STRONG PERFORMANCE BY PROSPERIA C. ABT RACING AT THE 24-HOURS

With two Audi R8 LMS ultra designed by partner Hankook and a highly experienced and successful cadre of long-distance pilots, Team Prosperia C. Abt Racing faced the challenge of the 24-hours' race on the traditional Nürburgring. However, their run in the 42nd edition of the Eifel classic did not take place under good portents. Although the two Audis were long fighting in the top field with good expectations and at times did the best lap times, the end result is only a 34^th position for the Audi with starting number ten, driven by Christer Jöns, Niclas Kentenich, Christopher Mies and Dominik Schwager. Their sister car with number nine, the cockpit shared by Alexander Müller, Marco Seefried, Nicki Thiim and Richard Westbrook, broke down with drive shaft damage 45 hours before the finish and had to forfeit.

"We had two gears with over-temperature, and in one car the articulated shaft broke. We were able to keep up with the top teams' pace, but the racing god did not favour us. The prerequisites were just right, but we were out of luck. I would like to congratulate our Audi colleagues from Team Phoenix Racing to their victory."

Team Prosperia C. Abt Racing suffered their first setback just after midnight, when car #9 had damage to its tyre after contact with a competitor and lost its position in the top 10 of the overall results in the race with its extremely hard battles. On Sunday morning, the team dropped back to rank 112 after a defect in the drive unit and the required repairs. Another gear defect finally threw them out of the race entirely after more than 23 racing hours.

The Prosperia-Audi #10 was out of luck as well. In spite of a sports penalty and a tyre damage, the team was still at rank seven after 14 hours, staying just behind the top field and maintaining good chances. Then this team was hit by defects as well. A drive shaft damage and gear change threw the car back to rank 62. Then the team simply ran out of time. Their race to catch up was quite exciting, until the finish flag ended it at position 34.