Team play at the wheel

Audi Sport customer racing, headed by Chris Reinke, has a dedicated line-up of professional racing drivers and deploys them in its own strategic commitments and in support of customers worldwide, for instance in classic 24-hour races such as those at the Nürburgring and at Spa-Francorchamps. Two drivers who have been successful in these endurance racing events are the German Frank Stippler and the Belgian Dries Vanthoor.

“Consistency and speed, a cool head in all weather conditions and very good team skills.” For Chris Reinke, these are the key qualities and selection criteria for his regular driver squad. Audi Sport customer racing and the team principals who handle such commitments for Audi, together determine the driver combinations in endurance racing that may consist of two, three or even four drivers, depending on the duration and distance of the race. They include the successful teams WRT of Vincent Vosse and Phoenix Racing of Ernst Moser.

The second-generation Audi R8 LMS GT3 is the car for the big iconic endurance racing events at Audi. The production-based sports car corresponds to the international FIA GT3 motorsport regulations and has been a big winner for Audi Sport worldwide since 2015. In the 2019 season, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 has won the Dubai 24 Hours and the Nürburgring 24 Hours, among others, plus many more stand-alone races on various continents.

There are three features allowing for the Audi R8 LMS GT3 to be adjusted to drivers of varying heights in endurance races:

Compromise is the key word when several drivers have to share a racing car. The reason is that all professional drivers signed by Audi Sport customer racing are extremely fast, albeit they may be in highly different ways. There are some who prefer a car with understeer. This means that, at the limit of grip, the front wheels of such a car tend to follow a straight line whilst cornering. A tendency to oversteer is exactly the opposite driver preference, in other words when the rear of the car tends to drift towards the outside when cornering at excessive speed. In addition, there are racing drivers who still prefer to brake in the classic way with their right foot, or those preferring to use their left foot, which has become standard practice in motorsport ever since the clutch pedal was replaced by the clutch lever on the steering wheel.

In qualifying, who will compete for the best possible spot on the grid? Who will take the wheel at the start of the race? Who at night, in rain or in the final stint? All of these questions are decided at Audi Sport customer racing and its fielding teams during the weeks before an endurance race. “We know from years of experience who is best suited for which task,” says Ernst Moser. A very important thing for the good motivation of a driver crew, the Phoenix team principal adds, is this: “Everyone has to have adequate responsibility, everyone for their own specific task. For one driver, it’s qualifying, for another, it’s the start and for the next one, it’s something else.

“Basically, all racing drivers are egotists and only battle for themselves,” says WRT boss Vincent Vosse. The Belgian knows exactly what he’s talking about. He was a racing driver himself before starting his own racing team. “We require our drivers to spend as much time together as possible before an endurance race, to concentrate on the joint goal and to exchange as much information as possible with each other during the competition.” This exchange primarily takes place via team radio. “During the last five laps, before turning my car over to my teammate, I inform them on the radio about everything that’s particular about the track and the car at that moment,” explains Dries Vanthoor. During the driver change, when you need to have full concentration on each movement and each step, there’s only time for a quick: “Good luck!”