source: Audi AG
- Frédéric Vervisch wins the Audi RS 3 LMS road race in Macau
- Second place for Edoardo Mortara in the FIA GT World Cup
- A total of four trophies for Audi drivers at the Macau Grand Prix
Audi Sport customer racing was delighted with victory in the Guia touring car race at the 70th edition of the Macau Grand Prix. Audi Sport driver Frédéric Vervisch won the race on the unforgiving street circuit for Audi Sport Team Comtoyou with a commanding 3.7-second advantage on Sunday. In the FIA GT World Cup at the same venue, Audi scored another trophy thanks to Edoardo Mortara’s second place.
In the Audi RS 3 LMS touring car, Frédéric Vervisch delivered a convincing performance right from the start in the second sprint race on Sunday. The 37-year-old Belgian started from fourth place and immediately improved to second position. Lap after lap, he put pressure on the driver in front of him, Santiago Urrutia, whom he overtook in an exciting and fair maneuver on the eighth lap as he braked for the Lisboa bend. In the remaining three laps to the finish, Vervisch built up a 3.7-second lead. He had already won a TCR race there with Audi in 2018. “Congratulations on this wonderful success,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “That was an extremely exciting finale with a great outcome for Frédéric Vervisch and Audi Sport Team Comtoyou. We are proud of Audi’s fourth victory in the famous Guia Race after the successes of Frank Biela in 1996, Michael Bartels in 1999 and Filipe Souza last year.”
The success on the streets of Macau at the finale was the sixth win of the season for the Audi RS 3 LMS in the Kumho TCR World Tour racing series after two successes each by Rob Huff and Will Brown as well as a first place by John Filippi. Until the very end, Audi had hopes of a fifth success after the Audi RS 3 LMS had already won four TCR titles this year. Vervisch’s team-mate Huff kept his chances in the inaugural Kumho TCR World Tour alive until the finale. On Saturday, he finished third in the first sprint as the best Audi driver in the field. In the end, however, he had to settle for third place in the championship standings. The Briton was in third place in the second sprint when the damaged hood of his Audi opened after contact with an opponent, forcing him to come into the pits.
Audi was also one of the favorites in the GT3 race in Macau. Following victories in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016, the Audi R8 LMS battled for its fifth victory at the Macau Grand Prix. Edoardo Mortara – an absolute expert on the streets of Macau with two Formula 3 victories, four GT3 wins and a one-make cup race success in the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup – had secured a good starting position with second place on the grid. The 36-year-old pro driver finished third in the qualifying race for the FIA GT World Cup on Saturday. He set the fastest race lap by two tenths of a second in the Audi R8 LMS of Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute. As a result, he also started the decisive World Cup race on Sunday in third place. Over the course of the 16-lap competition, he improved to second position. In the end, he missed his eighth personal victory in Macau by just 2.5 seconds behind winner Raffaele Marciello.
“Our customer teams won a total of four trophies in the races, as well as third place in the Kumho TCR World Tour,” said Chris Reinke. “We are delighted with those fine results towards the end of a strong season. Our customer teams will be competing for further titles in a number of other competitions over the next few weeks. We wish them every success too.”
