Communications Motorsport

Eva-Maria Veith
Tel: +49 173 9393522
E-mail: eva-maria.veith@audi.dewww.audi-mediacenter.com

Second row for Audi at the Nürburgring

• Position three for Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis

• Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer fourth

• Thorough race preparation for Audi R18 e-tron quattro

Ingolstadt/Nürburg, August 29, 2015 - Audi qualified on the second row of the grid in round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The number '8' Audi R18 e-tron quattro was the faster one of the two hybrid sports cars with the four rings at the Nürburgring.

On Saturday, the Audi drivers experienced a foretaste of the race on the 5.148- kilometer Grand Prix configuration of the tradition-steeped track. Other participants on the racing line and yellow flags prevented a better result of the Audi driver squads. Lucas di Grassi (BR) managed to set the best single time of an Audi driver (1m
37.413s). The Brazilian perceived the set-up of his race car as a step forward compared to the free practice. "But we've still got some work to do before the race," said di Grassi. Together with his team-mate Oliver Jarvis he achieved an average time of 1m 37.476s.
The leaders of the standings, Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F), with their time of 1m 37.783s, are sharing the second row with their team-mates. Fässler drove three laps in qualifying. "On the first lap, the front tires weren't warm enough, on the second lap, I lost time in traffic and on the third lap, the tires were already past their best performance," the Swiss said. André Lotterer subsequently
took over car number '7.' "Unfortunately, due to yellow flags, I wasn't able to make optimum use of the tires in their best state but had to lift," said the German.
"Today, our drivers did not have optimum conditions on track," said Chris Reinke, Head of LMP at Audi Sport. "But we also have to accept that on a fast lap in qualifying we can't quite keep pace with our fiercest rivals. However, we're going to give everything to be in contention across the six-hour distance in our home round on Sunday - as in the first two races of the season in the United Kingdom and in
Belgium."
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"Due to our simulations we realized that we'd hardly be able to battle for the best time in qualifying," said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "That's why we already started to exclusively prepare for the race in the free practice sessions. We're expecting a very tough sporting competition which the crowd at the FIA WEC's German premiere can look forward to."
The starting signal for the Nürburgring 6 Hours will be given on Sunday at 13.00. Eurosport will start to air live coverage of the final stage of the race on TV at 18.00. RTL will broadcast a summary of round four of the season on September 5, beginning at 13.35.

Qualifying results

1 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 1m 36.473s
2 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 1m 36.542s
3 Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 37.476s
4 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 37.783s
5 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima (Toyota) 1m 38.689s
6 Conway/Sarrazin/Wurz (Toyota) 1m 39.371s
7 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost (Rebellion) 1m 42.513s
8 Abt/Imperatori/Kraihamer (Rebellion) 1m 42.985s
9 Kaffer/Trummer (CLM-AER) 1m 44.886s
10 Bradley/Howson/Tandy (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 46.132s
- End -

In 2014, the Audi Group delivered approximately 1,741,100 cars of the Audi brand to its customers. The company achieved revenue of €53.8 billion and an operating profit of €5.15 billion in 2014. Audi operates globally in more than 100 markets and has production facilities in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm (Germany), Győr (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium), Bratislava (Slovakia), Martorell (Spain), Kaluga (Russia), Aurangabad (India), Changchun and Foshan (China) as well as Jakarta (Indonesia). The brand with the Four Rings will start producing cars in Curitiba (Brazil) this year and in San José Chiapa (Mexico) in 2016. Wholly owned subsidiaries of AUDI AG include quattro GmbH (Neckarsulm), Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. (Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy) and sports motorcycle manufacturer Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (Bologna, Italy). The company currently employs approximately

80,000 people worldwide, thereof around 58,000 in Germany. Total investment of about €24 billion is planned from 2015 to 2019 - primarily in new products and sustainable technologies. Audi is committed to its corporate responsibility and has anchored the principle of sustainability for its products and processes in its strategy. The long-term goal is CO2-neutral mobility.

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