Audi Singapore Club

The Audi Cup celebrated its premiere in 2009 on the occasion of the company’s 100th anniversary. The Cup is held every two years. On Tuesday, August 4, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur will open the 2015 tournament at 18.15. At 20.45, FC Bayern will play against AC Milan. The losers of both matches will be playing for third place on Wednesday, August 5, before the two winners meet on the pitch in the final. The kick-off times will again be at 18.15 and 20.45. On the second match-day, the brand with the four rings is expecting the 500,000th visitor in the Audi Cup’s history.

This year’s Audi Cup will again be featuring automotive ambassadors. Four Audi A3 Sportback e-tron cars sporting the colors of the participating clubs will be traveling around Munich in the coming weeks to advertise the tournament. Tickets for the semi-final day are available at www.audicup.com. Information about the Audi Cup and Audi’s soccer involvement can be obtained at www.audi-mediacenter.com and www.facebook.com/Audi.Football. The trailer for the Audi Cup can be accessed at www.facebook.com/audi.football/videos/873761049343848/

Audi plans to train 534 apprentices in Ingolstadt as of autumn 2016, compared with the 493 taken on last year. At its second German site in Neckarsulm, the company intends to increase the number of apprenticeships from 238 to 273. The total at the two sites will therefore rise by about 10.5 percent. Most of the additional apprenticeships will be in the areas of mechatronics, informatics, body construction and vehicle construction. The additional young entrants will start what is generally a three‑year apprenticeship in September 2016. As a result, the total number of apprentices at the company will increase by about 230 to more than 2,700 by the year 2018.

“In order to achieve our strategic corporate goals, we are increasingly investing in our own vocational training, especially in the pioneering technologies of the future,” stated Audi’s Board of Management Member for Human Resources Thomas Sigi. “In this way, we will ensure that we have key expertise at the company over the long term. At the same time, we are assuming social responsibility for our sites in the home country.” Sigi explained that the additional apprentices will be taken on into permanent employment following their successful training, as is usual at Audi.

Audi General Works Council Chairman Peter Mosch: “More apprentices are a clear signal of the company’s ongoing growth. This has always been a priority of the Audi Works Council and that will continue to be the case in the future.”

Norbert Rank, Chairman of the Neckarsulm Works Council: “Well‑trained and qualified employees are a precondition for us to produce high‑quality automobiles. Especially in view of our rising unit sales, we welcome the additional apprenticeships and regard them as safeguarding the future of the sites in Neckarsulm and Ingolstadt.”

Technological progress in the fields of electrification, digitalization and the connected factory is a key feature of the brand’s new vocational training. For example, informatics experts that specialize in systems integration will be given further training in electrics and electronics at Audi. With this expanded competence, the new occupation will have a key role to play in the digital factory. Experts in body and automobile construction will also receive training in lightweight construction, allowing them to master various materials such as aluminum, steel and carbon fiber. At the Neckarsulm site, Audi this year started to train material testers with a focus on metal technology. Audi is developing new expertise profiles also in view of growing complexity in the diversity of automotive components and global logistics.

“With innovative and quality‑oriented vocational training, we will master the challenges of the future at Audi,” stated Dieter Omert, head of vocational training and specialist competence development. “But we also want to contribute generally towards making the system of dual training attractive for young people.”

“Zandvoort is a cool track with a fantastic, natural configuration,” says Audi driver Jamie Green who, with three victories this season and 81 points, is traveling to Holland as the leader of the standings. “The circuit has unique characteristics and the fast turns pose a real challenge to any racer.” The driver from Audi Sport Team Rosberg celebrated one the greatest successes in his career at Zandvoort. In 2004, Green secured an early title win in the Formula 3 Euro Series on clinching a commanding victory on the dune circuit. One of his fiercest rivals back then was Nico Rosberg. Today, Green competes in the DTM for the team of Nico’s father, Keke Rosberg.

In the popular touring car racing series, Jamie Green has not yet achieved a podium in ten races at Zandvoort. His best result so far has been fourth place. “It’s high time to change that,” says the DTM’s front runner. Last year, he came close. Green was running in second place before a safety car thwarted the strategy. “This year, I’ve got a perfect car, plus the weight situation is more favorable for us than at the Norisring.”

Trailing Green with an eleven-point gap in second place of the standings is Mattias Ekström. The Swede from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline celebrated the first of his 20 DTM victories to date at Zandvoort in 2002. With four successes under his belt, he is the record winner there. “I’ve always been running well at Zandvoort so far,” says Ekström. “The circuit offers a fantastic combination of fast and slow corners. The tarmac has a lot of grip, so the tires degrade heavily in the race. Having a car that works well over the distance is a great advantage. With our Audi RS 5 DTM, we’re well set.”

For Audi, Zandvoort has almost always been a good track so far. Since its DTM comeback with a factory-backed commitment in 2004, the brand with the four rings has clinched the top spot on the grid seven times, plus victory on an equal number of occasions – most recently with Mattias Ekström (2014), Edoardo Mortara (2012) and Mike Rockenfeller (2011).

“Audi has traditionally been strong at Zandvoort and the track is very popular with our drivers,” says Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport. “Following the city street race in Nuremberg, we’re looking forward again to a ‘normal’ race track, which happens to be one of the most challenging ones on the DTM calendar. We’re determined to again present a more cohesive display than what we did at the Norisring. We’re aiming for two victories. But Mercedes can always be expected to be in contention. They were strong at Hockenheim and at the Norisring and only had a bad patch at the Lausitzring. Plus, the BMW are still able to run with clearly lighter weight than our RS 5 DTM cars. Let’s see how much of an effect that’ll have.”

Thrilling premiere for Audi R8 LMS Cup in Taiwan

Three races, three winners: Edoardo Mortara, Franky Congfu Cheng and Thomas Fjordbach shared the victories in the third round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup season. Wildcard starter Mortara celebrated a commanding start-finish victory in the first race on the Penbay International Circuit. The DTM driver won by 1.313 seconds ahead of Cheng and Fjordbach. Although Mortara crossed the finish line first in race two, a 30-second penalty prevented the Italian from taking two wins. Benefactor was Cheng, who moved up a position and celebrated his first victory of the season. Rookie Aditya Patel and reigning Champion Alex Yoong finished behind him on the winners’ rostrum. In the third race, Thomas Fjordbach celebrated his first win. On the first lap, the rookie benefitted from the push-to-pass function and overtook pole sitter Patel. Fjordbach defended the lead all the way to the flag. Title holder Alex Yoong and Congfu Cheng followed in second and third less than once second behind. After the third of six rounds Aditya Patel is at the top of the standings. The next Audi R8 LMS Cup race weekend is held on August 8-9 in Sepang (Malaysia).

Sébastien Loeb Racing rewarded with victory

Triumphant race weekend for Sébastien Loeb Racing: the record rally World Champion’s team celebrated its first victory of the season at the fourth round of the French GT Championship. David Hallyday, Philippe Gaillard and Mike Parisy crossed the finish line first in Audi R8 LMS ultra #3 at Le Vigeant. The trio had earlier qualified on pole position for the two races.

Ekström wins again in World Rallycross Championship round in Sweden

Mattias Ekström repeated his last year’s victory in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Sweden. At the sixth round of the season, Ekström in his Audi S1 EKS RX quattro initially finished behind compatriot Timmy Hansen in the final for the best six drivers. However, the stewards corrected the result after winners’ ceremony. In the view of the officials, Hansen had left the track in his overtaking attempt in the last corner. This is the second victory in a World Championship round for Ekström and his private Rallycross team EKS.

Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns defend championship lead

Winning streak over, but championship lead intact: thanks to an impressive comeback drive, Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns still top the Blancpain Sprint Series standings after the fourth round of the season. After two consecutive victories, the Belgian-Dutch duo from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT had to settle for fifth place in the race at Moscow Raceway. Because of puncture in the qualifying race, Vanthoor/Frijns only started the one-hour race from 16th on the grid. Their teammates Stéphane Richelmi and Stéphane Ortelli finished fourth in the best-placed Audi R8 LMS ultra. An Audi R8 LMS ultra fielded by Phoenix Racing held second place for many laps. However, a drive through penalty, which Markus Winkelhock completed five minutes before the end of the race, threw him back in sixth place.

Dupré Motorsport celebrates double podium in the DMV GTC

Audi customer team Dupré Motorsport mounted the winners’ rostrum in both races held during the fourth DMV GTC race weekend at Hockenheim. From sixth on the grid for the first race, Christoph Dupré gradually moved forward in the Audi R8 LMS ultra before finally taking third place. The Saarlander also finished third in the second race around the traditional track.

Podium positions in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy

“Maximilian Stein” performed strongly during the third Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy race weekend. In the opening race, the driver fielded by Audi customer team Schütz Motorsport took second overall. In the Audi R8 LMS with start number 5, “Stein” was only 2.195 seconds behind the race winner after 16 laps. In the second race, he finished second in class. Berthold Gruhn was third in another Audi R8 LMS.

Jens Dehlke and his colleagues are currently working in four fields of operation in the Audi Production Lab. The first field deals with new ways to automate quality control. The second examines opportunities for making cars more assembly friendly in the future. Field number three addresses Big Data, i.e. how we master large amounts of data. And field number four is about the interaction of humans and machines using augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR).

“Three approaches could be of particular interest to Audi: tablets, data glasses and hand projection. All three have the potential to support production employees with their tasks,” says Dehlke. As the technology currently stands, hand projection consists of a laptop in a backpack and a unit attached to a strap that goes over the shoulder. It encompasses a compact infrared sensor and a small laser projector, which projects simple information – such as the instruction “check oil level” – onto the palm of the wearer’s hand. To do so, the sensor measures the distance to the hand and its position, in order to adjust the projection. The image is always sharp and disappears as soon as the user closes his or her hand, so it never disturbs the user while carrying out a task.

In the near future, Audi intends to be the first manufacturer to carry over the principle of hand projection to data glasses, thus making it ready for series production.