Steve Q

21-year-old Russian Klim Gavrilov will contest the full season of TCR Europe in 2021, racing an Audi RS3 LMS for VRC-Team. Gavrilov has raced full-time in TCR Russia since 2017, during which time he has scored nine race victories in the highly competitive series, finishing second overall in last year’s drivers’ championship. Gavrilov also claimed the inaugural Touring Car champion of the 2019 FIA Motorsport Games after finishing first and second respectively in the races at Vallelunga. The Russian will be no stranger to TCR Europe however, having made his début in the series at Barcelona in 2018 and then returned for the events at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza in 2019. He has also raced in TCR Italy in 2019, competing in four races and emerging victorious at Monza on his first race in the series. Gavrilov will race an Audi in 2021, marking a change for the St Petersburg racer who had campaigned a Hyundai i30 N in the Russian series in 2020. Gavrilov previously raced Audi machinery in 2019. https://www.touringcars.net/2021/05/klim-gavrilov-to-contest-full-tcr-europe-season

Two new Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos entered under the Melbourne Performance Centre umbrella has given the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS grid an increased grid as it heads to The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend. Nineteen cars are entered for the third round of the season, which will serve as a support race for Australia’s Repco Supercars championship for the first time this year. Eric Constantinidis will make his series debut in the No. 3 Audi alongside Bill Papas, who has upgraded to the German manufacturer’s most current GT3 offering after starting the season with an Audi R8 LMS ultra. Both drivers, competing solo, will run in the Am class. “Because of the enjoyment that we get from racing, and being ambitious old blokes, we decided to take our racing to the next level and get serious about the GT class,” said Papas. “It will be something new for us. Both Eric and I stared in road-registered Porsches, and that has led us to where we are today. “One of the appealing aspects of GT World Challenge Australia is the cars themselves. “Of course, you need a level of skill, but there are very enjoyable and tolerate for the drivers. That can bring you a little closer to the elite drivers. But I’m really looking forward to getting there.” O’Keeffe, Feeney Drafted in to Sub for Supercars Stars With both Shane van Gisbergen and Chaz Mostert focusing on Supercars duty this weekend, Dylan O’Keeffe and Broc Feeney have been drafted into MPC’s Audi and the Triple Eight Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, respectively. TCR Australia regular O’Keeffe will team up Tony Bates in the No. 24 Bostik Audi, with Prince Jefri Ibrahim having his third different co-driver in as many rounds in Feeney. Headlining the Pro-Am field are championship leaders Garth Tander and Yasser Shahin in their Audi, which dominated the opening round at Phillip Island and took another win at the recent round at Bathurst. In the Am class, Tony Quinn has been the man to catch in his Local Legends Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The veteran racer was undefeated at the recent round at Mount Panorama and currently holds a 27-point advantage over Andrew MacPherson and Ben Borter’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3. In the GT Trophy Series, the battle is hotly-contested with Brad Schumacher’s Audi and Brett Hobson’s first-gen Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 separated by just 13 points. The GT field will practice and qualify on Friday, followed by two one-hour races on Saturday and Sunday. https://sportscar365.com/sro/gtwc/australian-gt/new-audi-entries-provide-boost-to-grid-for-the-bend/

PK Carsport’s Pro-Am duo Peter Guelinckx and Bert Longin bounced back from their frustrating result on Saturday to claim victory in the second Fanatec GT2 European Series race at Monza (18 April). Audis finished one-two courtesy of Stephane Ratel and Luca Pirri (LP Racing) who crossed the line just 0.6s behind, while Michael Vergers (Porsche) held off a charging Anders Fjordbach to seal the final podium place alongside his Speed Factory Racing co-driver Aurelijus Rusteika. The Am Cup winners were only decided on the penultimate lap when Christoph Ulrich passed Hans Joachim Stuck. Sportec Motorsport’s KTM that Ulrich shares with Adrian Spescha spent most of the opening stint fighting for the overall lead but dropped back to ultimately finish fifth following its seven-second Success Penalty and a subsequent stop-go. True Racing by Reiter Engineering’s Klaus Angerhofer and Hubert Trunkenpolz (KTM) completed the Am podium. AUDIS PICK UP THE PIECES, KTM FIGHT BACK AT THE LAST A race of two halves would best describe this weekend’s second Fanatec GT2 European Series contest, which fell Audi’s way in Pro-Am despite not having the best of the early running. In reality, Patrick Zamparini’s pole sitting Am Cup Huracan failed to complete a racing lap after pulling into the pitlane as the grid streamed towards the line, which left the way clear for Kris Rosenberger and Adrian Spescha to battle up front. The two KTMs ran nose-to-tail throughout an opening stint in which Spescha desperately sought a way past. The private battle was only resolved when Sportec’s #7 X-Bow spun exiting Ascari, which should have allowed Rosenberger to pull clear. Instead, a subsequent slow pitstop dropped co-driver Hans Stuck out of overall contention. That, plus seven-second Pitstop Success Penalties for Speed Factory Racing and Sportec, elevated the Audis of PK Carsport and LP Racing to first and second after Peter Guelinckx and Stephane Ratel completed the opening stint in third and fifth. Their respective co-drivers, Bert Longin and Luca Pirri, spent the rest of the race no more than three seconds apart but also never close enough for the lead to change hands. The result came as a tonic for both teams whose races were compromised – and in the latter’s case, ended – at the start yesterday. Instead, all eyes were on Anders Fjordbach who closed in on the top-three over the second half of the race. High Class Racing’s #33 Audi – which won on Saturday – briefly took third from Michael Vergers on the final lap before the Porsche powered back ahead to seal the final podium place. A stop-go penalty compromised Stefan Rosina and Sedhi Sarmini’s run to fifth, while Ulrich recovered from Spescha’s earlier spin and three-second stop-go penalty for making a short pitstop to hunt down and pass Hans Stuck over the closing laps. After two races, Patterson and Fjordbach are tied at 37 points apiece with the Guelinckx/Longin #81 Audi at the top of the Pro-Am standings. That puts them just four points clear of Rusteika and Vergers in the Speed Factory Racing Porsche in third. Spescha and Ulrich hold the upper hand in the Am Cup by 13 markers over Trunkenpolz and Angerhofer; just one point splits the battle for third, with Zamparini and Collado’s win on Saturday enough to keep them ahead of CMR’s Ferrari duo of Alexis Berthet and Patrick Michallier. http://www.dailysportscar.com/2021/04/18/audi-one-two-in-second-monza-race.html

Lucas di Grassi says there was “no reason” for his car to fail while leading the Rome E-Prix, which cost Audi its first Formula E win in almost two years. Audi developed an in-house powertrain for the first time for the 2021 season, its last in the championship, as it seeks a first victory since di Grassi triumphed in the Berlin E-Prix in May 2019. Di Grassi inherited the lead of the Rome race early on after a collision for polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne and Andre Lotterer was complemented by a drive-through penalty for Oliver Rowland, when the Nissan e.dams driver was adjudged to have exceeded energy limits. The Brazilian lost out to chaser and eventual winner Jean-Eric Vergne through the two uses of attack mode but repassed the DS Techeetah driver with a well-executed lunge into Turn 4. However, his race was then ended by an as-yet-unconfirmed driveshaft failure on the run to Turn 6, which forced Vandoorne to go off-line to pass him over a manhole cover that launched him into a spin and meant the race was ended under safety car conditions. Di Grassi told Motorsport.com he had driven a completely clean race and there was no apparent cause for the car to die. The 2016-17 champion said: “It was a mechanical failure [at] the rear end, we are not sure why. It needs to be opened up to exactly pinpoint it. But it was not software, not electricity, not battery. "It was some mechanical components that failed. Then I didn't have any drive. I could hear the motor spinning, but I had no drive. I was looking at the dash see if there was any alarm or anything going on, but it was dead. Without any touch, without any contact with the wall. The car had zero marks, it was a very good race. There was no reason for that to happen.” Di Grassi reckoned he had lost out to Vergne through the attack mode phase because he had been the point of reference for drivers on a slippery track, which followed a brief shower after qualifying. He continued: “In the conditions like we had, it was an extremely difficult race because it's half wet, half dry. If you're the leader car as I was, you are the reference. People behind you are kind of easy to stay with you because you need to understand if that corner is wet or not. “Vergne used his experience and good strategy to pass me with attack mode, but we had more pace today. We were able to pass back both times. The race was ours for the taking. The track was drying up and my pace was getting better.” Vergne said he had let di Grassi pass because he was attempting to save energy and thought he could re-overtake. “I did not block Lucas, when he wanted to overtake me,” he said. “I was already saving a lot of energy. I knew he had a bit less. “When I saw him trying to attack me, I just let it be. I knew there was like six, seven laps to go on this point... I could get him again at the end.” https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/di-grassi-break-down-rome/6190948/amp/

JOHANNESBURG - AUDI is set to return to sports prototype racing as well as the Le Mans endurance race in 2023 with an electrified car which will be the successor to the successful Audi R18. The first planned race will be the Daytona 24-hour challenge in January 2023. It’s being built in co-operation with sister company Porsche. “A great strength of the Volkswagen Group is the collaboration of the brands in the development of road cars. We are now transferring this proven model to motorsport. Nevertheless, the new sports prototype will be just as much a genuine Audi as the Audi RS e-tron GT1 that was launched recently and has also been developed on a platform shared with Porsche,” said Julius Seebach, managing director of Audi Sport GmbH and responsible for Motorsport at Audi. “The new LMDh category fits perfectly with our new set-up in motorsport. The regulations allow us to field fascinating race cars in prestigious races worldwide. In addition, we are making use of synergies inside the Volkswagen Group with our partner strategy.” The new prototype is said to be just as much an Audi as the RS e-tron GT launched recently and also developed on a platform shared with Porsche. The sports prototype for the new LMDh category is currently being created at Audi Sport in parallel with the innovative SUV for the Dakar Rally. “Of course, the Dakar team is under greater time pressure, because there are just under eight months left until our first participation in the Dakar Rally in January 2022,” said Andreas Roos, responsible for all factory motorsport commitments at Audi Sport. “But we also want to be perfectly sorted for our comeback at Le Mans.” “We have selected a chassis partner and decided on an engine concept. Together with our colleagues from Audi Design, we are currently defining the look which will excite our fans,” said Roos. The first race is planned for the Daytona 24 Hours in January 2023. The regulations, which are trimmed for maximum cost efficiency, also make Audi’s new sports prototype interesting for customer teams. “With the LMDh project, we are continuing the philosophy of our early years in sports prototypes,” said Roos. “The Audi R8 was not only the most successful prototype of its time from 2000 to 2006, with 63 victories in 80 races, but it was also very successful in the hands of our customers and easy for the teams to handle. This is also the premise with the electrification of our new sports prototype. Our goal is to also put the car in the hands of professional customer teams right from the start, in parallel to factory entries.” Audi holds the distance record at the Le Mans 24 Hours and has won the race 13 times. Audi customer teams scored overalls victories at Le Mans in 2004 and 2005. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.iol.co.za/amp/motoring/motorsport/audi-sport-set-to-return-to-le-mans-to-energise-sport-with-all-electric-racing-car-26602aaf-e218-4de3-8248-4b4295b15dc1

Balfe Motorsport will field a new Audi R8 LMS GT3 for the full 2021 International GT Open season for Shaun Balfe and Adam Carroll. Shaun is already a familiar face in the GT Open paddock having taken the 2017 Pro-Am honours alongside Rob Bell in 2017, courtesy of three wins and a further five podium positions. Prior to that, Shaun won the Spanish GT Championship and more recently finished third in the British GT Championship. Adam Carroll brings a wealth of experience to Balfe Motorsport in 2021. His racing CV is an impressive one dating back to 2000 when he secured the Formula Ford Winter Series title and soon after Formula 3 titles in the UK and Europe. The A1GP series saw Adam compete under the Team Ireland moniker, wrapping up the 2008/9 title. Spells in both GP2 and IndyCar followed, before a GT3 programme in the R8 LMS with Team WRT saw him secure his first FIA GT1 podium position at Donington Park in 2012. Since then, Adam has raced in a variety of championships, including GT Open with Balfe Motorsport in 2016 where he secured a podium on his debut. Having tested the new #22 Audi at Silverstone, the pairing expects to be competitive at the front of the field when the seven-round championship gets underway at Paul Ricard next month. Shaun Balfe: “We’re happy to be going back to this series again this year and we’re looking forward to getting a good number of laps on the car next week in the Barcelona test. We’re hoping for good weather, reflective of what we expect this year in the championship itself in terms of track temperature. “As we’re committed to this championship, it is important to do the Barcelona test as it will be significant to the start of the season as we need to be out with our competition. We believe the Audi will be competitive in GT Open and for me personally, I find the days travel to a European event useful in separating my work life from the sport of racing. Championship aspirations? It’s way too early to even think about that.” Adam Carroll: “I raced with Shaun back in 2016 at the Red Bull Ring and immediately had a strong relationship. We have remained in contact ever since and this year it came together nicely and I’m really happy to race with him again. He is mega-quick and is always amongst the best Am racers in the field. “I’ve had a shakedown in the Audi and was immediately impressed by its consistency and how well it worked out of the box. We’ve got another test in Barcelona shortly and then we’re off to the first round at Paul Ricard. We’ll be giving it everything we can and aim to do our very best with the expectation of fighting at the front.” http://www.dailysportscar.com/2021/04/13/balfe-motorsport-to-field-audi-in-gt-open.html

What's the mileage on the car? Is it slipping at all?

Welcome to the forum, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch 🙂 sounds a lovely motor and glad you're pleased with it 🙂 cheers Steve

Trevor is right, my a6 is on its way back from the moon 🤣 it's on 335k. If it's reliable then I'd say keep it. Especially if it's got Rare extras. Deleting the dpf and egr should make it more reliable to be honest. Plus bare in mind selling a cat s will be harder and potential buyers will be annoying abd want it for nothing. In which case id say keep it 🙂

One of our moderators Bradley has one. Lovely car. His is the s line spec. Read up on the oil consumption issue on the 2.0tfsi as it's a big problem.

No probs 🙂

Glad you got to the bottom of it.

That's odd then

Was speaking to a committee member of the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club (Leicester branch) and he's invited us as a club to bring our cars to one of their monthly meetings which happens every third Tuesday of the month at Beadles Lake golf Club, once restrictions are lifted. Might be a good way for us to all meet up, grab a beer abd have a knatter about cars. Let me know if any of you bare interested.

Sorry for being 2 years late replying to this. As of yet no but been working on it.

Think the dates changed to the 1st august.☺️

A Quattro in it's natural habitats ☺️

Body

No probs at all 🙂 the front wings are notorious on vag cars of this era. Does look a lovely interior, I do love my sports seats.

Great to hear you solved it 🙂

That's odd as it should sit level. You've not had a spring snap on the rest have you?

You're welcome

No probs