- Audi R8 LMS ahead in two international racing series
- Audi RS 3 LMS continues winning streak in Europe
- Club racing trophies for Audi R8 LMS GT4
Customer teams can look back on the best race weekends of the season so far with the Audi R8 LMS in Australia and Asia. A total of three victories at two GT World Challenge events show the GT3 sports car’s good form curve, while the Audi RS 3 LMS touring car contributed further valuable results for Audi Sport customer racing.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Dominant form in the Pacific region: Audi’s customer teams enjoyed their best weekend of the season so far at the third round of the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS. After their opening success in April, Broc Feeney/Brad Schumacher celebrated their second win of the season at the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS in Queensland. The driver duo from Kelso Electrical Team MPC started from pole position and crossed the finish line in the first one-hour race with a 10.5-second lead.
Spins and numerous penalties for many competitors characterized the first of two races. In the second race, the Audi R8 LMS scored a one-two-three. Alex Peroni/Mark Rosser led from the start after a strong start. After 43 laps, the driver duo from the BRM ACM Finance team had a 0.374-second lead over Brendon Leitch/Tim Miles in the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi. They were followed by Feeney/Schumacher in third place, 1.1 seconds behind. They are second in the Pro-Am category at the halfway point of the season. In the Am class, Renee Gracie was delighted with two victories in the Audi R8 LMS of Only Fans Team MPC, while Gary Higgon/Paul Stokell prevailed for KFC Team MPC in both competitions in the Trophy class in another Audi.
A daring maneuver in the third round of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS resulted in another victory for Audi Sport customer racing. Cheng Congfu/Yu Kuai scored the first win of the season for FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom in Buriram, Thailand. Cheng Congfu drove the Audi R8 LMS in the first of two races at the start, touched an opponent and was in second place when he received a five-second penalty for a jump start. At the pit stop, the Chinese driver handed his car over to his compatriot Yu Kuai. Together with the leader, he pulled away from the chasing pack until the field was able to catch up again during a safety car phase.
Twelve minutes then remained until the end of the race. On the final lap, Yu Kuai overtook the leader on the outside lane and won by around eight tenths of a second. The Chinese driver emerged from an Audi Sport Asia junior development program and has now demonstrated his talent in international competition. In the same race, Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom achieved third place in the Pro-Am class with Jinlong Bao/Markus Winkelhock. In the second race, the Uno Racing Team with Rio/Shaun Thong won the Silver classification ahead of Cheng Congfu/Yu Kuai, who have extended their lead in the Silver Cup standings to 29 points at the halfway point. At the season opener of New Zealand’s North Island Endurance Series, Sam Fillmore/Jonny Reid triumphed in the first three-hour race of the new season.
The local driver pairing in the Audi R8 LMS from International Motorsport started fourth on the Taupo circuit. They took the lead in the middle of the race and finished 16 seconds ahead of a Lamborghini. Third place went to Steve Brooks/Bill Riding in an Audi R8 LMS from Wolfbrook Motorsport, who had led in the early stages of the race. Tresor Attempto Racing achieved two podium results in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup. At the second race of the season in Monza, Riccardo Cazzaniga/Leonardo Moncini/Sebastian Øgaard in the German team’s Audi R8 LMS were the third-best driver combination in the Gold Cup.
Their teammates Alex Aka/Alberto di Folco/Ezequiel Perez Companc crossed the finish line in third place in the Silver Cup and are therefore also third in the standings in this classification. With two second places, Christopher Haase/Simon Reicher moved to within two points of Hungarian championship leader Levente Révész on the third race weekend of the International GT Open. In the first race at Hockenheim, the German-Austrian driver duo in the Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS made a remarkable comeback from 13th on the grid; the Austrian team started the second race from second place. Good class results rounded off the weekend: Filip Salaquarda/Libor Milota won the Pro-Am class in the second race in Team ISR’s Audi R8 LMS.
Petr Fulín/Jiri Navrátil achieved second place on Saturday and third place on Sunday in the Am classification for the Czech team FullinRace by Interaction in the Audi R8 LMS. Team PB Racing with JMH returned from the third round of the British GT Cup Championship with four trophies from Snetterton. Peter Erceg finished third in the Audi R8 LMS in the first sprint and improved by one position in the second. In the 52-minute third race, he shared the cockpit with Marcus Clutton and was again second. The driver duo finished the final fourth race in third position. Thomas Westarp won the first race in the Audi R8 LMS at the second round of the P9 Challenge in Belgium. The German led his class by one lap at the end of the one-hour competition in Spa. In Japan, Hitotsuyama Racing achieved a podium result with the Audi R8 LMS in an endurance race of the Super Taikyu Series.
At the Fuji 24 Hours, the third round of the series, Kenji Suzuki/Sota Ogawa/James Pull/Anna Inotsume/Shintaro Kawabata finished third overall in a field of 53 classified participants. After a courageous tire choice with slicks on a drying track, the Audi led after 50 laps with James Pull at the wheel. Many caution periods and two race stoppages due to fog and accidents repeatedly interrupted the race rhythm. The Japanese team remained focused even after a tire failure necessitating a suspension change and deservedly clinched a podium result in the end. Charl Arangies/Arnold Neveling/Bradley Liebenberg achieved a podium result in the third round of the South African Endurance Championship. The driver trio drove the Stradale Motorsport Audi R8 LMS to third place overall after six hours of racing in Killarney.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Strong performances in top racing series: The Audi RS 3 LMS was also among the winners on the third weekend of the TCR Europe. After Jimmy Clairet in the season opener and his brother Teddy Clairet on the second weekend, Felice Jelmini popped the champagne corks in Hockenheim. The Italian won the second race for PMA Motorsport with a lead of 8.1 seconds. The Italian had started from eleventh place as the only participant on wet tires. On a damp track and with occasional showers, this was the right choice, so that Jelmini took the lead for the PMA Motorsport team on the second lap and never relinquished it.
As in the first race, Jimmy Clairet finished third in the Audi of the Clairet Sport team. As a result, the Frenchman extended his lead in the standings over his brother Teddy to 24 points at the halfway point of the season. The Audi customer teams in the TCR Eastern Europe returned from the Salzburgring with five trophies. Czech driver Martin Kadlečik won the first sprint in an Audi RS 3 LMS for Aditis Racing by 5.9 seconds ahead of his Polish teammate Bartosz Groszek. Latvian Ivars Vallers followed around seven seconds behind in an Audi from LV Racing after two of his rivals had to pit with technical damage. In the second race, Groszek took second place ahead of Kadlečik after the duo had started from seventh and eighth place.
The Czech is currently second in the standings ahead of the Pole and also leads the Junior classification. Audi customer teams were also successful in a third Europe-wide TCR racing series. Yuri Brigliadori/Giuseppe Cartia took second place in the Audi RS 3 LMS from BF Motorsport at the second round of the TCR European Endurance at the Slovakiaring. They thus won the classification for second-generation racing cars with sequential gearboxes. The corresponding class victory for first-generation racing cars went to Ibrahim Okyay/Sinan Ciftci in the Audi RS 3 LMS of Texaco Team AMS.
In the DSG classification for racing cars with dual-clutch transmissions, their teammates Berk Kalpak/Onat Telkenar achieved third place in another Audi. Team VP Racing celebrated its second victory in a row in the Belcar Endurance Championship. Nick van Pelt/Olivier Bertels drove their Audi RS 3 LMS to class victory in the Supersport category on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The Belgian driver duo had a one-lap lead after around two hours of racing. Manfred Lewe returned from the second round of the Cup- und Tourenwagen-Trophy with two class victories. The German in the Audi RS 3 LMS won the first competition on the Assen circuit in the Netherlands with a one-minute lead and even had a 1.32-minute gap to his rival’s Seat at the finish of the second race.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Podium results in Europe: Pierre Arraou finished on the podium four times at the third round of the Ultimate Cup Series in Portimão. The Frenchman finished third in his class in the first sprint on the Portuguese Algarve. In the three subsequent sprints, the Herrero Racing driver in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 was second best in the UCS4 category. The DMV Super Touring GT Cup also held its third round. At the Nürburgring, Seyffarth Motorsport finished second in its class in the first race with driver duo Tobias Erdmann/Bernd Schaible in the Audi R8 LMS GT4. Schaible won the second race by a thousandth of a second ahead of Christoph Malbertz, who drove an Audi R8 LMS GT4 from the Georg Motorsport team.
Coming up in the next weeks
13–14/06 Hampton Downs (NZ), round 2, North Island Endurance Series
13–15/06 Valencia (E), round 3, TCR Spain
14–15/06 Croft (GB), round 4, TCR UK
19–22/06 Nürburgring (D), Nürburgring 24 Hours
19–22/06 Watkins Glen (USA), round 5, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
20–21/06 Hampton Downs (NZ), round 3, North Island Endurance Series
20–21/06 Zwartkops (ZA), round 4, Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop
20–22/06 Monza (I), round 2, Campionato Italiano GT Endurance
20–22/06 Spa (B), round 3, GT4 France
20–22/06 Tianjin (CHN), round 3, GT China Cup
20–22/06 Monza (I), round 3, TCR Italy
