source: Audi AG
- Two class titles in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
- After Pro-Am title now runner-up in Silver Cup in GT4 European Series
- Victories and class title for the Audi RS 3 LMS
The Audi Sport customer racing teams had reason to celebrate on the first weekend in October: teams in Europe clinched victories in their classes with the Audi R8 LMS as well as the Audi RS 3 LMS in title decisions. Victories and podium places in the races rounded off the weekend.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Class titles in debut season: Team Comtoyou Racing secured two class titles with the Audi R8 LMS in its debut season in GT3 racing. In the highly competitive Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, the Belgian driver duo Nicolas Baert/Maxime Soulet came out on top in the Gold Cup. The two privateer drivers won their classification of the 2023 season at the finale in Barcelona with a ten-point lead over Audi Sport driver Max Hofer from Austria. At the same time, Jean-Michel Baert’s squad finished the team standings level on points with the Mercedes team Winward Racing and is classified as the winner due to the better individual results with two class victories. Third place goes to Boutsen VDS as another Audi customer team. In the Silver Cup standings, Sam Dejonghe/Loris Hezemans/Finlay Hutchison for Comtoyou Racing finished second in the standings ahead of Alex Aka/Petro Delli Guanti/Lorenzo Patrese of Tresor Attempto Racing. Aka and Patrese have a 64.5-point lead in the overall Silver Cup standings from Sprint and Endurance before the finale.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Two podium results at the finale: The Audi customer team Speedcar concluded the 2023 season in the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club at Barcelona with two podium finishes. Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche scored second place in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in the first race. As a result, they kept the title decision in the Silver Cup open until Sunday. In the second race, however, the two Frenchmen incurred penalties and ultimately finished in third place. This sealed second place in the Silver Cup standings. In the same race, Grégory Guilvert/Christophe Hamon in an Audi R8 LMS GT4 fielded by the Saintéloc Junior Team clinched their sixth victory of the season in the Pro-Am class. The two Frenchmen had already celebrated winning this year’s Pro-Am standings at the previous event.
Success in German club racing: Sophie Hofmann was on the podium twice at the fifth round of the DMV Super Touring & GT Cup. The German finished the first race at the Nürburgring in third place in her class in the Audi R8 LMS GT4, and in the second race she managed second place.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Runner-up in Denmark: With a strong final weekend, Mike Halder secured second place in the final classification of TCR Denmark ahead of 22 other drivers. The German steered his Audi RS 3 LMS fielded by Team TPR Motorsport to second place in the second race at Jyllandsringen. In the third race, Halder led from pole position and finished the season in the Danish racing series with his fourth victory. In addition, Audi Sport customer racing recorded a class title in TCR Denmark. As in the previous year, René Povlsen won the Trophy classification in the Audi RS 3 LMS. His teammate at Meteor Racing, Allan Kristensen, completed the standings in second place.
Two 1-2 wins in Spain: Comtoyou Racing celebrated two 1-2 victories at the second round of the TCR Spain. Lewis Brown started the first sprint on the Estoril circuit in Portugal from pole position. The Briton in the Audi RS 3 LMS had to fend off tough attacks from teammate and pursuer Álvaro García in the final phase and won by half a second. In the second race, Sergio Casalins in the Audi RS 3 LMS took the lead on the second lap from Victor Fernández, who was also driving an Audi. Lewis Brown subsequently chased his teammate to the finish but had to admit defeat by 0.6 seconds in the second Audi one-two.
Podium finish at the Nürburgring: At the fifth round of the DMV NES 500 club racing series, two Danes recorded a podium success. Jesper Henriksen/Frederik Vodder steered their Audi RS 3 LMS from the iV-GO Racing Team to third place in their class after three hours of racing.
Coming up next week
02–04/10 Shanghai (CN), Shanghai 8 Hours
05–08/10 Indianapolis (USA), round 9, GT America
06–07/10 Nürburgring (D), round 9, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
06–07/10 Le Castellet (F), round 6, GT2 European Series
06–08/10 Le Castellet (F), round 6, GT4 France
07–08/10 Fuji (J), round 4, TCR Japan
07–08/10 Snetterton (GB), round 7, GT Cup Championship
08/10 Mugello (I), round 5, Coppa Italia Turismo
