Audi R8 LMS second on the grid at the Nürburgring
- Five Audi R8 LMS cars on the first five starting rows at the 24-hour race
- Connor De Phillippi the best Audi driver in qualifying
- All Audi customer teams have completed more than 7,200 kilometers so far
Audi has secured some good starting positions at the Nürburgring 24 Hours: the five fastest Audi R8 LMS clinched second, third, fifth, sixth and ninth on the grid in the decisive top 30 qualifying.
The American Connor De Phillippi from Audi Sport Team Land occupied the top spot for a time with an 8m 16.102s lap, but was ultimately topped by an extremely close margin of 0.675 seconds. Just 72-thousandths of a second behind his brand colleague was Robin Frijns: the Dutchman from Audi Sport Team WRT recorded the third best time. His Swiss teammate Nico Müller was fifth, while Mike Rockenfeller will start sixth for Phoenix Racing. With Christopher Mies from Audi Sport Team Land reaching ninth, all five Audi cars in the final qualifying occupied the top ten. “We have just seen an exciting qualifying with six brands taking the front ten grid positions,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “The second-best time from Connor was a nice reward for our preparation. Ahead of us, the drivers, the teams and the race cars now awaits an endurance race that will demand a lot in air temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius.”
But Audi is not only competing in the leading GT3 category. The Audi R8 LMS GT4 will make its race premiere this weekend. Audi Sport Team Phoenix and the drivers Joonas Lappalainen/Alexander Mies/Peter Terting/Alex Yoong in car number 17 secured fourth on the grid in the SP-X class. Directly behind follows the sister car, number 18, with Christian Abt/Rahel Frey/Patrick Huisman/Peter Terting in fifth place. The Audi Sport customer racing teams in the TCR category have also prepared themselves well for the race. Ulrich Andree/Pierre Humbert/Mike Jäger/Matthias Wasel with LMS Engineering start from second place in their class. Bonk Motorsport, with two other Audi RS 3 LMS cars, are fourth and fifth in the TCR classification. So far, all Audi Sport customer racing teams have completed 7,207 kilometers altogether in all of the practice and qualifying sessions at the Nürburgring.
While many spectators can enjoy the biggest German motor race in splendid weather in the Eifel from 15.30 on Saturday, fans at home can also follow the action on the internet. Audi offers a comprehensive coverage on its social media platforms as well as a livestream of the entire race at www.audi.com. RTL Nitro broadcasts the entire race live for 26 hours.