Racing Legends to Celebrate Audi's 100th at Goodwood Festival

As part of the Audi centenary year celebrations German Walter Rohrl (former double world rally champion) and Belgian Jacky Ickx (six-time winner of Le Mans 24 Hour race) will attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer, driving two Audi vehicles that made history.

At this year’s Festival, staged between July 3-5, Rohrl will be driving an original flame-belching 1986 Audi Sport quattro S1 Pikes Peak rallycar, while Ickx will mark his presence with a rare 1936 Auto Union C-Type Grand Prix single-seater.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the cars I drove during my time with Audi,” said Rohrl. "I am especially happy to sit in the Audi Pikes Peak car again. In addition, to be at Goodwood, will be a big experience for me."

Röhrl was also successful in road racing events, and called "Genius on Wheels" by Niki Lauda.

In Italy, he was elected "Rallye driver of the century". In France he was elected "Rallye driver of the millennium" in November 2000. A jury out of 100 worldwide motorsports experts elected him "Best Rallye driver ever" in Italy.

In recent years, he has been retained as the senior test driver for Porsche road cars, for which reason he has been given special permission to attend the Festival with Audi Tradition. The be-winged Audi Sport quattro S1 Pikes Peak that Röhrl will drive at Goodwood features a 2.1-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine producing over 600bhp.

Ickx, known as "Monsieur Le Mans", held the record of victories in Le Mans 24 Hour race until 2005, when Audi’s Tom Kristensen surpassed his record, with a total of six. Jacky also achieved 25 podium finishes in F1.

The V16-engined “Silver Arrow” was capable of reaching speeds in excess of 220mph despite its 1,000kg weight with the C-Type’s engine that develops 520bhp.

Audi will celebrate its centenary on July 16 this year, and to mark the special event, the Audi museum mobile in the Audi Forum Ingolstadt has organized a truly special exhibition called "From Horch to Audi – The history of perfection has a new name”.