Audi customers top in DTM and GT World Challenge

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Season’s best performance at Imola: Two one-two victories at a DTM weekend – no other brand has managed that yet this season. As a result, Audi has taken the lead in the manufacturers standings and turned a 33-point deficit into a 52-point advantage. Three-time champion René Rast won the first race from pole position on the third race weekend for Team ABT Sportsline. It was already his 25th single victory in the DTM but his first at the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS customer racing car.

His Audi Sport driver colleague Nico Müller followed on second position after 33 laps, 3.8 seconds behind. In the second race, Ricardo Feller, a promising young Audi Sport driver, attracted attention. The 22-year-old Swiss, who is making his DTM debut season, managed to clinch his first DTM victory for ABT Sportsline from pole position in a turbulent race. Remarkably, overnight all six Audi R8 LMS in the field had to add 25 kilograms of ballast weight following an adjustment of the “Balance of Performance” (BoP). Once again, Team Rosberg completed an Audi one-two. Privateer Dev Gore came in for a tactically clever pit stop very early in a safety car phase.

In the end, he became the first American to achieve a podium result in the DTM with second place. His teammate Nico Müller is currently the best Audi driver in the championship standings in third place.

Second win of the season and lead of the standings: On the third race weekend of the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Sprint Cup, Charles Weerts/Dries Vanthoor celebrated their second victory of the season in the Audi R8 LMS. The two Audi Sport drivers from Team WRT prevailed in the first sprint at Zandvoort by 2.8 seconds.

Charles Weerts had created the best prerequisite for racing success on the North Sea coast by taking pole position and relegating the Audi of Simon Gachet from Team Tresor by Car Collection to second place on the grid with a gap of 45 thousandths of a second. Weerts left his cockpit to his driving partner Dries Vanthoor after the first half of the race, who returned to the track in the lead. He stayed in front even after a safety car period and crossed the finish line with a 2.8-second lead.

Third place went to Simon Gachet/Christopher Haase in another Audi after Haase overtook a rival’s Ferrari with four laps to go. In race two, Weerts/Vanthoor improved from grid position four to second place, followed by Dennis Marschall/Pieter Schothorst in an Audi from Attempto Racing. In the sprint drivers’ standings, fans can look forward to a thrilling decision in the two remaining rounds: The defending champions Weerts/Vanthoor had come to Zandvoort with a deficit of 11.5 points and left with a narrow advantage of 0.5 points.

Open brotherly duel: Audi privateer Uwe Alzen continued his winning streak in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy on the third race weekend in Austria. At the Salzburgring, the veteran in the Audi R8 LMS won both sprints by more than 30 seconds each. In both competitions, his brother was the toughest opponent: Jürgen Alzen had taken the lead in the Ford GT after the start in each case but Uwe Alzen overtook him again in the Audi. Another Audi driver, Stefan Wieninger, was on the podium twice. The privateer recorded third and second place in the Alps. 

Audi top in Norway: The Audi R8 LMS remains the benchmark in the Norwegian Racing NM series. Privateer Wiggo Dalmo won his class in all three sprint races on the Rudskogen circuit, located 90 kilometers south of Oslo. The Norwegian had already remained unbeaten in the Audi at the two previous events.

Podium result in the USA: Jason Daskalos scored a podium result on the second race weekend of the GT America powered by AWS series. The American finished the second 40-minute race on the Virginia circuit three seconds behind in third place in the Audi R8 LMS.

Success in club racing: American C. J. Moses recorded two class victories at the second round of GT America powered by AWS. In Virginia, the privateer driver from Team GMG Racing in the Audi R8 LMS GT2 won his class each time and finished seventh and sixth overall amid 26 sports cars in the GT2, GT3 and GT4 classes.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Lead in the standings extended: Comtoyou Racing continues its winning streak in the TCR Europe. The Belgian squad of Jean-Michel Baert recorded second place by Franco Girolami in the Audi RS 3 LMS as the best result at the home race at Spa. The Argentinean took the trophy in the first sprint while teammate Tom Coronel secured third place in the second sprint. Even though both drivers had thus lost one place each in relation to their positions on the grid, Girolami increased his advantage in the standings from 13 to 31 points after three of seven rounds, while Dutchman Tom Coronel remained second. Comtoyou Racing also leads the team standings as the best of eleven teams with a 73-point advantage, while Viktor Davidovski, another driver from the team, has a firm grip on the Diamond class with a 37-point lead.

Two wins for Brink Motorsport: Hugo Nerman made his mark on the second event of the TCR Scandinavia in the Audi RS 3 LMS. The Swede won the first race in the rain at Skellefteå after his Brink Motorsport team successfully lodged a protest against a 20-second penalty for an alleged jump start. Andreas Bäckman of Lestrup Racing Team completed the podium in third. In heavier rain in the second race, Nerman, who started from only eighth place, took advantage of the turbulent race to move to the front and claim the second victory for the Audi RS 3 LMS gen II in this race series. Again, the Lestrup Racing Team scored third place, but this time with Oliver Söderström. Tobias Brink improved from third on the grid in the Audi RS 3 LMS to second position in the third race, followed by Oliver Söderström. After tying on points at the season opener, Brink Motorsport has now taken the sole lead in the standings for the first time with a 15-point advantage over CUPRA Dealer Team PWR Racing thanks to the good team performance. Among the drivers, Hugo Nerman is just five points behind championship leader Robert Dahlgren.

Podium at Misano: The Audi privateer team Elite Motorsport clinched third place on the third race weekend of the Coppa Italia Turismo club sport series. Gabriele Volpato secured the trophy in the second sprint race at Misano at the wheel of a first-generation Audi RS 3 LMS with DSG gearbox.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

Two podiums in club racing: Jürgen Hemker returns home from the third race weekend of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy with two trophies. The German finished third in his class in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Team Konrad Motorsport at the Salzburgring.

Coming up next week

23–26/06 Watkins Glen (USA), round 5, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
24–25/06 Jyllandsringen (DK), round 3, TCR Denmark
24–26/06 Poznaň (PL), round 3, Eset Cup
24–26/06 Poznaň (PL), round 3, TCR Eastern Europe
24–26/06 Albi (F), round 3, GT4 France
24–26/06 Zandvoort (NL), round 3, ADAC GT Masters
24–26/06 Shanghai (CN), round 1, TCR China
25/06 Nürburgring (D), round 3, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
25–26/06 Okayama (J), round 2, TCR Japan
25–26/06 Aragón (E), round 4, FIA WTCR
25–26/06 Snetterton (GB), round 4, British GT