Audi star released from hospital after B12H shunt

Factory Audi driver Frank Stippler has been released from hospital after suffering a broken rib in a nasty crash at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

The 41-year-old German was held overnight on Sunday in Bathurst hospital following an accident at The Dipper during the opening hour of the race in the #74 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8.

Stippler was briefly knocked unconscious in the incident when his R8 was left precariously positioned broadside to the traffic.

Audi Customer Racing Australia boss Troy Russell is relieved to see Stippler escape relatively unhurt.

Car owner Steve McLaughlan visited the former DTM driver in hospital following the accident.

“To get out with those injuries after a shunt that size is a good thing as it could always be worse,” Russell told Speedcafe.com.

“The car did everything it was expected to do.”

The #74 R8 Stippler shared with Markus Winkelhock and Robin Frijns sustained significant damage which has forced the team to completely re-shell the car.

A new body shell is due to leave Germany tomorrow with the team hopeful the machine will be ready for the Australian GT Championship opener at Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 from March 2-5.

Audi Customer Racing Australia endured a challenging Bathurst 12 Hour with both its Jamec Pem Racing pro-entries hampered by incidents in the early stages.

While the #74 retired in the first hour, the #75 piloted by Chris Mies, Garth Tander and Christopher Hasse saw its hopes dashed after being tagged by eventful runner-up David Calvert-Jones in the #12 Competition Motorsport Porsche.

It was then collected by the #94 MARC Cars Australia entry in the third hour melee.

However, the #3 Team ASR entry of Ash Samadi, Daniel Gaunt and Matt Halliday finished seventh overall and second in the Pro-am class, while the #9 Hallmarc car of Marc Cini, Lee Holdsworth and Dean Fiore was ninth and third in Pro-am category.

“As a customer program all of our customers did a good job,” Russell added.

“I don’t think we had the pace to win as the BoP was unfavourable, but we could have got a podium in the #75 if we hadn’t had that incident.”