with upto six cars.. because the additon of Peugeot in the LMS might be able to beat us. oh yeah and we can make a crapy excuase of lack of fans in the LMS and blame them.. Im sorry I think they suck and am very disapointed with them. I would have thought that Audi would say "Bring it" to the Pugs and go head to head

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by russ250575

Maybe its me reading between the lines or making it up as i go but I dont get it.. Why will Audi have 6 cars unavailable to customers and only race in one seris..

Building 6 cars for only LM (entering 2 cars?) and ALMS (entering 2 cars?) makes indeed not really sense

[jhansen]

Who says they have to put the cars into customer hands this year? Or any year for that matter.

[The Badger]

They should be made to as a manufacturer . If yop want to race , you must supply a customer team in the second year . I think that is a reasonable request . Increases the chance of a privateer win as well as boosting the grids .

I still say Audi are sabre rattleing .

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by russ250575

Maybe its me reading between the lines or making it up as i go but I dont get it.. Why will Audi have 6 cars unavailable to customers and only race in one seris..

Maybe im vicious but I see this as "we can carry on beating the Alms P1 field" lets stay here and dominate it with upto six cars.. because the additon of Peugeot in the LMS might be able to beat us. oh yeah and we can make a crapy excuase of lack of fans in the LMS and blame them.. Im sorry I think they suck and am very disapointed with them. I would have thought that Audi would say "Bring it" to the Pugs and go head to head

And they are supposed to investest how many tens of, if not hundreds of, Millions of euros for virtually no return (due to lack of exposure)?? Just to go out and beat the "Pugs"?? Not very good business sense, and they are in business. One, if not the main reason to race, is for exposure. The ALMS gives them great exposure. This is more than likely just posturing but from a business standpoint it makes very good sense. They want and need ROI to keep racing.

L.P.

[The Badger]

Well ,its a bit of a catch 22 situation . They want the coverage , but the series might not get better coverage until the big boys come out to play . They are a european team , therefore "should" support the european series . Where is Audis biggest market ?

Im sure come next year with Pug , the coverage will get better . It needs the big manufacturers ?

Sabre rettleing i say

[GT-Eins]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Can a German native translate this sentence exactly?
...
Does this explain that the engine failure at Sebring was down to the fact that the engine had too much mileage on it?

...

Juettner told they they had 2 motor-issues
The one at Sebring and a 2nd later in the year which was due to extended mileage of that particular engine

Originally Posted by russ250575

Maybe its me reading between the lines or making it up as i go but I dont get it.. Why will Audi have 6 cars unavailable to customers and only race in one seris..
...

I understood that due to the additional 3 new chassis a total of 6 will exist.
Depending on the released budget by Audi Management for this year this will allow MAXIMUM 2 teams to be supplied with 2 cars (& 1 spare) which will be Joest (=factory) and Champion (=customer) If just one engagement will be allowed by Audi I suppose it will be a joint Joest/Champion effort like this year.
I didn´t ask Juettner for more details as this still depends on decisions from Ingolstadt (or maybe from Wolfsburg).

[Opelmad]

Hi,

i don't see the name of Jos Verstappen, but why not, there was a place for him in the Audi in this year but it was the same car as Jeroen has driven and Jos will not drive a old car.

He says in 2006 that he hopes that he can drive a 2007 Audi in 2007.

Gr Andre

[The Badger]

DTM or LMP1 ?

I think there was some issue with his manager ?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Opelmad

Hi,

i don't see the name of Jos Verstappen, but why not, there was a place for him in the Audi in this year but it was the same car as Jeroen has driven and Jos will not drive a old car.

He says in 2006 that he hopes that he can drive a 2007 Audi in 2007.

Gr Andre

Wrong topic?

In several interviews he said he's not interested in endurance racing.

[Opelmad]

DTM.

But there is now some news that Jos will drive the Champ cars in 2007.

Ach Huub, there is always a problem with that man.

[jhansen]

Originally Posted by The Badger

They should be made to as a manufacturer . If yop want to race , you must supply a customer team in the second year . I think that is a reasonable request . Increases the chance of a privateer win as well as boosting the grids .

I still say Audi are sabre rattleing .

You can't force competition. It's like telling a manufacturer he has to sell a product for a certain price. What's his motivation for selling it?

But if forceful means is what you would like, why not force Ferrari, or Mercedes, or Toyota to build a prototype and race it? Silly? Yes, I think so to.

Not to mention, if there was a fleet of R10s on the grid, you'd all complain because there would be no variety and the cars are too quiet.

Or maybe you're just sabre rattling...

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by jhansen

You can't force competition. It's like telling a manufacturer he has to sell a product for a certain price. What's his motivation for selling it?

But if forceful means is what you would like, why not force Ferrari, or Mercedes, or Toyota to build a prototype and race it? Silly? Yes, I think so to.

Not to mention, if there was a fleet of R10s on the grid, you'd all complain because there would be no variety and the cars are too quiet.

Or maybe you're just sabre rattling...

His motivation is product advertizing for a start .

I didnt say to force anybody mate , i said that they should be made to supply a customer team , if they already have a chassis . Not forced to build one . Get that right .

Now , i would like a few opinions on that point please , and not yours alone .

I dont want to see a fleet of any car on the grid either . But the option for a privateer to get his hands on a properly developed car seems like a good idea to me . Obvioulsy you are quite happy to see a team like Audi Sport North America win all races in one year ?

I couldnt find the *bird* symbol , so here's a trout instead

[The Badger]

Take a look back at Group C in the 80's . My first Le mans there was 19 Porsche 962C and only 4 Jags . Now , dont you think if there had been a few Jag chassis made available , there might have been a few more Jags out there ? Whats wrong with a bit of variety ?

How do you think Porsche make a lot of money from motorsport then ? They made a fortune from the 911 GT3 R/RS/RSR , and for that matter the 956/962 as well . They also had a customer team with the 911 GT1-98 and , they are selling the RS Spyder too . Porsche expect their motorsport efforts to pay for itself eventually . That to me , is good business sense , or not ?

Here's another

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by russ250575

Maybe its me reading between the lines or making it up as i go but I dont get it.. Why will Audi have 6 cars unavailable to customers and only race in one seris.

I guess the 3 extra R10s will been an evolution of the current car.

The old chassis could be upgrade to the new specification if this is deemed necessary. I can imagine Champion could race the 2006 R10s (without update) because there is no factory LMP1 competition in ALMS.

Perhaps the construction of the new cars was already started (new tubs and other parts ordered) before the big management change.

[Félix]

Do we really want Audi using all its ressources to win not only Le Mans, but every other series where it can enter its R10? The privateers will be able to give Peugeot a run for their money and probably beat them, but Audi would just leave everybody complaining or switching class... We can have Pescarolos, Courages, Zyteks and Creations all with a realistic shot at winning or have Audi tanks running over everybody and never leaving a victory (or even a podium spot) to other teams.