Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry Test Drive Audi R8

As players of one of the world's best teams, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi or Thierry Henry are not easily shaken. But whenever they receive the keys to their new cars from vehicle partner Audi the eyes of even these seasoned football stars start shining. Today was another such occasion: At the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona Ralph Weyler, Member of the Board for Marketing and Sales of AUDI AG, handed their new "company cars" over to the athletes. Audi and FC Barcelona have been partners since the past football season. The favourite product chosen from the sporty model range of the brand in Ingolstadt was again the Audi Q7.

Before the official hand-over of the vehicles in Barcelona, where the DTM is staging its penultimate race on Sunday, the footballers experienced the fascination of the Audi models in a special way: They had the chance to complete a few fast laps in the new Audi R8 sports car and proved to be as sporty as safe in their driving style. No wonder, after all, the two Audi factory drivers Mattias Ekström and Tom Kristensen had shared a few tips and tricks with the footballers. The favourite for the champion's title from Sweden and the seven-time winner of Le Mans accompanied the driver safety training which Audi had arranged for the players of FC Barcelona and chauffeured part of the team around the circuit in an Audi A4 DTM race taxi.

The footballers and the racers had already met the night before: Mattias Ekström and Tom Kristensen attended the Champions League home match of FC Barcelona against Olympique Lyon at Camp Nou, Europe's largest football stadium. "To watch this team play together with a crowd of 80,000 was an impressive experience," raved football fan Kristensen after the home victory.


Source: http://newcars.jinjinblog.com/2007/09/ronaldinho-lionel-messi-thierry-henry.html