Audi customer team Eastalent Racing takes the lead in the International GT Open standings

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Number 1 is back in the lead: On the fourth race weekend of the International GT Open, Christopher Haase/Simon Reicher achieved a breakthrough with the number 1 car: after four second places in the individual races of the first half of the season, the German-Austrian driver duo recorded their first win of the season at the Hungaroring. Haase laid the foundation for this with the fastest time in the second qualifying session, which was a clear 0.543 seconds ahead. The Audi R8 LMS led all 34 laps of Sunday’s one-hour race and ultimately won by 10.580 seconds at the gates of Budapest. Haase was the starting driver, Reicher took over the cockpit at the pit stop. The team from Upper Austria has thus won the 300th race of this Europe-wide series at the halfway point of the season. Former racing driver Jesús Pareja originally launched the competition in 1999 as the IBER GT. Last year’s champions Haase/Reicher turned a two-point deficit in the standings into a four-point lead in Hungary. Two other Audi customer teams also clinched trophies: Saintéloc Racing achieved third place in the Pro-Am classification with Michael Blanchemain/Marcus Påverud in the first race. Second place in this class went to Team ISR with Libor Milota/Filip Salaquarda in the second race. At the second round of the Thailand Super Series, B-Quik Absolute Racing put in a convincing performance in front of a large crowd. In the first race on the Bangsaen street circuit, Akash Nandy started from pole position in the team’s Audi R8 LMS. He immediately built up a lead, which was of great importance in view of the regulations. As his teammate Deng Yi has FIA Silver driver status and the driver pairing was competing in this racing series for the first time, an extended mandatory pit stop time of 156 seconds applied. With a 13-second lead, Nandy handed his Audi over to his Chinese teammate at the stop, who initially maintained the lead but then dropped back to second place. Kiki Sak Nana and his German teammate Dieter Schmidtmann drove a second Audi R8 LMS from B-Quik Absolute Racing to victory in the amateur classification. In the second race, Deng Yi was the starting driver, who started the race from second place. In addition to the mandatory pit stop time and an additional time due to the previous day’s success, Deng also received a five-second penalty for crossing a marker in the pit lane. Akash Nandy took over the Audi at the pit stop and returned to the track in fifth place. In spectacular duels, the Thai driver improved to second position when the leader crashed and triggered a safety car phase. Nandy then built up a lead of 11.998 seconds to the finish line, sealing his success despite the five-second penalty. Saintéloc Racing was the most successful of the three Audi customer teams at the Spa 24 Hours. With 74 GT3 sports cars, this year’s endurance classic in the Ardennes had an even bigger field than in previous years. Of these, 16 driver teams took part in the Silver Cup class classification. Wyatt Brichacek/Lorenzo Donniacuo/Ivan Klymenko/Lorens Lecertua drove their Audi R8 LMS to second position in this category and 18th place overall in the race. Belgian driver Donniacuo set the fastest race lap in his class. Following this podium success, Lecertua and Klymenko share third place in the Silver class of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup. They are also second in the corresponding classification, which combines sprint and endurance. In the Bronze Cup of the race, with 19 participants the second strongest class in the field, there was further cause for celebration for Sébastien Chetail’s team. Paul Evrard/Reece Gold/Gilles Magnus/Benjamin Ricci finished third on the podium in this classification after 546 laps in the Audi R8 LMS. Audi Sport also received an honor at the largest GT3 race in the world with 128,000 spectators. Last year, the event initiated a Hall of Fame to mark its 100th anniversary. This year, those responsible paid tribute to the historic achievements of Audi Sport. A car with the four rings was at the start of the endurance race for the first time in 1972, and an Audi 80 quattro took fourth place in 1995. The Audi R8 LMS has been taking part since 2009 and celebrated overall victory in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017. A total of 14 driver teams have made it onto the podium in the overall standings since 2011. Audi Sport customer racing recorded a class victory in an endurance race at the Paul Ricard 12 Hours. Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport won the amateur classification in the fourth round of the 24H Series European Series. The driver trio of David Pogosian/Andrey Solukovtsev/Vasily Vladykin had a one-lap lead in their class in the Audi R8 LMS and finished fourth overall. The Audi R8 LMS took its first win of the season in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. On the second race weekend at the Nürburgring, Stefan Wieninger started the second race from pole position. After 19 laps, the privateer driver from Land-Motorsport had a 3.2-second lead over Kenneth Heyer’s Mercedes-AMG. Third place went to Alexander Kroker/Pierre Lemmerz in another Land-Motorsport Audi. In the first race, Wieninger was second ahead of Thomas Westarp in the CCS Racing Audi R8 LMS after dropping back due to a spin and then making up ground with the fastest race lap.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

Lead extended: Team Speedcar is leading the standings at the halfway point of the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club season. At the third round in Spa, Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche in their Audi R8 LMS increased their lead in the Silver classification by 27 to 40 points. In the field of 20 driver pairings, their teammates Gregory Guilvert/Paul Petit improved to sixth place in the standings. The two Frenchmen secured their first win of the season in the first race with the Audi R8 LMS from fifth on the grid. Two overtaking maneuvers on the first lap, a late pit stop, a fast in-lap by Guilvert for the pit stop and a quick driver change to Petit were decisive for their success. For their part, Consani/Lariche had started from eleventh position and completed a one-two in the end. Pascal Destembert’s team thus continued a fine series: the team from the south of France took a race win at all three events this season. In the second race, Consani/Lariche shone with a race to catch up from 15th position, which put them back on the podium in third place in a field of 43 participants. As the best of 15 teams, Speedcar currently has a 47-point lead in the Silver Cup at the halfway point of the season. Bernd Schaible/Tobias Erdmann achieved a respectable success in the amateur classification of the racing series. The German driver duo drove the Seyffarth Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 to second place in its class in the first race. In the second round of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy, the Audi R8 LMS GT4 achieved a double victory in its class. Jürgen Hemker from Team Up2Race brought his car home in the first race ahead of the identical model driven by Sandra Pawlowitz from Team Land-Motorsport. In the second race, Hemker was second ahead of Pawlowitz. In the second round of the SRO GT Cup, Chuang Chi Shun was the best driver of an Audi R8 LMS. The amateur driver had qualified sixth for the first race on the Pingtan circuit. After a tough battle with many lead changes in his class, he improved to third place and won the amateur classification ahead of 16 other participants. In the second race, the driver from Level Motorsports repeated his performance, making several lead changes in the Am classification with a Porsche and was again third overall as the best amateur.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Surprise victory in TCR Europe: At the start of the second half of the TCR Europe season, Audi’s customer teams had to cope with difficult conditions. The narrow track layout in Misano, which favors other race car concepts, proved to be a significant burden. Only one of six Audi cars made it into the second qualifying session of the top twelve participants: Teddy Clairet finished the qualifying session in tenth place and did not get past this position in the first race either. However, he started the second race from pole position due to the reverse grid defined in the regulations. With a lead of seven tenths of a second, the Frenchman secured his second win of the season after his success in Spa in temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius. Clairet defended his place against Cupra driver Eric Gené, who was unable to find any opportunities to overtake on the narrow track. As a result, Teddy Clairet overtook his brother Jimmy as the previous leader in the standings and now has a 14-point lead. Team Clairet Sport, for its part, has a 25-point lead in the team standings as the best of twelve teams. In the Diamond class, both race wins went to Audi privateer Sandro Pelatti from PMA Motorsport. The Coppa Italia Turismo was also held in Misano. Audi’s customers recorded no fewer than nine podium finishes with the RS 3 LMS on the third race weekend of this series. Yuri Brigliadori won Division 1 for BF Motorsport in the first race in Misano, with Koray Kamiloglu finishing 2.8 seconds behind in second place for the Erven Maden H2K Racing Team. BF Motorsport came out on top again in the second race, but this time with Fulvio Ferri. Kamiloglu finished third. In Division 2, Giacomo Orioli won both races for Planet Motorsport in an Audi RS 3 LMS with DSG transmission. His teammate Tiziano Bergamasco and Temel Camlidag from BF Motorsport completed a one-two-three for the Audi RS 3 LMS in the first sprint. Bergamasco finished third in the second race. The Goroyan Racing Team by sharky-racing achieved two victories at the Nürburgring. The NLS Light event of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, held for the first time outside the regular championship calendar, attracted 53 driver teams to the Eifel. In the SP3T class, the Audi customer team with Dr. Stefan Lohn/René Steiger/Sascha Siegert in the Audi RS 3 LMS came out on top. The team achieved a second victory in the TCR class: Danny Brink/Roman Mavlanov/Oleg Kvitka also won their classification after four hours of racing in an Audi RS 3 LMS. VP-Racing celebrated its third class victory in the third race in the Belcar Endurance Championship. On the Spa circuit, Olivier Bertels/Nick van Pelt in the Audi RS 3 LMS won the Supersport category with a two-lap lead. Audi customers celebrated several podium finishes at the third round of TCR China. On the Zhejiang circuit, Lai Jingwen in the Audi RS 3 LMS of the 326 Racing Team was the second-best amateur driver in the first championship sprint ahead of Fu Bin in the Audi of Jiren Motorsport. Lai Jingwen again finished the second race as second-best amateur. In the Challenge category, Zhang Qianshang won the first race in the RevX Racing Audi ahead of Liu Zichen in the 326 Racing Team Audi. The second competition was won by Liu Zichen ahead of Zhang Qianshang. Zhang now has a six-point lead over Liu in the standings. Audi Team Show Apex achieved a podium result in the fourth round of the Super Taikyu Series. The Audi RS 3 LMS of Genki Nishimura/Ryosuke Kagami/Takahiro Kimura/Shigetomo Shimono finished third in the TCR classification after four hours of racing on the Sugo circuit.

Coming up in the next weeks

11–13/07 Mugello (I), round 2, Campionato Italiano GT Sprint
11–13/07 Nürburgring (D), round 3, ADAC GT Masters
11–13/07 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CDN), round 6, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
11–13/07 Fuji (J), round 4, GT World Challenge Asia
12–13/07 Red Bull Ring (A), round 3, Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy
18–20/07 Virginia (USA), round 5, GT America
18–20/07 Misano (I), round 3, GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup
18–20/07 Misano (I), round 4, GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club
18–20/07 Le Castellet (F), round 5, International GT Open