Fortunately, Kovalainen was not seriously injured during the bang-up. Likewise, his girlfriend, who was riding in the vehicle at the time, walked away from the incident without so much as a scuff as well.

The only only Audi R8 Le Mans-specification sports car racing outside Europe or the United Kingdom has claimed two top-10 finishes in its debut on Bathurst’s Mount Panorama circuit. The Penfold Audi Sport Audi R8 LMS driven by owner Mark Eddy finished eighth and ninth in races for round five of the Vodka O Australian GT Championship last

weekend. The Audi challenged a world-class field of almost 30 GT3-level sports cars representing Aston Martin, Mosler, Lamborghini, Porsche, Lotus, Viper, Corvette and Nissan. In only its fourth Down Under event and its first outing since round three in May, the 500 horsepower V10-engined coupe performed faultlessly and continued to improve its lap times, Eddy said. The car’s progress through the field to finish ninth in race one was impressive, considering it started only 16th after a frustrating build-up to qualifying. “There were delays because of accidents and incidents in both practice sessions and we really didn’t get enough laps for the first time on a track like this. “Then I got baulked in qualifying. I was pretty frustrated, because I don’t think I’ve qualified outside the top 10 in about five years.”

However, Eddy made amends immediately in race one, proving the pace of the Audi R8 LMS. He overtook three cars on the first lap, advanced two more spots on the second lap and another on lap six and clinched ninth place on the final lap.

Starting ninth in race two, Eddy duelled with a Lamborghini Gallardo rival for 12 laps before taking eighth place at the chequered flag.

“In the end I was pretty happy. The car went really well and didn’t miss a beat. I’ve come away from this round with the car in perfect shape and with some set-up data for the next time we come to Bathurst,” Eddy said.

“We’ll try to have a test before the next round and then I’ve also entered the car in a one-hour race at the Island Magic meeting at Phillip Island later in November. It’s at its best over longer race distances and we should go well there.” Mark Eddy is now eighth in the Vodka O Australian GT Championship drivers’ standings.

The Penfold Audi Sport team will contest the Championship’s sixth and final round at Melbourne’s Sandown Park circuit on 19-21 November, during the Norton 360 V8 Supercar event.

2010 Vodka O Australian GT Championship, Mount Panorama (Round 5 of 6)

Race 1: 1 Tony Quinn (Aston Martin) 2 Klark Quinn (Mosler MT900) 3 David Wall (Porsche 997 Cup S) 9 Mark Eddy (Audi R8 LMS)

Race 2: 1 Tony Quinn (Aston Martin) 2 Klark Quinn (Mosler MT900) 3 David Wall (Porsche 997 Cup S) 8 Mark Eddy (Audi R8 LMS)

Drivers points after Round 5: 1 David Wall (Porsche GT3 997 Cup S) 475.5 2 Dean Grant (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) 423 3 Peter Hackett (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) 397 4 James Koundouris (Porsche 997 Cup S) 386
5 Greg Crick (Dodge Viper GT3) 336.5
8 Mark Eddy (Audi R8 LMS) 287.5 *

(*Mark Eddy did not compete in round four)

Penfold Audi Sport by Chris Nixon, Automotive Publicist.

Sielaff, 47, has spent most of his career at Audi, one of the premium brands of Volkswagen AG, Germany’s biggest automaker.

During a visit to Detroit to address the Ward’s Auto Interiors Conference, Sielaff spoke with The Detroit News about his work and which rivals he watches.

Q . Where do you look for ideas and inspiration?

A . I believe designers should go out of the studio, travel, go to other countries.

There are traditional hot spots like Italy. We always visit the Milan furniture shows.

We even go to Singapore for the fashion shows. When we look at the art markets, the Chinese and Indians are making strong statements now.

For clear and clean product design, Scandinavia is still a place to go, where we draw a lot of inspiration. From an architectural point of view, we look to the U.S., at architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. I’m a big fan of Frank Gehry.

Q . Most car designers benchmark Audi. Whom do you benchmark?

A . We look at what the other high-end manufacturers are doing: Aston Martin, Bentley. Within the VW group, I love Bentley and Lamborghini.

Outside the VW group, I have to say Aston Martin. They are doing very emotional products, with good design quality.

Land Rover is also a brand I like. I like the authenticity and clean design language.

If you look at BMW and Mercedes, they’re doing baroque cars and baroque interiors, very heavy and overdecorated. I don’t want a heavy or bulky interior.

Q . What do you think of Asia’s aspiring premium carmakers? Hyundai, for instance?

A . To ignore these companies would be a mistake. We shouldn’t be arrogant. But if they want to do a premium brand, it’ll take them a few years, if not a few decades. We will see.

Q . When you design a car, how much emphasis do you put on comfort?

A . When you have a sporty brand like Audi, you cannot do everything. We focus on sportiness, so our suspensions are a bit harder than they might be in cars that focus more on comfort. We definitely will not do couch-potato soft cars. That’s for sure.

Comfort is also good ergonomics, and ergonomics is something we do very well. It’s also having good screens and displays.

Q . If Porsche and Volkswagen get together, how will that affect the positioning of the Audi brand within the group?

A . If Porsche is integrated into the Volkswagen group, it will not affect our work at Audi. Today Volkswagen has strictly separated brands. Porsche will have a very clear profile, and Audi, too.

Porsche is even more of a sport scar manufacturer than Audi. Audi is also sporty but it’s more understated, more elegant.

Porsches are beautiful cars, fantastic cars, but they’re not elegant. They’re a bit rough.

I don’t think there will be a problem of the brands coming too close together or overlapping.

Q . How hard is it these days to get the money you need to design good interiors with good materials?

A . I fight a lot to get what we want and what my team needs. I understand the management side. We have to earn money with our product. On the other hand, I want a nice product.

The customer is very intelligent and able to see if the company or the brand has spent a certain amount of money on the product or if it is just playing a game with the customer. Our president, (Rupert) Stadler, has a finance background but understands that if we save money on design, it hurts the company.

Reportedly dubbed the XE, the new car will appear in concept form at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. The XE will likely use Jaguar’s new 5.0L supercharged V8 mid-ship, marking the brand’s first mid-engine car since the XJ220 launched in 1991.

Design-wise, the XE is expected to take Jaguar’s new design language even farther, erasing virtually all ties with the current XJ.

http://www.AudiForum.ca

It would be interesting to see if the results would be the same in North America with a leading marketplace like Auto Trader conducting the study.

Five first-place finishes and a special award for Audi at the 7th Internet Auto Awards: a truly impressive achievement for the brand with the four rings. In the automotive industry’s largest online poll, the Audi A3, A4, A6, A8 and R8 models all finished at the top of their respective classes, which earned them “Carolina” awards. The Audi R8 also received the “Most Popular Car in Europe” special award. Over 300,000 online users submitted votes to the automotive website AutoScout24.

For the seventh time, AutoScout24 surveyed its users to determine the most popular vehicles in Europe. Votes were once again cast in several languages and countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. All in all, there were 154 vehicles in nine categories. More than 300,000 users submitted their votes; five Audi models took the top “Carolina” award.
The Audi A3 repeated last year’s first-place finish in the “Compact Car” class, while the Audi A4 led the pack in the “Medium-Sized” category. In the “Top-End Medium-Sized” category, the A6 took top honors; in the “Luxury Classes” the A8 was the cream of the crop.

The Audi R8 not only finished at the head of its class in the “Sports Cars and Coupés” category, but also earned the “Most Popular Car in Europe” special award. All told, Audi is quite simply the most successful brand.

Cha Chinggg

Audi Japan has entered a very exclusive collaboration with The Peninsula Hotel Tokyo, formerly a domain only of BMW and Rolls Royce. Hotel guests which stay at one of their suites (starting from 981,750 Yen = ~9000$ per night) can use the Peninsula-branded Audi R8 for their driving pleasure inside and outside of Tokyo. The Audi R8 Peninsula Tokyo Special comes in Peninsula green with a golden Peninsula logo on the side and the interior features cocos and cognac colored leather. All modifications are provided by Audi Exclusive.

Below is a rendering of one individual, and the their perception of what an R8 would look like, if it had been through a DTM makeover.

Sponsored by RedBull, because everyone loves RedBull.

The R8 has a lot going for it these days. V10 test mules have been spotted, rumors of a TDI version are being spread, now there are sketches being done with no roof.

Anyways, special thanks to www.AudiForum.ca for providing the pics.