Unfortunately the trip to Germany for Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff to race in a VLN endurance round at the Nürburgring turned out to be little more than a tourist visit to the Audi factory in Neckarsulm.

According to a short paragraph in the latest Audi Motorsport newsletter Lowndes binned his R8 LMS in practice. He was not injured, but the Australian driver pairing were forced to sit out the race.

UPDATE: Comments from Lowndes can be read over at Speedcafe.com.

Audi Motorsport Newsletter 11/2011

2011/05/29

Blessing in disguise: the debut of the two Australian racing drivers Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff in the Audi race experience Audi R8 LMS on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife was short: after an accident in practice, in which Lowndes was unhurt, they were forced to sit out the race. Before their outing in the Eifel the two “Aussies” had visited the Audi R8 manufacturing plant in Neckarsulm and the R8 LMS production facility in Heilbronn-Biberach.