THE LINE - FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 10:03AM 
(Audi Motorsport/newspressUSA)
For the first time, title defenders Tom Kristensen (left) and Loïc Duval (above, with Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport), are sharing an Audi R18 e-tron quattro in 2014 with Lucas di Grassi. The former Formula One driver, who has been competing for Audi since 2012 and finished at Spa and Le Mans in third place last year, has been promoted to a full-time role with the Audi factory team replacing Allan McNish, who has retired. On the way to the 2013 World Championship title, Duval, Kristensen and McNish won three WEC rounds – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For record winner Kristensen, this marked the ninth victory and for his teammate Duval the first. Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer (below) will again drive the second factory-entered Audi R18 team car. In 2012, they clinched the WEC drivers’ title and victory at Le Mans for the second consecutive time. In 2013, the trio won the WEC races at Spa, São Paulo and Shanghai and finished the drivers’ classification as the runners-up.
(Audi Motorsport/newspressUSA)
(Volkswagen Motorsport/newspressUSA)
Volkswagen arrives at the Rally Sweden (February 5-9), the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship, as defending champion in the Driver, Co-Driver and Manufacturer competitions, and also as the leader in all three categories in the WRC. The VW driver lineup consists of Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia, Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila and Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula, all in VW Polo R WRC machines. Rally Sweden features sideways, balls-out running over ice and snow and through dense forests at an average speed of 110 km/k and classic special stages like “Fredriksberg” and “Rämmen” as well as the iconic “Colin’s Crest” jump.
(Images courtesy of VW)
Volkswagen of America, Inc. and Andretti Sports Marketing announced the details of its 2014 rallycross program at the Chicago Auto Show. Volkswagen will partner with Andretti Autosport to form the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team, running two cars in the series with drivers Tanner Foust and Scott Speed. The team will start off the Red Bull Global Rallycross season when it opens in May with modified Polo rally cars - built on the chassis that won the 2013 World Rally Championship for drivers and manufacturers - and then will switch to a heavily-modified GRC Beetle the next month. The all-wheel-drive GRC Super Beetle will feature more than 560 horsepower from its turbocharged and direct-injected TSI® engine. Foust, GRC champion in 2011 and 2012 and runner-up in 2013, will drive the Rockstar Energy Drink Beetle. Speed, who won two races in the 2013 GRC Series, will be racing the 7UP-sponsored Beetle for the team. Speed competed in Formula 1 for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006 and 2007 and in NASCAR between 2008 and 2013. The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team will debut the GRC Beetle at the X Games in June in Austin, TX.
(SCCA)
The 45th birthday of the Formula F class highlights the SCCA® Summer SpeedFest at Barber Motorsports Park, August 9-10. Three classes of Formula F machines, representing the beginning of Formula Ford through the modern day National Championship contenders, will be joined by SCCA Spec Racer® Ford, Formula Enterprises and Formula 500 machines on the anniversary weekend. Skip Barber won the 1969 National Championship in the class that was then called Formula Ford until a Honda engine was permitted for the 2010 season. The SCCA Summer SpeedFest featuring the Formula F 45th Anniversary will be a doubleheader race weekend for the SCCA Runoffs-eligible Formula F class, as well as the Club Formula F and vintage Formula Ford machines. The current Runoffs-eligible Spec Racer Ford class will race on both Saturday and Sunday and include a race within a race for the Gen 3 Spec Racer Ford machines on Saturday. On Sunday, the Gen 3 machines, will race separately in a stand-alone race.
