Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports wins IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
Gold title for Liqui Moly Team Engstler in GT World Challenge Europe
VP-Racing wins touring car title in Belcar Endurance Championship
On the second weekend in October, the Audi Sport customer racing teams continued their series of successes in worldwide motorsport. A TCR title in North America, the Gold category title in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, an amateur championship at the ADAC Racing Weekend and a touring car success in Belgium are the highlights of the tally. Individual victories for the GT2 and GT4 versions of the Audi R8 LMS complete the results.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Touring car champion with Audi: At the end of a thrilling season in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, the title went to the drivers of an Audi RS 3 LMS for the second time. After the Compass Racing team last prevailed in 2018, the Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports customer team was now successful. Chris Miller/Mikey Taylor had clinched four race wins in the first half of the season and came to the final round at Road Atlanta as championship leaders. Sixth place in the race was enough for the American-South African driver pairing to win the title.
Their team also won the team classification. This marks the end of a particularly successful season for Audi Sport customer racing in North America, as Richard Boake had already secured the Canadian TCR title in an Audi RS 3 LMS in September. In the Belcar Endurance Championship, VP-Racing achieved second place in their class at the finale in Zolder. Olivier Bertels/Nick van Pelt in the Audi RS 3 LMS are this year’s winners of the touring car class in this endurance racing series.
So since 2017, drivers of an Audi RS 3 LMS have won their championships a total of 36 times worldwide, plus exactly 100 titles for the touring car in other subcategories. In the Coppa Italia Turismo, BF Motorsport achieved a 1-2 victory in the first race on the fifth race weekend at Mugello. Daniele Verrocchio finished first in the TCR category in his Audi RS 3 LMS ahead of teammate Ramazan Kaya. In the second race, Kaya was the best privateer Audi driver in second place, while third place went to Demir Eroge in an RS 3 LMS from Aikoa Racing. At the TCR UK finale at Silverstone, Luke Sargeant was the best driver of an Audi in both the second and third races, finishing third each time.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Various class championship titles in Europe: In the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup powered by AWS, Liqui Moly Team Engstler won the Gold Cup with the Audi R8 LMS. At the finale in Barcelona, German Luca Engstler and Austrian Max Hofer finished second in the Gold classification of both sprint races. This secured them the class title. The two drivers stood on the podium in their class nine times in ten starts, winning two races in the process.
From the perspective of Audi Sport customer racing, the result is even more convincing: nine of the ten Gold class victories in this sprint racing series were shared by four different driver teams, each of which competed in an Audi R8 LMS. In Barcelona, Lucas Légeret/Simon Gachet from CSA Racing in an Audi won the Gold classification in the first race ahead of Engstler/Hofer. In the second sprint, Lorenzo Ferrari/Lorenzo Patrese in an Audi from Tresor Attempto Racing finished ahead of Engstler/Hofer and Paul Evrard/Gilles Magnus from Saintéloc Racing.
In the standings, this means the Audi teams claimed the top four positions: Engstler/Hofer ahead of Gachet/Légeret, Evrard/Magnus and Ferrari/Patrese. The finale of the ADAC Racing Weekend at the Nürburgring also went to plan for an Audi customer team. Land-Motorsport won the semi-pro championship with Konstantin Gutsul/Ivan Peklin in the finale of the GT60 powered by Pirelli racing series. The two Ukrainian drivers secured third place overall in both the endurance race at the Nürburgring and both in the Audi R8 LMS sprints.
Gutsul is also the season’s winner in the Sprint-Am classification. Klaus Koch/Bernhard Wagner from Car Collection Motorsport won the GT3 Amateur classification in the GT60 endurance race, while Wagner was also first in the Am classification in the second GTC Race sprint.
Audi R8 LMS GT2
Emotional farewell: PK Carsport celebrated a very personal farewell with its second win of the season at the finale of the Belcar Endurance Championship. Peter Guelinckx/Bert Longin/Stienes Longin won the 125-minute race in Zolder by 49 seconds in the Audi R8 LMS GT2 to finish runners-up in the series. After an eventful season with various setbacks, the finale was both sweet and emotionally charged, as Bert Longin had already announced at the start of the season that he would end his permanent career in motorsport at the end of the year.
The Belgian from Leuven in Flemish Brabant had competed in various categories for Anthony Kumpen’s PK Carsport team for 25 years. He won the Belcar title eight times, including in 2013 with an Audi GT3 sports car and in 2022 and 2023 in the Audi R8 LMS GT2. After completing his last full motorsport season, the now 58-year-old racing driver only plans to take part in individual competitions sporadically in the future.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Three victories in club racing: The Audi R8 LMS GT4 took no less than ten trophies in three European racing series on the second weekend in October. In the Norddeutscher ADAC Börde Tourenwagen-Cup, Seyffarth Motorsport achieved a sprint class victory in Oschersleben with Tobias Erdmann and Bernd Schaible.
Together, the two gentleman drivers also finished second in their respective classes in the two endurance races. In the French Ultimate Cup Series, Pierre Arraou won his class once in four sprints at Magny-Cours with Herrero Racing and took two second places and a third position. In the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy, the up2Race team with Pierre Lemmerz/Sandra Pawlowitz finished third in their class in both races at the Nürburgring.
Coming up next week
17–19/10 Portimão (P), round 6, Le Mans Cup
18–19/10 Timaru (NZ), round 3, South Island Endurance Championship
18–19/10 Zwartkops (ZA), round 8, Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop
18–20/10 Hockenheim (D), round 8, DTM
18–20/10 Hockenheim (D), round 6, ADAC GT Masters
18–20/10 Monza (I), round 8, International GT Open
18–20/10 Sydney (AUS), round 6, GT World Challenge Australia
18–20/10 Zhuzhou (CHN), round 6, Kumho FIA TCR World Tour
18–20/10 Zhuzhou (CHN), round 5, TCR China Championship
18–20/10 Zhuzhou (CHN), round 6, TCR China Challenge
18–20/10 Sydney (AUS), round 6, TCR Australia
19/10 NĂĽrburgring (D), round 5, NĂĽrburgring Langstrecken-Serie
19–20/10 Motegi (J), round 3, TCR Japan
19–20/10 Zhuhai (CHN), round 4, GT Sprint Challenge
