Fourth GT4 championship success for Saintéloc Racing in France
Phoenix Racing wins European classification of the 24H Series with Audi R8 LMS
Third title in a row for the Audi RS 3 LMS in Canada
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Audi Sport customer racing is in top form with its private teams in the crucial phase of many championships: In France, Canada and in the European classification of an endurance series, three of the four models from the Audi Sport program collected further championship victories.
Audi R8 LMS GT4 Another title success in France: Saintéloc Racing has again won the French GT Championship FFSA GT4 France with the Audi R8 LMS GT4 after Pro-Am Championship successes in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Frenchman Erwan Bastard and his Israeli-American teammate Roee Meyuhas secured the Silver Cup early with two overall victories at Lédenon in the fifth of six events. The race series only awards class titles and not overall titles. On the winding mountain-and-valley track in the south of France, Bastard/Meyuhas won the first race with a three-tenths of a second advantage over a Toyota after their leading brand colleague Gaël Castelli from CSA Racing had to pit his Audi during the driver change with damage to the cooling system. In the second race, the two up-and-coming drivers from Saintéloc Racing scored their fourth victory of the season from pole position. With a four-tenths of a second lead over a team of Alpine drivers, the outcome of the race in the GT4 series, which has an excellent field of 36 participants, was once again extremely close. After a total of seven podium finishes and ten top five results in ten races, their lead in the Silver Cup standings is unassailable. But they are not only successful in France. Bastard/Meyuhas also contest the GT4 European Series with Saintéloc Racing and Audi. Before the finale at the beginning of October, they are in second place in the standings after a race to catch up. Second place in Great Britain: Steller Motorsport was again among the top teams in the GT4 class at the sixth British GT event. Richard Williams in the Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 had started from pole position at Brands Hatch and was leading the field, but two safety car phases up to the driver change repeatedly wiped out his advantage. Without success ballast and due to the shorter mandatory minimum pit stop time, a Pro-Am driver team from Aston Martin took the lead at the driver change. Steller Motorsport, however, was not admitting defeat. Sennan Fielding, who had taken over the car from Williams, reduced his deficit from 20 to just 5.2 seconds at the finish. Following their second place at Brands Hatch, the Audi privateer duo is also in second place in the GT4 drivers standings before the finale. On the podium for the fourth time: Thiago Vivacqua achieved his fourth podium result in his debut season in the DTM Trophy on the fifth race weekend. The Brazilian from the Heide-Motorsport team had started Saturday’s race on the Spa circuit in fifth place. On lap five, Vivacqua in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 caught championship leader Tim Heinemann in the battle for fourth place. On the twelfth and final lap, the South American overtook the Aston Martin of Nick Hancke to collect 15 points for position three. In the championship, Vivacqua is fourth best out of 20 competitors with two events still to go. First podium in Sweden: Team Eken Motorsport managed its first podium finish of the season in GT4 Scandinavia. Nicklas Johansson/Tommy Lindroth finished second in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in the first race on the fourth race weekend at Anderstorp. |
| Audi R8 LMS GT3
European title for Phoenix Racing: The longstanding Audi customer team Phoenix Racing has secured the European classification of the 24H Series with a podium result in Barcelona. After two season victories in the first half of the year, second place in Spain was enough for the squad from the Eifel region to prevail in the GT3 European classification of the international endurance racing series. Audi Sport driver Pierre Kaffer and his privateer teammates Michael Doppelmayr, Elia Erhart and Swen Herberger finished second, one lap down, in the Audi R8 LMS after 24 hours of racing and 695 laps. The number 18 Audi had clinched overall victories at the 12-hour races at Spa and Hockenheim in the spring with partially different driver line-ups and thus laid an important foundation for title success early on. Second and third place in the Eifel: Scherer Sport Team Phoenix achieved second and third place in the Nürburgring Endurance Series after the longest race distance of the entire season. For the first time, the organizers had decided on a 12-hour race format, spread over one six-hour race each on Saturday and Sunday. Kuba Giermaziak/Kim Luis Schramm missed victory in the Audi R8 LMS of Ernst Moser’s team by only 15 seconds. On Sunday Schramm rolled into the pit lane after 58 laps with an empty tank and lost further time until his car started again after refueling. Third place went to the sister car of Audi Sport driver Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb. The driver duo finished on Sunday in the aggregate result of both races 37 seconds behind their teammates in total. Success at home race: Austrian privateer Max Hofer scored his best result of the season in the GT Open racing series at his home race. At the Red Bull Ring, he and teammate Dino Steiner managed third place overall in the second race. This also meant Pro-Am class victory in a field of 23 competitors. The two Aust Motorsport drivers had fought a tough battle with the Polish Audi privateer team Olimp Racing in the Audi R8 LMS. After both race cars touched and Marcin Jedlinski’s car subsequently spun out, the duel ended in the gravel trap for the rival on the 24th of 34 laps. Two podium results at the finale: Petr Kačirek in the Audi R8 LMS managed a conciliatory end to the season in the Eset Cup. The Czech privateer recorded his best results of the year at the finale at Brno. With positions two and three in the two sprints on the sixth race weekend, he secured fourth place in the standings in the field of ten GT3 contenders in the Eastern European race series. Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR) Jerimy Daniel is champion in Canada: Jerimy Daniel has secured the championship title in Canada for the Audi RS 3 LMS gen II. The privateer driver has won the TCR classification of the Sports Car Championship Canada presented by Michelin after five victories this season. At the finale at Mosport, he secured a 56-point advantage in the standings after two commanding overall victories in which he even left his rivals in their GT4 sports cars behind for the first time. Championship position two went to his teammate Jean-François Hevey, who also drove an Audi RS 3 LMS for TRC Motorsport and who had managed two wins this season. The next three positions in the standings also went to Audi drivers: Ron Tomlinson finished the season in third place for TWOth Autosport. He was followed by Justin di Benedetto from the Di Benedetto Racing team and Richard Boake from Blanchet Motorsports, who each won once. Audi privateers prevailed in nine of the ten races this year, while a competitor from Hyundai won once. After Travis Hill’s title success last year, Audi has so far been unbeaten in this still young championship. Overall, it was already the third consecutive title for Audi in Canada because in 2020 Zachary Vanier had dominated the then Canadian Touring Car Championship in the RS 3 LMS. Most successful weekend in Sweden: The fifth TCR Scandinavia event was the most successful so far for the eight Audi privateer drivers. For the first time this season, the Audi RS 3 LMS remained unbeaten in all three sprints on one weekend. Andreas Bäckman from Lestrup Racing won the first two sprints with a commanding lead of more than four seconds each, while Tobias Brink decided the third race in his favor. In the first race, Bäckman overtook Hugo Nerman’s Audi on the third lap and eventually won ahead of championship leader Robert Dahlgren in the Cupra. In the second race Bäckman managed a start-finish victory from first place ahead of Hugo Nerman of Brink Motorsport. On a wet track in the third race with a reversed grid for the first eight cars, Tobias Brink overtook the car in front of him, Marius Solberg Hansen, as early as on the first lap and secured Audi’s third race victory with a 1.4-second lead. Before the finale at the beginning of October, Andreas Bäckman as the best Audi driver is 24 points behind championship leader Robert Dahlgren. Strong weekend in club racing: Vedat Ali Dalokay was the best Audi privateer on the fifth race weekend of the Coppa Italia Turismo. The Turkish driver from the Bitci Racing team finished third in the first sprint at Vallelunga. Dalokay won the second sprint with a lead of 9.7 seconds ahead of Gabriele Volpato in another Audi as well as his Bitci Racing teammate and compatriot Turgut Konukoglu, who also drove an RS 3 LMS. Trophy in Spain: Team AC Motorsport returns from the Barcelona 24 Hours with a trophy. The Belgian squad clinched third place in the TCR class at the sixth round of the 24H Series. The cockpit of the Audi RS 3 LMS was shared by Stéphane Perrin, Mathieu Detry, Vincent Radermecker and Charles Dawson. They had originally finished second but received a 60-second penalty after the end of the race. Second and third place at Brno: Team Wimmer Werk Motorsport achieved two podium results with the Audi RS 3 LMS at the Eset Cup finale. Austrian Peter Gross finished the first sprint on the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic as the runner-up in the TCX class and reached position three in the endurance race. Best result of the season in Denmark: René Povlsen was delighted with his first podium result this year at the sixth round of TCR Denmark. The Dane, who has been driving an Audi RS 3 LMS gen II of the Meteor Racing team since this season, had started from pole position in the second race at Padborg and saw the checkered flag in second place after 15 laps. On the podium twice at Fuji: Masanobu Kato was again the best Audi driver in the TCR Japan. The Japanese from Audi Team Mars clinched third place in the RS 3 LMS in both sprints at the foot of Mount Fuji on the fifth race weekend. Coming up next week 16–17/09 Rudskogen (N), round 6, Racing NM |
