- Audi R8 LMS GT3 with victories in Australia and South Africa
- Successes for Audi R8 LMS GT4 in the SRO GT Cup, in Europe and Australia
- Audi RS 3 LMS ahead in Italy and in German club racing
The Audi Sport customer racing teams recorded a series of initial successes worldwide in the 2025 season. Both the GT3, GT2 and GT4 versions of the Audi R8 LMS and the Audi RS 3 LMS touring car helped the teams to clinch trophies in international competitions and club racing.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Convincing start in the southern hemisphere: In the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS, teams on three continents continue to rely on the Audi R8 LMS. The season began in Australia with successes in the overall and class rankings. At the season opener in Phillip Island, Broc Feeney/Brad Schumacher from Kelso Electrical Team MPC won the eventful second race, in which several competitors made mistakes and received sporting penalties. The privateer driver duo celebrated their first win of the season by seven tenths of a second in the Audi R8 LMS. Brendon Leitch/Tim Miles contributed a third place for Dayle ITM Team MPC in the first race.
Solo driver Renee Gracie recorded a second place and a class win in the Am classification in the Only Fans Team MPC Audi. Brothers James and Theo Koundouris completed the tally as the third-best Am team in both races in the Supabarn Supermarkets/Tigani Audi. In Asia, FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom celebrated a podium in the overall standings and two class victories. The Chinese driver pairing of Franky Cheng/James Yu in the Audi R8 LMS won the Silver class in both races in Sepang and finished third overall in the second race.
The podium result is remarkable as the driver duo had only started from position 15. Cheng/Yu now lead the Silver classification by 17 points. In Europe, the Saintéloc Racing team achieved a class podium in the Endurance Cup at Le Castellet. Lorens Lecertua/Lucas Légeret/Ivan Klymenko crossed the finish line after six hours of racing in the Audi R8 LMS as the third-best Silver driver team. In endurance racing, several private driver teams were delighted to clinch trophies in their classes.
Juta Racing from Lithuania recorded a podium result at the start of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie season. The driver trio of Frank Stippler/“Selv”/Alexey Veremenko achieved second place in the Pro-Am classification after the Audi R8 LMS started from pole position. At the Mugello 12 Hours of the 24H Series, third place in the Am classification went to Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport with drivers David Pogosyan/Andrey Solukovtsev/Vasily Vladykin. PB Racing with JMH also recorded a podium result in Great Britain after switching to the GT Cup Championship. At the start of the season in Donington, Peter Erceg/Hugo Cook finished third in the third race.
Various customer teams also got the season off to a good start in South Africa. On the first weekend of Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop, Bradley Liebenberg won all three races in Killarney with the Stradale Motorsport team in the Audi R8 LMS. He also won the first race at the second round in Kyalami. There, Paul Hill achieved two third positions in Class A in another Audi R8 LMS. On the second weekend of the South African Endurance Series in Aldo Scribante, Marius Jackson finished third in the one-hour race.
Audi R8 LMS GT2
Podium results in Europe and America: In the Spanish Campeonato de España Resistencia, an Audi customer team secured second place in the standings. Daniel Carretero/Pablo Yeregui drove the Audi R8 LMS GT2 of the C.D. Dago team to third place in the two-hour race in Navarra and thus finished the winter season in second place in the standings. In the second round of the GT America powered by AWS, CJ Moses in the Audi R8 LMS GT2 from GMG Racing finished second in the GT2 classification.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Victory at the Grand Prix weekend: The Chinese private team Harmony Racing/Harmony Winhere Racing dominated the opening weekend of the inaugural SRO GT Cup. Chen Weian celebrated victory in the first race on the Shanghai circuit as part of the Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix. The Chinese driver had started fourth in his Audi R8 LMS GT4. On the twelfth and final lap, he took the lead and won by 0.607 seconds.
In the second race, Chen Weian shone again with a remarkable performance. He started the first lap in eleventh place. In the end, the Audi privateer driver improved to second position, just six tenths of a second behind the winner. The GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club season opener was also won by an Audi team. Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 won the second race at Le Castellet ahead of 41 pursuers. A slipstream duel ensued on the high-speed circuit in the south of France, which the Audi privateer driver pairing won by 0.076 seconds ahead of a Toyota. Consani/Lariche are now second in the standings with Team Speedcar.
Their teammates Julien Ripert/Philippe Thalamy contributed another podium result as third in the amateur classification in the first race. The season also began with a victory in the Monochrome GT4 Australia. Blake Purdie/Daniel Price took second place in the first race in Phillip Island in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 from Purdie Racing. The driver duo won the second round of the highly competitive series ahead of 27 other participants.
Tobias Erdmann and Bernd Schaible recorded a series of successes in German club racing at the start of the season. In the Norddeutscher ADAC Tourenwagen Cup NATC, three overall victories and two class wins went to the private drivers in Oschersleben. At the start of the DMV Super Touring and GT Cup in Hockenheim, Erdmann and Schaible recorded three more class victories in the Audi R8 LMS GT4, spread over two sprints and a two-hour race.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
A decade of TCR: Promoter WSC organized a TCR competition in Malaysia for the first time in the 2015 season. Since then, this touring car category has established itself in numerous countries worldwide. Audi Sport customer racing and its customer teams have made a continuous and strong contribution to the success of TCR touring cars. In two generations now, the Audi RS 3 LMS has been and remains an extremely popular model in the field. In a total of 2,337 races worldwide, the Audi teams have achieved a rate of 78 percent with 1,824 podium finishes within a decade.
The best teams crossed the finish line as winners 658 times – a rate of 28 percent. A total of 150 worldwide title successes, four victories in the TCR Model of the Year category, two gold medals at the FIA Motorsport Games and no fewer than eight class victories in international 24-hour races round off the compact touring car’s record.
1-2 win at Mugello: At the TCR European Endurance season opener in Mugello, Italian Audi customer teams recorded a one-two victory. Franco Girolami/Sandro Pelatti prevailed in an Audi RS 3 LMS from PMA Motorsport. Alessandro Alcidi/Yuri Brigliadori followed for BF Motorsport after almost two hours of driving and a thrilling battle in the final phase with a gap of just 3.6 seconds. In the Gen1 classification for older cars, victory went to the Audi of the Turkish driver combination Sinan Çiftçi/Ibrahim Okyay from Texaco Team AMS. In the DSG classification for racing cars with dual-clutch transmissions, Emilio Damante/Edoardo Maccari finished second in an Audi RS 3 LMS from Tuder Racing. The Italian club racing series Coppa Italia Turismo kicked off in style at Vallelunga.
Ramazan Kaya took second place in the first sprint in the Audi RS 3 LMS from BF Motorsport. In the second race, Adriano Visdomini from Next Motorsport finished second ahead of Koray Kamiloglu from the Erven Madem H2K Racing Team. In the DSG classification, the Audi RS 3 LMS recorded two one-two-three wins with Giacomo Orioli, Davide Nardilli and Sebastian Gavazza in the first contest and Gavazza ahead of Kamil Cat and Tiziano Bergamasco in the second sprint. In the TCR Eastern Europe, customer team Aditis Racing returned from the Red Bull Ring with three trophies. Bartosz Groszek took second place in the first sprint ahead of Martin Kadlečik.
In the second sprint, Kadlečik was again the best driver of an Audi RS 3 LMS in third place. The compact model was also one of the best touring cars in German endurance racing. Goroyan RT by sharky-racing won the TCR classification in the first race of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie with Danny Brink/Artur Goroyan/Roman Mavlanov, while Max Kruse Racing prevailed in the AT3 class with Peter Hansen/Lars Nielsen.
Second place for another Audi from Max Kruse Racing ahead of Goroyan RT by sharky-racing in the SP3T category completed the results after four hours of racing. Manfred Lewe won his class twice in an Audi RS 3 LMS in the German NATC club racing series at Oschersleben. A team also collected trophies in Great Britain. Bradley Burns drove the Audi RS 3 LMS from Area Motorsport to two third places in the TCR UK at Donington.
Audi Sport customer racing
Popular trophy rewards customers: For the sixth year in a row, Audi Sport customer racing Asia is organizing the coveted Audi Sport Asia Trophy for amateur drivers. Customers who take part in defined Asian competitions with the GT3 or GT4 version of the Audi R8 LMS or the Audi RS 3 LMS are automatically classified. The winner receives a prize worth 50,000 euros. “The proof that our concept works is clear to see,” says Alexander Blackie, Head of Audi Sport customer racing Asia.
“With 94 Audi drivers scoring points, we set a new record last season. Now we are looking forward to another action-packed season with our customers.” This year, the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, TSS The Super Series, the GT China Cup, the China Endurance Championship, the TCR Asia and TCR China series as well as individual events such as the Sepang 12 Hours, the 1000 km Suzuka, the Shanghai 8 Hours and competitions within the Macau Grand Prix are included in the Audi Sport Asia Trophy classification.
Coming up in the next weeks
18–20/04 Spa (B), round 2, 24H Series European Series
18–21/04 Nogaro (F), round 1, GT4 France
25–26/04 Nürburgring (D), round 2, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
25–27/04 Oschersleben (D), round 1, DTM
25–27/04 Shanghai (CHN), round 1, GT China Cup
25–27/04 Austin (USA), round 3, GT America
25–27/04 Portimão (P), round 1, International GT Open
25–27/04 Portimão (P), round 1, TCR Europe
26–27/04 Suzuka (J), round 2, Super Taikyu Series
