2015 Audi Sport TT Cup

The 2015 Audi Sport TT Cup season was the inaugural season of the Audi Sport TT Cup, a one-make sports car racing series organised by Audi. It began on 2 May at Hockenheim and finished on 18 October at the same venue after six double-header meetings,[1] all of which were support events for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.[1]

Poland's Jan Kisiel won the title by 25 points ahead of Danish driver Nicolaj Møller Madsen, while Dennis Marschall of Germany completed the championship top-3, a further 19.5 points in arrears of Møller Madsen. After trailing Marschall by twenty points after the first event at Hockenheim, Kisiel then achieved a run of eight successive podium finishes, with five victories in six races – including four wins in consecutive races at Oschersleben and the Nürburgring – moving him into the championship lead. A fifth-place in the first race at the Hockenheim finale sealed the championship. Møller Madsen – who started the season with five consecutive podium finishes including a win at the Norisring – and Marschall, who won a race at the season-opening event, were split by half a point going into the final weekend, but two podium finishes for Møller Madsen moved him clear.

Outside the top three drivers, Finnish driver Joonas Lappalainen finished in fourth place after achieving a pair of class wins behind guest drivers René Rast and Marco Bonanomi in the Hockenheim finale. Three other drivers won races during the season; Shaun Thong won at the Norisring, but that was his only podium finish of the 2015 season. Belgium's Alexis van de Poele – son of 1987 DTM champion Eric van de Poele – was declared winner of the rain-shortened race at the Red Bull Ring, while Austria's Marc Coleselli won the opening race of the season, but did not contest any further meetings during the season.

Drivers

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No. Drivers Rounds
3   Gosia Rdest[2] All
5   Nikita Misyulya 3–5
7   Christoph Hofbauer[2] 1–5
8   Shaun Thong[2] All
9   Kaan Önder[2] All
11   Levin Amweg[2] 1–3, 6
14   Josh Caygill[2] All
17   Nicolaj Møller Madsen[2] All
26   Dominik Peitz[2] All
27   Dennis Marschall[2] All
33   Emil Lindholm[2] All
40   Marc Coleselli[2] 1
43   Jan Kisiel[2] All
45   Joonas Lappalainen[2] All
49   Sebastian Landy[2] All
50   Loris Hezemans[2] All
55   Alexis van de Poele[2] All
89   Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky[2] All
92   Anton Marklund[2] 1–5
Guest drivers
4   Aaron Mason 6
93   Jordi Gené 2
  Jeffrey Kruger 6
94   Tanner Foust[3] 1
  Pierre Casiraghi 2
  Emiliano Perucca Orfei 3
  Harald Grohs 4
  Matthias Malmedie 5
  Alberto Sabbatini 6
95   Toomas Heikkinen[3] 1
  Albert von Thurn und Taxis 2
  Rahel Frey 3
  Frank Biela 4
  Nikolaus Schelle 5
  Reiner Kuhn 6
96   Sven Hannawald[3] 1
  Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff 2
  Aksel Lund Svindal 3
  Uwe Alzen 4
  Aditya Patel 5
  Jon Olsson 6
97   Ferdinand Stuck 1
  Sebastian Schmidt 2
  Felix Neureuther 3
  Alex Lloyd 4
  René Rast 6
98   Horst von Saurma[3] 1
  Lutz Gernert 2
  Marcel Hirscher 3
  Tim Schrick 4
  Guido Naumann 5
  Marco Bonanomi 6
99   Christian Gebhardt[3] 1
  Doreen Seidel 2–5
  Patrick Simon 6

Race calendar and results

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Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver
1 R1   Hockenheimring, Baden-Württemberg 2 May   Nicolaj Møller Madsen   Nicolaj Møller Madsen   Marc Coleselli
R2 3 May   Nicolaj Møller Madsen   Alexis van de Poele   Dennis Marschall
2 R1   Norisring, Nuremberg 27 June   Shaun Thong   Dominik Peitz   Shaun Thong
R2 28 June   Shaun Thong   Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   Nicolaj Møller Madsen
3 R1   Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 1 August   Nicolaj Møller Madsen   Dennis Marschall   Jan Kisiel
R2 2 August   Alexis van de Poele   Levin Amweg   Alexis van de Poele
4 R1   Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Saxony-Anhalt 12 September   Jan Kisiel   Nicolaj Møller Madsen   Jan Kisiel
R2 13 September   Jan Kisiel   Jan Kisiel   Jan Kisiel
5 R1   Nürburgring, Rhineland-Palatinate 26 September   Emil Lindholm   Dennis Marschall   Jan Kisiel
R2 27 September   Jan Kisiel   Jan Kisiel   Jan Kisiel
6 R1   Hockenheimring, Baden-Württemberg 17 October   Joonas Lappalainen   Marco Bonanomi   René Rast
R2 18 October   René Rast   Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   Marco Bonanomi

Championship standings

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Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top eighteen classified finishers as follows:

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th   15th   16th   17th   18th 
Points 25 21 18 16 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Drivers' championship

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The second race at the Red Bull Ring was red-flagged after four laps, due to a multi-car incident involving Christoph Hofbauer, Levin Amweg, Loris Hezemans, Kaan Önder, Emil Lindholm and Anton Marklund. The first three laps of the race had been completed behind the safety car, due to a heavy downpour. As less than 50% of the scheduled race distance had been covered, half points were awarded.[4]

Pos. Driver HOC
 
NOR
 
RBR
 
OSC
 
NÜR
 
HOC
 
Points
1   Jan Kisiel 4 14 2 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 6 4 231
2   Nicolaj Møller Madsen 2 2 3 1 3 4 7 6 4 12 3 3 206
3   Dennis Marschall 3 1 7 Ret 2 2 5 5 2 2 5 16 186.5
4   Joonas Lappalainen 6 5 6 11 14 13 3 2 19 DNS 2 2 157.5
5   Emil Lindholm 10 13 15 12 18 8 9 10 3 4 9 14 115
6   Shaun Thong Ret 16 1 16 11 10 10 18 8 5 20 12 106
7   Loris Hezemans Ret 9 10 7 5 9 8 13 Ret 3 DSQ 8 105.5
8   Dominik Peitz Ret Ret 9 9 7 11 13 8 20 10 4 6 105.5
9   Christoph Hofbauer 8 7 5 8 6 7 6 9 18 DNS 105.5
10   Josh Caygill 11 19 13 6 13 16 4 7 7 16 15 Ret 103
11   Alexis van de Poele 17 3 11 Ret 17 1 14 14 Ret 7 8 7 100.5
12   Gosia Rdest 15 20 18 13 8 17 17 11 9 9 13 9 90.5
13   Levin Amweg 7 11 14 5 12 12 10 5 84
14   Kaan Önder Ret 12 Ret 10 9 6 11 Ret 12 17 11 13 79
15   Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky 9 Ret 8 3 10 18 Ret 12 6 Ret Ret Ret 75
16   Anton Marklund 14 8 12 Ret 15 14 12 21 14 11 63
17   Marc Coleselli 1 4 41
18   Sebastian Landy Ret Ret 16 15 16 15 Ret 16 10 Ret 14 DNS 39.5
19   Nikita Misyulya 20 20 16 15 11 8 33.5
Guest drivers ineligible for championship points
  René Rast 1 11 0
  Marco Bonanomi 12 1 0
  Uwe Alzen 2 3 0
  Jordi Gené 4 4 0
  Rahel Frey 4 5 0
  Alex Lloyd Ret 4 0
  Aditya Patel 5 6 0
  Tanner Foust 5 6 0
  Jeffrey Kruger 7 10 0
  Ferdinand Stuck Ret 10 0
  Christian Gebhardt 12 17 0
  Doreen Seidel 19 17 19 23 15 19 17 13 0
  Toomas Heikkinen 13 21 0
  Nikolaus Schelle 13 Ret 0
  Matthias Malmedie 16 14 0
  Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff 17 14 0
  Guido Naumann 15 15 0
  Patrick Simon 16 15 0
  Horst von Saurma 16 15 0
  Jon Olsson 17 18 0
  Tim Schrick 18 17 0
  Aaron Mason Ret 17 0
  Reiner Kuhn 18 20 0
  Pierre Casiraghi 20 18 0
  Sven Hannawald Ret 18 0
  Alberto Sabbatini 19 19 0
  Emiliano Perucca Orfei 21 19 0
  Sebastian Schmidt 21 19 0
  Harald Grohs Ret 20 0
  Albert von Thurn und Taxis Ret 20 0
  Marcel Hirscher 22 21 0
  Felix Neureuther 23 22 0
  Aksel Lund Svindal 24 24 0
  Frank Biela Ret Ret 0
  Lutz Gernert WD WD 0
Pos. Driver HOC
 
NOR
 
RBR
 
OSC
 
NÜR
 
HOC
 
Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

References

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  1. ^ a b "Challengers Welcome". Audi Motorsport. Audi. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Audi Sport TT Cup field confirmed". Audi Motorsport. Audi. 23 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e "World premiere of the Audi Sport TT Cup". Audi Motorsport. Audi. 28 April 2015. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  4. ^ "General Regulations for Series run on Circuits / Automobile Sport – Audi Sport TT Cup" (PDF). Audi Sport TT Cup. Deutscher Motor Sport Bund, Audi AG. 8 April 2015. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015. Less than 50% of the scheduled distance = 50% points
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