With this recurring column, ooooIYKYK aims to summarize activities of Audi racing campaigns and competition endeavors. This weekly series brief updates of results, preparation, happenings and rumors pertaining to on track activities. See a full calendar of motorsport activities involving Audi Sport factory, customer and Sauber F1 teams maintained HERE.
OPEN WHEEL RACING
FORMULA 1 ROUND #7, F1 AWS GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL’EMILIA-ROMAGNA 🇮🇹
Strong Performance with No Points to Show for it at Imola
Nico Hulkenberg came very close to finishing in the Top 10 and scoring points for his team for the second time this season, though ill-timed safety car. The German driver had worked his way into 10th place, though a bunching up of the field thanks to a late yellow flag saw him passed twice in the last minutes. He finished in 12th.
“It was definitely one of the closer ones and one of the more positive ones this year but obviously we got a little lucky with the VSC timing,” he told Formula1.com.
Pace has proven a challenge for KICK Sauber this season. Hulkenberg’s strong showing in Australia didn’t come from outright pace alone, instead exhibiting control in wet conditions that rewarded drivers who kept their cars on the track.
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal
“Ultimately mixed emotions coming out of the race. At one point after the safety car came in, it looked like Nico could score some points. But keeping a Red Bull behind you is difficult and then the balance dropped away and ultimately Nico finished P12. Gabi started P14 and we had high hopes for the race. Unfortunately, we were late to react to tire degradation and had to convert to a two-stop strategy, a decision we paid the price for until the end of the race. We were further impacted by the decision to try the mediums after the safety car, but that tyre proved not up to the job, and we lost track position as a result, with Gabi eventually finishing P18. We need to take a careful look at our internal processes and apply lessons learned quickly as we head to Monaco and then Barcelona.”
Nico Hulkenberg (Car #27)
Race result: 12th
Fastest lap: 1:20.401 (Lap 62)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Hard) – Lap 29 (New Medium)
“This was one of the better races for me this year. Weve been more competitive compared to other weekends and I had a better feeling in the car today compared to Friday and Saturday. In the race, we were lucky with the timing of the virtual safety car which put us in a position to fight for points. Unfortunately, the safety car towards the end of the race was of no help for us. At the restart I was surrounded by faster cars, and I was unable to keep Yuki (Tsunoda) or Fernando (Alonso) – on fresher tyres – behind me. In the end, everything combined to prevent us from scoring points. On pure pace, we still have some catching up to do, but the margins are so tight that small improvements can make a big difference.”
Gabriel Bortoleto (Car #5)
Race result: 18th
Fastest lap: 1:20.630 (Lap 57)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Medium) – Lap 12 (New Hard) – Lap 29 (New Hard) – Lap 46 (Used Medium)
“It wasn’t the easiest race for me today. As a positive, our pace was good, especially on hard tyres, and I was glad to see that. The first stint was going well, but the Virtual Safety Car unfortunately came at the wrong time for us and cost us a lot of momentum.
From that point on, it was difficult to make the most of any opportunities that came our way. It’s obviously frustrating, because we pretty much were in the wrong place at the wrong time for most of the race. Still, I am happy about this small improvement in terms of pace, even though the results don’t show that. Now, it’s time to analyse and understand where we could have done better and go for the next one in Monaco next week.”
Audi Chief Creative Officer & Chief Designer Massimo Frascella Attends Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Born in the Tuscan region of Italy, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola is about as close as it gets to a home track for Audi chief designer Massimo Frascella. At the same time, rumors are swirling that Imola may not be renewed as a stop on the F1 calendar next year. Perhaps these two things motivated Frascella, who attended the race. He thanked his colleagues at Sauber for showing him a good time via his Instagram account.
F1 and Disney Announce Collaboration to Begin in 2026
Over the last several years, a reinvigorated F1 organization has made great strides at diversifying and growing its audience including massive growth in the U.S.A. The series appears to be aiming to build upon that with the announcement of its latest collaboration, that of Disney and specifically Mickey Mouse.
Specifically, the series and Disney named Mickey & Friends as a focus of the collaboration. Given the breadth of Disney’s intellectual property portfolio that is not all that heavy on Mickey & Friends characters in their current media offerings, it will be interesting to see where the collaboration leads.
The announcement sited the two brands’ shared affinity for “creativity, entertainment, and innovation, to bring fans together around the globe through unforgettable and one-of-a-kind experiences.”
For Disney, the benefit will be exposure to F1’s estimated 820 million fans worldwide. For F1, the partnership also exposes racing to a younger audience that is demographically aligned to some of the most direct points of growth for the series.
Audi F1 Project Seeking Senior Aero Performance Engineer
Want to work with Audi F1? If you’re qualified to operate as a senior aerodynamic performance engineer and are willing to work out of Hinwil, Switzerland, Audi is seeking someone with your skill set. Check out more information on LinkedIn HERE.
NEXT ROUND 23-25 F1 TAG Heur Grand Prix de Monaco 🇲🇨
SPORTSCAR RACING – GT3, GT4 & TCR CUSTOMER RACING
Worth noting, Audi Sport has begun publishing weekly customer racing race summaries. As a result, the race updates on ooooIYKYK will become even more inclusive now that updates on all customer racing activities are emanating from the team itself. Thanks to Audi Sport customer racing for continuing to keep fans up to date on Audi Sport customer racing activities around the world.
GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE (GT3) ROUND 3 ZANDVOORT🇳🇱
The GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS headed to Zandvoort for the second round of the Sprint Cup campaign, just days after the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa Prologue event.
Saintéloc Racing netted the top Audi performance in Race 1 of the weekend with their #25 car of Gilles Magnus and Paul Evrard , with Gold Cup class pole position and Gold Cup victory in the first round, finishing 4th overall. Tresor Attempto Racing’s #99 driven by Alex Aka, Ezequiel Perez Companc netted first in the Silver Cup class while finishing 10th overall. Further down the field, Saintéloc Racing’s #16 R8 LMS driven Ivan Klymenko and Lorens Lecertua took third in the Silver Cup Class, finishing 14th overall.
Results in the second round also saw class victories for the Audi teams. Saintéloc’s #26 with Ivan Klymenko and Lorens Lecertua won Silver Cup, taking second overall. Tresor Attempto’s #99 with Alex Aka and Ezequiel Perez Companc took second in the Silver Cup class, finishing sixth overall. Finally, Tresor Attempto Racing’s #88 with Leonardo Moncini and Sebastian Øgaard took 2nd in the Gold Cup class.
INTERNATIONAL GT OPEN (GT3) ROUND 2, SPA FRANCORCHAMPS 🇧🇪
Podium Finish for Eastalent Racing at Spa
Eastalent Racing and their Audi R8 LMS driven by Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase took second place on the podium at the second round of the International GT Open. In the end, the duo was the highest-placed Audi and put in a hard fight against the third place GetSpeed Mercedes-Benz.
CHINA GT CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2, SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, SHANGHAI, CHINA 🇨🇳
Winhere Harmony Racing Nets Double Overall Podiums in China GT Shanghai Weekend
Deng Yi and Luo Kailuo of Winhere Harmony Racing came so close to outright domination of the China GT Championship’s (CGTC) second racing weekend at the 5.451 km Shanghai International Circuit. The two took both qualifying sessions, starting from pole for both rounds. However, the duo missed victory by just five thousandths of a second in the first round, while a 0.2 second short pit stop penalty set them back from the winner by just 0.035 of a second.
Uno Racing Team’s driver pairing of Rio and Chen Yechong also managed a podium finish in Pro-Am for race 1. Even better, the R8 teams enjoyed an all-Audi podium lockout in race one with Origine Motorsport’s Min Heng and Jason Gu taking the win, 33R Harmoney Racing’s Yang Haojie and Jiang Nan taking second, and Hehehe Racing by 33R HAR’s Steven Zhou and Zhen Mingwei taking third.
TCR EUROPE (TCR) ROUNDS 3 & 4, SPA FRANCORCHAMPS 🇧🇪
Two Victories at Spa Give Diamond Class Points Lead to Nicola Baldan
A strong showing in Spa by AIKOA Racing Audi driver Nicola Baldan have put him in a commanding position. With points gained in this round, this gives Baldan a 12-point lead in the 40 and over class as the series heads to the next round at Hockenheim.
“These were two very competitive races, but these are not yet the results I expect to achieve,” said Baldan via the TCR Europe Series. “The positive aspect is that we are strong and consistent in the race. We have margin to improve. Our problem is qualifying, when we are not able to be fast enough. We will be working on it with the goal to be ready for Hockenheim.”
UPCOMING ROUNDS WEEK 22 (MAY 25-JUN 1)
Sidenote: See full season calendar HERE.
23-24 – 24H Series Europe, Michelin 12H Misano, Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Italy – GT3
23-25 – DTM, DEKRA Lausitzring, Germany – GT3
23-25 – F1 TAG Heuer Grand Prix de Monaco, Circuit de Monaco, Monaco – F1
23-26 – British GT Championship, Oulton Park, UK – GT3
30-01 – DMV Super Touring and GT Cup, Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit, Nürburg, Germany – GT4
30-01 – F1 ARAMCO Gran Premio de España, Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain – F1
30-01 – GT World Challenge / GT World Challenge Asia, Chang International Circuit, Thailand – GT3, GT4, TCR
30-01 – GT World Challenge / GT World Challenge Australia, Queensland Raceway, Australia – GT3
30-01 – GT World Challenge / GT World Challenge Europe, Endurance Cup, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy – GT3
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