Victories for European customers in GT2 and GT4 competitions
Audi R8 LMS GT3 continues its winning streak in Germany and South Africa
Audi RS 3 LMS leads the standings in Italy and the USA ahead of the final races
Across all four race car categories, Audi’s customer teams recorded a convincing weekend internationally. The GT2, GT3 and GT4 versions of the Audi R8 LMS achieved top performances in various overall and class rankings in Europe and South Africa.
Following its recent successes, the Audi RS 3 LMS touring car is on course to win the title in two Italian and one North American racing series. Audi Sport customer racing can therefore look forward to exciting motorsport in customer hands in the coming weeks.
Audi R8 LMS GT2
Best performances in two racing series: On the fifth race weekend of the Belcar Endurance Championship, the PK Carsport team was delighted with a steady improvement in its performance, which ultimately culminated in its first win of the season. The father-son team of Bert and Stienes Longin from Belgium took on an unusual race format at the Anneau du Rhin in Alsace.
While the series usually features long-distance races lasting around two hours and a 24-hour race once a year, this time the program included three one-hour competitions. The distances driven were combined at the end for the awarding of points. The Belgians finished the first race in third place and improved to second position in the second competition.
Their strongest performance came in the third race: they won at the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT2 with an eleven-second lead. In the Fanatec GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, customer team LP Racing secured its first trophy with Audi this season. The Italian team entered an Audi R8 LMS GT2 for Phillipe Chatelet/Pierre Kaffer in its home race at Monza. The driver pairing, which had started the race from second position, finished the second race in third place behind a KTM and a Maserati after 27 laps.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Top performance at European level: Team Speedcar celebrated its most successful weekend of the current season so far in the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club. At the fifth round, Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche stood on the top step of the podium for the first time this year and achieved this in both races. The French driver pairing crossed the finish line in Monza in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 with a lead of one second in the first race and four-tenths of a second in the second heat.
Consani/Lariche led every single lap from pole position in the first race ahead of 48 cars, but in the second race the team lost the lead to a McLaren during the pit stop. However, Lariche managed to overtake Josh Rattican before two safety car deployments prevented a regular rhythm from developing until the finish. As a result, the two Audi privateers moved up from third to second place in the Silver standings and reduced their gap from 58 to 32 points.
Another 52 points will be awarded at the finale in Saudi Arabia in November. Konrad Motorsport achieved a podium result in the fifth round of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy in the Netherlands. Jürgen Hemker drove his Audi R8 LMS GT4 to third position in his class in the first race at the ADAC Racing Weekend in Assen.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Winning streak continues: Arnold Neveling achieved his next success in South Africa. The Audi privateer drove his R8 LMS to his fifth win of the season on the seventh race weekend in the Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop. In the second race in Killarney, he crossed the finish line 6.1 seconds ahead of Lamborghini driver Stuart White. Stefan Wieninger was delighted with two more victories in the Audi R8 LMS in club racing.
The privateer from Bavaria, who has already won four races this season in sporadic starts in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy, was now competing in the Histo Cup for the first time. At the seventh round of the racing series at the Salzburgring, the entrepreneur won both races by a margin of 31 seconds. Berthold Gruhn achieved a class win at the ADAC Racing Weekend in Assen. At the fifth round of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy, the private driver in the Audi R8 LMS won Class 2a in the second race with a one-lap lead.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Audi privateer drivers in the lead before final race: Nicola Baldan acted strategically clever on the penultimate weekend of the TCR Italy. In the first race at Vallelunga, the driver of the Audi customer team Aikoa Racing overtook Honda driver Ruben Volt, with whom he is in direct title contention, but did not take the risk of fighting for overall victory. Instead, he settled for second place, with victory going to Nicolas Taylor from PMA Motorsport.
The Canadian also drove an Audi RS 3 LMS and won from pole position for the first time. It was the third win of the season in Italy for the Audi touring car. With third place in the second race, Baldan increased his lead in the standings to 18 points ahead of the finale in Monza in October. Audi customers are also among the leaders in the TCR Italy DSG, which took place at the same event.
Luca Franca from Aikoa Racing took third place in the first race in the series for racing cars with dual-clutch transmissions. In the second sprint, he crossed the finish line 1.1 seconds ahead of his nearest rival in his Audi RS 3 LMS. His lead in the standings before the finale is 51 points. In the North American IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, another Audi customer team, Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports, is in the lead after the ninth round.
Mikey Taylor/Chris Miller finished third in Indianapolis after a race to catch up. The team received a drive-through penalty for a jump start, which meant that the South African-American driver combination dropped to the back of the field. After their sixth podium finish overall – including four victories in the first half of the season – Miller/Taylor are 150 points ahead of their rivals from Hyundai.
The winners can still collect 350 points at the finale in Road Atlanta in October. In the Belcar Endurance Championship, Team VP-Racing completed a hat-trick with the Audi RS 3 LMS on the fifth race weekend. Olivier Bertels/Nick van Pelt won their class classification in each of the three one-hour races at the Anneau du Rhin in Alsace.
The DMK Racing Team also won its class at the fifth round of the Nankang Endurance Academy. On the Poznan circuit in Poland, the Lithuanians Deividas Sakalauskas/Tomas Baranauskas came out on top in their category with the Audi RS 3 LMS in the two-hour competition. Team LV Racing ended the TCR Eastern Europe season with a podium result. At the Salzburgring in Austria, the Latvian Ivars Vallers achieved second place in the second sprint with the Audi RS 3 LMS and thus his best performance of the season.
Coming up next week
26–28/09 Mugello (I), round 5, Le Mans Cup
27–28/09 Christchurch (NZ), round 2, South Island Endurance Championship
27–29/09 Red Bull Ring (A), round 7, DTM
27–29/09 Red Bull Ring (A), round 5, ADAC GT Masters
27–29/09 Barcelona (E), round 7, International GT Open
27–29/09 Valencia (E), round 6, TCR Europe
28–29/09 Valencia (E), round 3, Supercars Endurance
28–29/09 Suzuka (J), round 5, Super Taikyu Series
28–29/09 Brands Hatch (GB), round 7, British GT Championship
