On the Pentecost weekend, you’ll be entering the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with your team as last year’s winners. What are your expectations?

The aim is completely clear: we want to repeat our success.

In 2012, you clinched the first overall victory for an Audi R8 LMS ultra with your team. Knowing the ropes now, it should be pretty easy this year, shouldn’t it?

That would be nice. But this race is an extreme challenge every time, with a lot of imponderables. And this time, the competition tends to be even stronger than it was when we took victory. Last year, we didn’t have the quickest car in the race but we still won, thanks to the combination of speed, reliability and good race tactics. All of these factors are particularly important in endurance racing.

How did the preparations go?

Due to the long winter the time to prepare was relatively short. Actually, we only had one VLN race as a test, and that took place in bad weather, so we didn’t learn a lot for the 24-hour race. Fortunately, we had good conditions at the official test this week so that we were able to try out a few more things on the car. I’m confident that we’ll be able to make a good showing again. Our three cars and our drivers certainly have the potential to do so.

Balance of performance is a frequently debated topic. Are you happy with the current rating of the Audi R8 LMS ultra?

I think that it’s not necessarily to our advantage. But there’s no point in complaining. We’ve got to accept things the way they are and make the best of the existing possibilities.

On the same weekend as the 24-hour race round two of the DTM will be held at Brands Hatch. How do you manage this dual task?

Basically, our GT squad and the DTM team work separately, so this isn’t a big problem. And this time, the new timetable of of the 24-hour race, which only starts on Pentecost Sunday, is beneficial as well. Some of my people and I will be traveling to the Nürburgring right after the DTM race and support our GT outfit there.

Source : Audi