LMS Engineering, the 2012 VLN champion team, will reply upon an Audi TTRS for this season and thus again compete in the very strong class SP3T for cars with 2 litres turbo engines. Regarding the engineering in the GT race car with start number 1, the now 49 years old team manager Andreas Lautner will however go his own ways: “LMS stands for professional motor sports and innovative technologies,” says Lautner. “It was therefore important for us to develop new solutions for our Audi TTRS in the 2 litres turbo class.”
Rather than adopting the 4 cylinders drive technology of the 2012 LMS champion car, the VW Scirocco GT24, the team around engineer Lautner has developed its own 5 cylinder engine with two litres cylinder capacity. “Our TTRS will however start the VLN series from the second race only as there is a delay in the supply of some parts and we wish to complete our test programme as scheduled before we join the championship,” explains Lautner. “But as a compensation the fans will at the opening round be able to see again our champion Scirocco of the year 2012 which we have entered in cooperation with the AC Inzell. This is a great act of friendship from the new owner.”
LMS regular driver Christian Krognes will again compete in the top car of the team from Etzbach in the VLN and in the 24 Hour Race at the Nürburgring. He will also drive the former LMS Scirocco, now owned by the AC Inzell, in the first VLN race. The 22 years old driver from Norway is triple champion in karting in his country and even though he has so far only competed in 25 races at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, he has won not less than 13 rounds and he is also part of the 2012 champion team 2012. “I am looking forward to the new season and to our new race car,” says the current overall and junior champion in the VLN. “After two successful years in the LMS-VW Scirocco GT24, it is a fantastic chance for me to contribute to the development of the new 2 litres Audi TTRS from a driver’s point of view.”
Krognes will this year be assisted by the Belgian junior Ronnie Latinne (23) who became vice-champion in the 2011 BTCS-T3 series with a VW Scirocco GT24. Latinne became second in the 2007 Belgian karting championship and, as a fast and reliable driver, in 2013 enjoys the support of Audi Belgium. “I still have to gain some practical experience in racing at the Nordschleife but I can enjoy a fantastic support due to the comprehensive data acquisition of the team and the open know-how transfer provided by the other LMS drivers”, informs the Belgian race driver regarding his new tasks.
The man to complete the team with the two juniors could perhaps again be someone with a lot of experience. Ulli Andree (47), just as Christian Krognes part of the LMS champion’s team in 2012, will not defend his title but he would like to take part in some races in the Audi TTRS of the team from Etzbach. “I will not be able to participate in all the races in 2013 due to job obligations. But I owe LMS engineering much and I feel really good in the team”, informs the current VLN champion.
Furthermore, LMS team manager Andreas Lautner is in negotiations with some other good drivers, amongst them the fast and well-looking lady driver Daniela Schmid and Peter Terming (29). The man from the Allgäu, a region in South Germany, had successfully competed in the LMS-VW Scirocco GT24 together with Christian Krognes in 2011 already. Furthermore, Terting and Andreas Lautner had already been an ideally matching team at Volkswagen Motorsport where the man from the Westerwald, a mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine, was the team’s Technical Director.
The plans to enter an Audi R8 LMS Ultra in the VLN and in the 24 Hour Race at the Nürburgring is currently put on hold as informs LMS team manager Lautner: “It was not possible to raise the funding for the year 2013 and we thus intend to take up the negotiations again regarding 2014 as early as possible.”
