Champions in China, Europe, New Zealand and South Africa rely on Audi R8 LMS GT3

 
Chinese customer team wins sprint title in the Audi R8 LMS GT4
142nd victory in the DTM and class wins in the ADAC GT Masters and NLS
International GT Open 2024
 
Internationally, but also in Germany, numerous Audi customer teams once again made positive headlines. For the first time, a driver team won the Europe-wide International GT Open, while the Audi R8 LMS once again prevailed in the GT Sprint Challenge in China and the South Island Endurance Series thanks to dedicated customer teams in China and New Zealand. An overall title in the Extreme Supercars Series in South Africa rounds off the list of successful championship finishes. In addition, there were individual race successes in overall or class rankings in three German competitions.

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Deserved success worldwide: The title fight in the International GT Open was extremely exciting at the finale in Italy. Christopher Haase and Simon Reicher had traveled to Monza for the Audi customer team Eastalent Racing tied on points with their closest rivals. The 500-kilometer race began in drizzle on a wet track, but the forecast pointed towards dry conditions. While the three title rivals from the Audi, Ferrari and Lamborghini customer teams were still in midfield in positions 14 to 16 at the first pit stop, they gradually improved thereafter. 

In the final phase, Christopher Haase managed a decisive overtaking maneuver in a duel with a Lamborghini from the Oregon team on lap 68, so that the Audi Sport driver ultimately finished the race in second place. Together with Austrian Simon Reicher, he secured the title with a 16-point lead over Lamborghini driver Alessio Deledda. 38 driver pairings collected points in this year’s pan-European GT3 racing series. This is the first time that a driver team with an Audi R8 LMS has won this series. The Polish Audi customer team Olimp Racing with Karol Basz/Marcin Jedlinski finished second in the Pro-Am classification. In the GT Sprint Challenge in China, Audi Sport customer racing Asia celebrated a hat-trick. 

Following title successes in 2022 and 2023, a driver in an Audi R8 LMS prevailed for the third time in a row. At the finale in Zhuhai, Jason Gu for Climax Racing won the first sprint ahead of five other Audi cars. Second place went to Adderly Fong/Wang Yibo from Uno Racing ahead of Li Dongsheng/Li Donghui from Climax Racing. In the second race, second place behind Fong/Yibo and ahead of Chen Yeshong/Thomas Song from Uno Racing was enough for Jason Gu to win the overall title. Zhou Tianji from the Azure Lane by Hehehe Racing team finished second in the standings to win the amateur classification. The champagne corks popped for an Audi customer team in the 3-hour classification of the South Island Endurance Series for the sixth time after 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Steve Brooks/Bill Riding in the Audi R8 LMS celebrated their third win of the season in three races in Timaru on New Zealand’s South Island. The driver pairing from the Wolfbrook Motorsport team finished the season 23 points ahead of their closest rivals in the New Zealand endurance racing series. 

Adam Julian won the separate one-hour race in Timaru in another Audi R8 LMS. Another title was won by an Audi customer team in South Africa. Arnold Neveling won the Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop racing series after two final victories in the finale at Zwartkops. The 34-year-old South African has triumphed a total of seven times in eight events this season with the Audi R8 LMS from Stradale Motorsport. In the DTM, ABT Sportsline celebrated the 78th victory for the team at the end of a 25-year motorsport partnership with Audi with Kelvin van der Linde at the finale in Hockenheim. Van der Linde finished the championship in second place in the standings – his best final result to date in the prestigious racing series. The ADAC GT Masters also held its finale at the same venue. Pablo Schumm/Jonas Karklys won the Pro-Am category in the second race in the Audi R8 LMS of Liqui Moly Team Engstler by NordVPN. 

Team Scherer Sport PHX took second place in the fifth round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. Frank Stippler/Nico Bastian shared the cockpit of an Audi R8 LMS at the Nürburgring. It was Nico Bastian’s debut in an Audi, and the man from Mannheim immediately set the fastest race lap. Victory in the amateur class of the SP9 category went to Juta Racing. Alexey Veremenko and his team-mate, who competes under the pseudonym “Selv” in the Audi R8 LMS, finished sixth overall. In the Am standings, they are in second place before the finale behind Michael Heimrich/Arno Klasen, who drive an Audi from équipe vitesse. In the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS, Team Dayle ITM/Team MPC achieved a podium result in the sixth round. Brendon Leitch/Tim Miles finished the three-hour race in Sydney in third position in the Audi R8 LMS.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

First place in China: Bao Junbin won the GT4 championship classification at the finale of the Chinese GT Sprint Challenge in Zhuhai. The Chinese driver shared the Harmony Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 with compatriot Tenn Wu. In the first sprint, the driver pairing crossed the finish line more than 20 seconds ahead of the Audi of Chen Sitong/Xiao Min from Team Nova Racing. In the second race, the Harmony Racing drivers finished second ahead of their brand colleagues from Nova Racing. As a result, Bao Junbin has a nine-point lead in the standings over BMW driver Ye Sichao.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Lead in the standings extended: Team Møller Bil Motorsport has further consolidated its lead in the TCR standings of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. At the fifth round of the series, the Norwegian squad with Atle Gulbrandsen/Kenneth Østvold/Håkon Schjærin in the Audi RS 3 LMS secured its third win of the season. Schjærin has a ten-point lead over VW driver Sebastian Schemmann ahead of the finale. Third place in this four-hour race went to Benjamin Koslowski/Moritz Rosenbach in another Audi RS 3 LMS. In the TCR China Challenge, Liu Zichen had a perfect weekend in Zhuzhou. The Chinese driver from the 326 Racing Team drove his Audi RS 3 LMS to two victories – in the first race by 8.4 seconds, in the second by 2.1 seconds in each case ahead of a competitor in a Lynk & Co. Pan Yiming achieved another podium result in the second race in third place in an Audi from Nkoda HW Racing. In the final standings, Pan Yiming finished second ahead of Liu Zichen. In TCR Japan, Audi Team Mars returned from the third round with a trophy. Takuya Shiga finished third in the second race in Motegi with his Audi RS 3 LMS

Coming up next week

23–27/10 Valencia (E), FIA Motorsport Games
25–27/10 Monza (I), round 4, Campionato Italiano GT Endurance
25–27/10 Monza (I), round 6, TCR Italy
26–27/10 Okayama (J), round 6, Super Taikyu Series
26–27/10 Portimão (P), round 4, Supercars Endurance