Yves Meyer and Philip Ellis in Audi Sport TT Cup

There is still a lot to be done by the officials before the first race weekend of the Audi one-make cup at the Hockenheimring. The organizational team of quattro GmbH headed by Project Leader Philipp Mondelaers is currently working at full stretch on finalizing the driver lineup. “14 drivers have already been confirmed as permanent entrants,” says Mondelaers. “With the remaining six entries we’re spoiled for choice and are soon going to announce the junior talents that will be completing the field.”

In 2016, five drivers who previously proved their prowess in the Audi Sport TT Cup will be on the grid again. They include the German Dennis Marschall, who finished in third place overall last season, as well as the Finn Joonas Lappalainen. In 2015, 18-year-old Lappalainen was the youngest driver in the Audi Sport TT Cup field and won the two rounds of the season finale at Hockenheim. Nicklas Nielsen is one of the newcomers to the driver squad. The Dane has a track record of numerous successes in national and international kart racing and defeated today’s Formula One driver Max Verstappen on several occasions in his career. Sheldon van der Linde is another rookie. The South African in 2015 won the Volkswagen Polo Cup in his country and would like to follow in the footsteps of his brother Kelvin, who has begun a promising career in Audi’s GT3 racing program.

The first litmus test will be coming up for the young entrants from March 11 to 16 at Oberstdorf, where they are going to meet for a fitness camp to jointly lay the foundations for a strenuous season. “I’m already looking forward to working with our young race drivers and am eager to meet them as a group for the first time at our fitness camp,” says Mondelaers. The camp in the Allgäu region will not only be about developing strength and physical shape, as the participants will also be receiving valuable tips for appropriate nutrition, engineering and information on how to work with social media in various professional presentations.

In April, a driving test in the Audi TT cup, plus media training sessions, are going to complement the preparations. The starting signal for the second season of the Audi one-make cup will be given during the DTM season opener at the Hockenheimring on the first weekend in May.

The provisional field of the 2016 Audi Sport TT Cup Caygill, Josh (GB, *June 22, 1989) Egsgaard, Patrick (DK, *December 15, 1994) – rookie Ellis, Philip (GB, *September 10, 1992) – rookie Hofer, Max (A, *May 23, 1999) – rookie Holton, Paul (USA, *October 11, 1996) – rookie Lappalainen, Joonas (FIN, *March 1, 1998) Larsson, Simon (S, *May 13, 1997) – rookie Lefterov, Pavel (BG, *November 12, 1997) – rookie Lindholm, Emil (FIN, *July 19, 1996) Marschall, Dennis (D, *August 15, 1996) Meyer, Yves (CH, *June 12, 1991) – rookie Nielsen, Nicklas (DK, *February 6, 1997) – rookie Rdest, Gosia (PL, *January 14, 1993) van der Linde, Sheldon (ZA, *May 13, 1999) – rookie