A word from … André Lotterer
For André Lotterer as the only German driver in Audi’s lineup, the race at the Nürburgring is his home round.
On July 24, you will be competing in the Audi R18 in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). It’s Audi’s home round as well as yours. Are you excited?
Absolutely! I still remember well what kind of a wonderful welcome we received by the crowd a year ago. More than 60,000 fans turned out for the German debut of the FIA WEC in the Eifel. It would be great if this year an equal number or even more spectators would support us at the Ring.
In sporting terms, this season is very challenging. What are your aims?
Our season has been less than perfect so far. In fourth place of the standings, my teammates and I have scored 35 points up to now, so the gap between us and the top is large. However, we’ve only contested three races to date, with six more to follow. We’d like to make up as much ground as possible. That’s particularly difficult this year because all three manufacturers in the LMP1 category are on a similarly high level. Plus, at the Nürburgring Marcel Fässler and I will only be racing as a team of two because our teammate Benoît Tréluyer isn’t fit again yet after a mountain bike accident. But he’ll be in the car with us again starting in Mexico.
What does the challenge at the Nürburgring consist of?
The profile of the track is varied. There are relatively narrow turns such as the section after the start and finish or the chicane, as well as many semi-fast sections. So, the track is completely different from the past two at Spa or at Le Mans. And sometimes the weather in the Eifel is not as nice as it was a year ago when we had 30 degrees centigrade there – the weather has influenced a number of race decisions at the Nürburgring. We’re looking forward to all the challenges.
Coming up next week
14/07 Mattias Ekström’s 38th birthday
15–16/07 Red Bull Ring (A), round 3, GT3 Le Mans Cup
15–17/07 Zandvoort (NL), races 9 and 10, DTM
15–17/07 Le Castellet (F), round 5, International Endurance Series, 24h race
15–17/07 Mugello (I), races 7 and 8, Italian GT Championship
15–17/07 Fuji (J), races 7 and 8, GT Asia
16/07 Nürburgring (D), round 5, VLN