Audi customer team with big lead in Italy

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Clear lead ahead of the final: The Tresor Attempto Racing team secured a commanding lead in the standings with their Audi R8 LMS in the third round of the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo Endurance. The team traveled to Imola as the leaders in the standings, tied on points with a Ferrari driver team from AF Corse. In the three-hour race on the Grand Prix circuit in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, the two Italians Rocco Mazzola and Riccardo Cazzaniga, together with their German teammate Fabio Rauer, secured second place in the Pro classification, which was enough to take sole leadership in the overall standings. Ahead of the final race in Mugello in mid-September, the trio of drivers now has a 19-point lead over its closest rivals. The Haas RT team from Antigua also secured a class podium finish for Audi at Imola: Ramez Azzam/Omar Jackson/Axcil Jefferies finished third in the Pro-Am classification, 96 thousandths of a second behind the runners-up. In the fourth round of the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS in Sandown, Broc Feeney/Brad Schumacher consolidated their second place in the standings with two podium finishes. In the first race, the driver duo finished third in the Kelso Electrical Team MPC Audi R8 LMS. Ryan Wood/Steve Brooks in the Wolfbrook Team MPC Audi R8 LMS, who started in fourth place, finished one position higher. Over the course of an hour of racing, they closed the gap to the winners from Ferrari to three tenths of a second. Wood and Feeney fought hard for second place in the final stages. In the second race, Feeney/Schumacher moved up from sixth to second place. Schumacher gave it his all in the final stages, but was beaten by Liam Talbot in the Aston Martin by one second. Changeable weather, accidents, and several safety car phases prevented the race from running at a regular pace. With two events remaining, Broc Feeney/Brad Schumacher are second in the standings 31 points behind the leaders. While Paul Stokell/Matt Stoupas won the Trophy classification in both races for KFC Team MPC in an Audi, Renee Gracie secured second place on Saturday and victory in the amateur classification on Sunday. She extended her lead in this classification to 74 points in the Audi R8 LMS. Fans experienced an emotional moment before the second race: Brendon Leitch drove a memorial lap in the Audi R8 LMS in honor of his teammate Tim Miles, who was killed in a cycling accident in Sydney on July 6. The two New Zealanders had collected 53 championship points for the Dayle ITM Team MPC in the first half of the season and celebrated a race victory last year. The Audi customer team Saintéloc Racing has closed the gap to the Gold Cup leaders to two and a half points in the fourth and penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup. Paul Evrard and Gilles Magnus scored 11.5 points more than Ferrari’s Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen, the leaders in the standings, with a fourth place and a victory in the two sprints at their team’s home race in Magny-Cours. The Frenchman’s and Belgian’s second victory of the season was particularly impressive: Evrard/Magnus won the Gold Cup classification in the second sprint on Sunday in their Audi R8 LMS with a 15.1-second lead. Third place went to Leonardo Moncini/Sebastian Øgaard in a Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS, as it had in the first race the day before. Saintéloc Racing achieved another podium finish in the second race in the Silver Cup: Ivan Klymenko/Lorens Lecertua finished third in the Audi R8 LMS. The title decisions in all sprint classifications will be made at the end of September in Valencia. Thomas Westarp secured his first victory of the season on the fourth race weekend of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. Driving the CCS Racing Team’s Audi R8 LMS, he won the second race at the ADAC Racing Weekend in Oschersleben with an eight-tenths of a second lead over Mercedes-AMG driver Kenneth Heyer. Land-Motorsport was delighted to secure another trophy. Pierre Lemmerz/Alexander Kroker finished second behind Heyer in the first race in their Audi R8 LMS. In the fourth round of the Central European GT Cup Series, the FullinRace by Interaction team achieved three podium finishes in Most. Petr Fulín drove his team’s Audi R8 LMS to victory in the GT3 class in the first sprint and to third place overall in the race. In the second sprint, the Czech driver won his class again and finished second overall. In the one-hour endurance race, he took turns in the cockpit with Aliyyah Koloc and finished third in the GT3 classification. In the British GT Cup Championship, PB Racing with JMH enjoyed its most successful weekend to date. At the fourth event in Silverstone, Peter Erceg and Marcus Clutton drove the Audi R8 LMS to second place overall in each of the three races. In the Japanese Super Taikyu Series, Hitotsuyama Racing achieved its best result of the season so far with the Audi R8 LMS in the fifth round at Autopolis. In the early stages, Sota Ogawa led the endurance race. Strong winds with changing weather conditions and safety car phases characterized the competition. In the end, the driver combination of Anna Inotsume/Sota Ogawa/James Pull/Kenji Suzuki finished in second place, 8.3 seconds behind, after five hours of racing. In the fourth round of the South African Endurance Series in Kyalami, Brad Liebenberg/Ryan Naicker crossed the finish line in third place after four hours of racing in the Stradale Motorsport Audi R8 LMS.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Tension rises in Italy and Eastern Europe: At the beginning of the second half of the TCR Italy season, competition at the top is intensifying: in Imola, second-placed Nicolas Taylor reduced his gap to championship leader Nicola Baldan by 22 points to just six. The Canadian and the Italian drive for different teams, but both rely on the Audi RS 3 LMS in the title fight. In the first sprint, Taylor maintained second place for PMA Motorsport as the best Audi driver despite a five-second penalty. His lead over Matteo Poloni in the Gear Works Audi was large enough that he did not lose any positions in the final classification, even after the stewards’ decision regarding cutting through a chicane. In the second race, safety cars and a race interruption dominated the proceedings. In the end, last year’s champion Nicolas Taylor celebrated his third victory of the season. Nicola Baldan followed 2.5 seconds behind, with Planet Motorsport’s Denis Babuin trailing him. Matteo Poloni completed a 1-2-3-4 victory for the Audi RS 3 LMS. Audi customers celebrated further successes in the classes: Babuin was the best Master driver in both races. Francesco Cardone from Aikoa Racing was the third-best Master driver in the first race, while Sandro Pelatti from PMA Motorsport was third in the second race. Carlo Alberto Bocca won the rookie classification for BF Motorsport on Sunday after finishing second the day before. Nicolas Taylor was the best driver under 25 years of age on Sunday and second on Saturday ahead of Pietro Alessi from BF Motorsport. The TCR Italy DSG for race cars with dual-clutch transmissions also came to Imola for its fourth round. In the first race, Gustavo Sandrucci in the Audi RS 3 LMS from Casals Motorsport was the best Audi privateer in second place ahead of his brand colleague Mattia Lancelotti from Planet Motorsport. In the second race, Lancelotti again finished third. The Master classification went to Sandrucci on both days, while on Saturday Alessandro Berton from Planet Motorsport finished third in this category in another Audi. The best rookie in both competitions was Audi private driver Giacomo Prandelli from Aikoa Racing. In the classification for young talents under 25, Lancelotti finished second and third respectively. At the halfway point of the TCR Eastern Europe season, Martin Kadlečík closed the gap to championship leader Adam Kout to just two points in his Audi. The Czech driver won the first race in difficult conditions at his home circuit in Most in his RS 3 LMS. Despite a light rain shower before the start of the formation lap, all drivers remained on slick tires. Kadlečík, driving the Aditis Racing Audi, overtook Adam Kout’s Hyundai, which had started from pole position. Over the course of 15 laps, Kadlečík built up a 7.4-second lead over Cupra driver Petr Čížek on a drying track and celebrated his second victory of the season. In the second race, Kadlečík finished second ahead of his teammate Bartosz Groszek’s Audi, who had overtaken Ivars Vallers’ Audi from the LV Racing team on the final lap. After three of six races, Groszek is third in the standings behind Kadlečík. For the second time in a row, an Audi customer team achieved a podium finish in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. After Precision Racing LA took third place in the previous race in Canada, the RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate team finished second on the seventh race weekend. On the Road America circuit in Wisconsin, Luke Rumburg/Jaden Conwright crossed the finish line in the Audi RS 3 LMS after two hours of racing, just 3.2 seconds behind.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

Club racing successes in Germany and South Africa: Jürgen Hemker secured his fourth victory of the season in the fourth round of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy in Oschersleben. The gentleman driver from the Up2Race team thus continues his streak of celebrating a class victory in every event in this amateur racing series so far. In Magdeburger Börde, the private driver in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 needed only a 0.287-second lead over an Aston Martin to win the first race. In the second race, Hemker finished second in his division. In both competitions, Michael Maniszewski from Land-Motorsport completed the podium in third place in another Audi R8 LMS GT4. The Audi private team G&H Racing returned from the fourth round of the South African Endurance Series with a trophy. Ant Blunden/Gianni Giannoccaro/Ricky Giannoccaro finished second in class B in their Audi R8 LMS GT4 after four hours of racing in Kyalami.

Coming up in the next weeks

08–10/08 Nürburgring (D), round 5, DTM
08–10/08 Sepang (MAL), round 3, Thailand Super Series
15–16/08 Nürburgring (D), round 6, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
15–17/08 Road America (USA), round 6, GT America