The Audi A1, the premium super mini has won its 6th award in only five months of being available at Audi Five Oaks. The inaugural Honest John awards were held at London on the 19th of May. Other awards won by the Audi A1 already in 2011 include; Car of the Year and Supermini of the Year awards from What Car? Best Small Car Fleet World award, Best Small Hatchback from Parkers New Car Awards and Best Luxury Small Car from the CarBuyer Awards. The A1 has been out for 5 months now but, it is still not that common of a car. It is still a rarity to see one of these on the road. My sources tell me order books are full and have been since it was launched. The A1 is in a very competitive segment which includes the MINI, the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 1 Series.
The Porsches have revised front aero this year and also a new refuelling system which may save up to 10 seconds per stop. Christensen with Pilet (with Nick Tandy and Marc Lieb) finished 5th in GTLM at the Daytona 24 hours. Lietz finished 5th in GTLM at Sebring with Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and Earl Bamber. Silverstone WEC, Lietz and Christensen finished 2nd overall in GTE Pro. Spa, Porsche junior driver Sven Muller will drive this car with Kevin Estre. Pilet with Christensen finished 5th in GTLM at the Daytona 24 hours and also 5th at Sebring. Makowiecki with Jorg Bergmeister and Earl Bamber finished 7th in GTLM at the Daytona 24 hours earlier this year. Henzler retired from the Daytona 24 hours in a Team Falken Porsche 991 but finished 3rd in GTLM at Sebring. Bergmeister with Makowiecki and Bamber finished 7th in GTLM at Sebring. Silverstone WEC, Pilet and Makowiecki finished 7th in GTE Pro after front suspension trouble. Spa, Makowiecki and Lietz will drive this car.
This year may see the swansong of the current Vantage before it is replaced by it鈥檚 successor next year. The diameter of the Aston鈥檚 air intake restrictors has increased by 0.8mm this year. The 鈥淒ane Train鈥?moves up to GTE Pro this year. Nygaard finished 13th in GTD at the Daytona 24 Hours earlier this year. Silverstone WEC, the team finished 4th in GTE Pro after being in pole position. Silverstone WEC, Turner and Mucke finished 5th in GTE Pro. No longer having a link with Craft-Bamboo the car this year runs with Valero sponsorship. Silverstone WEC, the team finished 6th in GTE Pro. LMGTE Am (13 CARS) -(Orange number panels and Yellow headlamps. At least one bronze and one bronze or silver rated driver. Roda and Ruberti move over from the 8 Star/AF Corse Ferrari team. Silverstone WEC, the team finished 7th in GTE Am despite a puncture and a one minute stopa and go for a pit stop violation. 68 Massive Motorsport GTC Aston Martin Vantage with Casper Elgaard and Simon Moller.
39 Team Sard-Morand Morgan. The team finished 9th in GTD at the Daytona 24 hours and Sebring in a Dodge Viper SRT, Keating also shered the winning GTD Viper. Goossens finished 4th in GTD at Sebring. The team received an automatic invitation after finishing 2nd in LM GTE in the European Le Mans Series last year. Silverstone ELMS, Cameron and Griffin were joined by Aaron Scott and finished 3rd in LM GTE. Silverstone ELMS, the team (driving as car No 51) retired after 35 laps. The team received an automatic invitation after being nominated by the Tudor United Sports Car Championship (the other nominees Wayne Taylor Racing declined their invitation in LM P2). Sweedler and Bell finished 6th in GTD at the Daytona 24 hours in a Ferrari 458 and 3rd at Sebring. This is the only GTE Am car running on Dunlop tyres at Le Mans. Al-Faisal won the Dubai 24 hours in January driving a Black Falcon Mercedes.