Audi customer team extends GT4 championship lead

Audi R8 LMS GT4

On course for the title in Europe: Team Speedcar celebrated its most successful weekend to date at the fourth event of the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club. In Misano, Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche won both sprint races for the first time this year. Lariche started the first race in third place in the Audi R8 LMS GT4. The Frenchman stayed behind two opponents until the mandatory pit stop and deliberately conserved his tires. Robert Consani took over the cockpit, was eager to attack and initially overtook a McLaren. He then fought a door-to-door duel with the leading Mercedes-AMG over several corners, which he overtook on the 29th of 34 laps. A half-second lead was enough for Consani and his teammate to take their third win of the season. A third place for Julien Ripert/Philippe Thalamy in the amateur classification in another Audi R8 LMS GT4 rounded off a successful day for Team Speedcar. On Sunday, Consani started from pole position. Although the Frenchman lost his lead in a safety car phase, he still handed the cockpit over to Benjamin Lariche in the lead. After all the competitors had completed their stops, the Frenchman was back in first place. Even an electrical problem affecting ABS and traction control in the final phase did not prevent the Audi privateer driver from crossing the finish line with a 1.6-second lead. Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche have increased their lead in the standings to 79 points after four of six events. In theory, this means they can convert a match point at the Nürburgring at the end of August and win the title early. Their Speedcar team has a 65-point cushion in the team standings. Jürgen Hemker scored another GT4 success in German club racing. He achieved a class victory in the third round of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy at the Red Bull Ring. The German drove the Audi R8 LMS GT4 of the Up2Race team to his third win of the season in the first race with a lead of more than 17 seconds.

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Reward for many good performances: Stefan Wieninger achieved his second win of the season in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy in Austria, having previously been successful for the first time this year at the Nürburgring. On the third race weekend of the club racing series at the Red Bull Ring, the private driver from Bavaria in the Audi R8 LMS from Land-Motorsport fought a duel with Kenneth Heyer in a Mercedes-AMG. Heyer had touched the Audi of the race leader shortly before the end in a full-course yellow phase. As a result, he received a five-second penalty. His narrow lead at the finish line turned into a 4.5-second deficit to the winning Audi. In the third round of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup, Audi’s customer teams finished on the podium a total of five times. In the first race on the Misano circuit, the Audi R8 LMS achieved a one-two victory in the Silver Cup. Alex Aka and teammate Ezequiel Perez Companc from the Tresor Attempto Racing team won by 15.3 seconds ahead of their brand colleagues Lorens Lecertua/Ivan Klymenko from Saintéloc Racing. Both driver teams currently occupy the two best positions in the Silver Cup standings in this order. In the Gold Cup, Paul Evrard/Gilles Magnus crossed the finish line in second place with Saintéloc Racing. Tresor Attempto Racing finished third with Sebastian Øgaard/Leonardo Moncini behind them. The following day, Evrard/Magnus were once again the second-best Gold driver team in the second sprint. They are also second in the Sprint Cup Gold standings ahead of Øgaard/Moncini. The Tresor Attempto Racing team also secured two more trophies in Italy, albeit in a national racing series. At the second event of the Campionato Italiano GT Sprint, Alberto Clementi Pisani/Marco Cassarà achieved a commanding class victory in the first sprint at Mugello. The Italian driver duo won the amateur classification in the Audi R8 LMS with a 17.2-second lead over a Honda team. In the second race, the finish was much closer: Tresor Attempto Racing took third place, just 0.287 seconds behind the team in front and 0.858 seconds behind the winner. As a result, Alberto Clementi Pisani/Marco Cassarà have extended their lead in the amateur standings from three to twelve points at the halfway point of the season. Audi’s customer teams also scored class successes in the fourth round of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS. In the first race on the Fuji circuit, FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom won the Silver classification. Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai drove their Audi R8 LMS to fourth place overall in a field of 31 participants on the way to their fourth class victory. As a result, they remain the leaders of the Silver standings in the championship table. They have a 17-point lead with two events still to go. Second place in the Silver category went to the Uno Racing Team and its driver duo Rio/Shaun Thong in another Audi R8 LMS. In the GT America powered by AWS, SKI Autosports achieved two podium results on the fifth race weekend. Memo Gidley crossed the finish line in second place in both races on the Virginia circuit in the team’s Audi R8 LMS. Saintéloc Racing achieved a podium result on the fifth weekend of the International GT Open. The driver pairing of Michael Blanchemain/Marcus Påverud was the second-best Pro-Am driver pairing in the first race in Le Castellet. Team Bio-Circle & HSG by SWAG celebrated an endurance victory in Baltic club racing. On the Palanga circuit in Lithuania, Egidijus Grazys/Karolis Jovaiša/Mantas Matukaitis won the Aurum 1006 km Race powered by Hankook in their Audi R8 LMS by a margin of three laps over a Mercedes-AMG after more than eight hours of racing.

Audi R8 LMS GT2

Successes in America and Europe: In the GT America powered by AWS, CJ Moses celebrated his first two victories of the season at the fifth event in Virginia. The American drove the GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2 to fifth place overall in both races behind the faster GT3 sports cars and thus won the GT2 classification. In the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, the driver pairing of Luca Pirri/Stéphane Ratel finished on the podium twice. On the fourth race weekend in Misano, the two bronze drivers in the Audi R8 LMS finished second each time in the amateur classification.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Trophies in three countries: An Audi customer team took third place in the sixth round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. For the first time since the season opener at Daytona in January, Ryan Eversley/Celso Neto were back on the podium in the TCR classification. The driver duo from the Precision Racing LA team crossed the finish line at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in their Audi RS 3 LMS after two hours of racing, just 3.5 seconds behind the leader. Several Audi customer teams returned from the fourth round of the Coppa Italia Turismo with trophies. Ramazan Kaya took second place in the first race in an Audi RS 3 LMS from BF Motorsport ahead of Adriano Visdomini from Next Motorsport in another Audi. In the second race, Kaya was again second, while Koray Kamiloglu from the Erven Madem H2K Racing Team followed behind in his Audi. In the second division, Giacomo Orioli in an Audi RS 3 LMS with DSG gearbox won the first race for Planet Motorsport ahead of the Audi of Temel Camlidag from Team BF Motorsport. In the second race, Tiziano Bergamasco was the best Audi driver in second place ahead of Giacomo Orioli. Both drove for Planet Motorsport. In the Baltic States, an Audi team achieved a class win in the Aurum 1006 km Race powered by Hankook endurance event. On the Palanga circuit in Lithuania, Tomas Baranauskas/Andrius Baublys/Marius Kemešys/Deividas Sakalauskas in the Audi RS 3 LMS of the Statomenas by DMK Racing Team won their class after 8:15 hours of racing with a lead of eight laps.

Audi Sport customer racing

In memory of Felix Baumgartner: The extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner died on July 17, 2025 in a paragliding crash in Italy at the age of 56. The Austrian became famous for his daring jumps, including the first stratospheric jump in October 2012. A few years later, he ventured into motor racing under the motto “From heaven to Green Hell” and contested two of the world’s most famous GT endurance races at the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS. In June 2014, he crossed the finish line for the Audi race experience team at the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a remarkable ninth place overall out of 165 teams that started. His teammates were the three former Audi factory drivers Frank Biela, Marco Werner – both multiple former Le Mans overall winners – and Pierre Kaffer, a Le Mans class winner. In February 2015, Baumgartner also finished ninth in the Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia. His teammates at Phoenix Racing: former Le Mans winner Stéphane Ortelli and Christopher Haase, who has celebrated five 24-hour victories with Audi. The entire Audi Sport customer racing team regrets the painful loss of Felix Baumgartner, who made history as a daring athlete and great personality, and expresses its sincere condolences to his family.

Coming up in the next weeks

25–27/07 Sandown (AUS), round 4, GT World Challenge Australia
25–27/07 Sandown (AUS), round 4, GT4 Australia
25–27/07 Most (CZ), round 3, TCR Eastern Europe
26/07 Kyalami (ZA), round 4, South African Endurance Series
26–27/07 Autopolis (J), round 5, Super Taikyu Series
31/07–03/08 Road America (USA), round 7, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
01–03/08 Magny-Cours (F), round 4, GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup
01–03/08 Magny-Cours (F), round 4, GT4 France
01–03/08 Imola (I), round 3, Campionato Italiano GT Endurance
01–03/08 Imola (I), round 4, TCR Italy
02–03/08 Oschersleben (D), round 4, Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy
02–03/08 Silverstone (GB), round 4, GT Cup Championship