Audi Marks Brand Centenary with Big Showing at Donau Classic 2009

INGOLSTADT, GERMANY – June 11, 2009: Audi Tradition is marking the centenary of the Audi brand by participating in the Donau Classic with a dozen classic cars and inviting various VIP guests. Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer and Audi Board of Management Chairman Rupert Stadler will also be competing. They will be joined by Olympic biathlon winner Sven Fischer and German rally-driving legend Harald Demuth. Around 200 classic and newer models will be taking to the roads around Ingolstadt between from June 18 to 20.

The centenary of the Audi brand is in the spotlight in 2009. To mark the occasion, Audi Tradition is bringing a number of very special cars out of storage for this year's Donau Classic: three Audi Sport quattro models dating from 1984, as well as the first Audi to be built in Ingolstadt – the Audi 72 from 1965 – are among the starters. The Audi 80 Rallye from 1979 and the "Audi 200 James Bond" from 1986, in which Timothy Dalton chased the Russian agent in the film "The Living Daylights", are putting in an appearance, too. Two specimens of the Audi 100 Coupé S – the sportiest Audi model of the early 1970s – and the Audi Urquattro are of course also in the line-up. Those car enthusiasts with a particular sense of nostalgia will look forward to seeing a 1956 DKW 3=6. But the undisputed highlights for spectators along the route will be the exclusive Horch 930 V and Horch 830 BL, both built in 1939.

Audi Tradition will be receiving high-ranking backing, with Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer driving the "Altmühl Valley Hop Garden Run" on the Friday in the Horch 830 BL. On the Saturday, Audi Board of Management Chairman Rupert Stadler will then be taking the same car on the "Donaumoos-Hallertau Run". Twice German Rally Champion Harald Demuth will be in action on all three days of the event in the Audi 80 Rallye. On the Friday, four-time Olympic biathlon winner and seven-time biathlon world champion Sven Fischer will be getting behind the wheel of the Audi 200 that featured in the James Bond film. On the Friday and Saturday, the field of around 200 participants from Germany and abroad will be starting and finishing on the Piazza in front of the Audi Forum Ingolstadt.

A total distance of around 470 kilometres will be covered over the rally event's three days. The routes pass through charming countryside around Ingolstadt and in the Altmühl Valley Nature Park. The "Urdonau Valley Prologue" on Thursday, June 18 explores part of the original course of the Danube, past precipitous cliffs and ruins steeped in legend, via the Renaissance jewel Neuburg an der Donau, to the Piazza at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt. That will then be the start and finish for the next two days' runs. The "Altmühl Valley Hop Garden Run" on Friday, June 19 will take the drivers and their classic vehicles through the idyllic Schambach Valley, past former Roman settlements and prehistoric remains, such as the Schamhaupten fossil location. The final circuit, the "Donaumoos-Hallertau" stretch on Saturday, June 20, passes via Pfaffenhofen through the hop gardens to Hohenkammer Castle, taking in the asparagus-growing region of Schrobenhausen on the way back to Ingolstadt.