Third Victory of the Season for New Audi RS 3 LMS

source: Audi Sport

Frédéric Vervisch wins round of FIA WTCR at Pau in RS 3 LMS
Uwe Alzen defends STT club racing title with Audi R8 LMS
Successes for GT2 and GT4 sports cars round off weekend

In addition to Audi Sport customer racing’s victory at the Indianapolis 8 Hour, customer teams around the world have also clinched numerous podium successes in GT and touring car racing with the brand’s four models – above all Comtoyou Team Audi Sport with the new Audi RS 3 LMS.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Success for Audi in the south of France: At Pau in the Pyrenean foothills of southern France, the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup started into its sixth of eight events. Audi Sport driver Frédéric Vervisch, in tenth place in qualifying, had secured the pole position for the first sprint in which the first ten drivers start in reverse order. The Belgian in the Audi RS 3 LMS of Comtoyou Team Audi Sport led from the first to the 20th lap and was thus the first driver of 2021 to have managed a second victory of the season. Four different brands finished in the top four positions. For the second-generation Audi RS 3 LMS, it was already the third victory of the season in its debut season after successes in Spain and Hungary. Although Vervisch only started the second race in tenth place, he improved to fourth position over the course of 22 laps. The Belgian thus climbed from eighth to fourth place in the standings. At the same time, Vervisch won the TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy for the fastest lap time of the weekend, which he achieved in the first sprint. In the Junior classification, his privateer teammate Gilles Magnus remains the leader of the standings. At the same time, the Belgian junior driver is in first place in the Trophy classification for private drivers ahead of teammate Tom Coronel.

On course for the title in Europe: Jonathan and Steven Giacon further extended their lead in the TCR DSG Europe race series. Together with teammate Luca Rangoni, they won the fourth of five rounds of the season in the Audi RS 3 LMS at Mugello in the race series for race cars with dual clutch transmissions. After two hours of racing, the Italians were 1.3 seconds ahead of their Volkswagen pursuers. Before the finale at Vallelunga, the Giacon brothers have a 27-point lead in the standings over VW driver Marco Butti.

Two second places in the TCR Japan: Masanobu Kato was the best of three Audi privateer drivers on the fifth race weekend of the TCR Japan. The Japanese finished second in both sprints in the Audi RS 3 LMS fielded by Audi Team Mars at the Motegi circuit. He had led the second race for a long time until he spun on a wet track.

Confident end to the season: Max Frederik Gruhn remained unbeaten in the finale of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. The junior driver won his class in both sprints at the Nürburgring in the Audi RS 3 LMS with an advantage of one lap each.

Quadruple victory in the China Endurance Championship: The third race weekend of the China Endurance Championship went according to plan for Audi Sport’s customer teams. At Zhuhai, four different customer teams finished in the top four positions in the TCE class with their Audi RS 3 LMS cars. The 326 Racing Team won after two and a half hours of racing ahead of MMK Racing, third place went to Anstone Racing and position four to Z.SPEED. The winning driver pairing of Yang Manman/Da Bai was 0.756 seconds ahead of Mi Qi, Zheng Wancheng and Chang Chien Shang at the finish.

Two podium places in Denmark: Stefan Lorenzen and Niels Ulrich Nyboe returned from the fifth round of the Danish Endurance Championship with two trophies. The Danes clinched a second and a third place in their class in the Audi RS 3 LMS on the Padborg circuit.

Two podium results in Portugal: Jorge and Pedro Silva celebrated two podium finishes at the third event of the Supercars Endurance race series. They finished the first race in the Audi RS 3 LMS as the runners-up in the TCR class, in the second race they finished third.

Success in grassroots racing: The State Energy Racing Team remained unbeaten in the DMV NES 500 club sport race series on the sixth race weekend. Jesper Henriksen and Frederik Vodder in the Audi RS 3 LMS won their class with a 2.43-minute lead after three hours of racing at the Nürburgring.

A trophy in New Zealand: At the second round of the South Island Endurance Series, the Track Tec Racing team secured a podium result. Gentleman driver Dennis Chapman finished third in the Audi RS 3 LMS in the one-hour race at Timaru.

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Title defense and two wins at the finale: With two commanding victories at the ADAC Racing Weekend, Uwe Alzen concluded the 2021 Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy season as champion.The former professional race driver won the first sprint in the Audi R8 LMS with an 18.8-second lead. In the second race, the driver from Betzdorf even pulled away from pursuer Jürgen Bender in the Corvette by 64 seconds. Third place went to Stefan Wieninger, who entered another Audi R8 LMS privately. This means that Audi privateer Alzen has decided eight of the ten individual races this year in his favor and is champion for the second time in a row.

Victory in Denmark: Valdemar Eriksen clinched his third victory of the season in the Danish Endurance Championship. The junior driver won the first race on the fifth race weekend at the Padborg circuit in his Audi R8 LMS with an 8.4-second advantage.

Three victories in China: On the third weekend in October, Audi customer teams competed with the R8 LMS in three different race series. Team X Works remained undefeated on the fourth race weekend of the GT Super Sprint Challenge. At Zhuhai in southern China, David Pun won the first race and finished second in the second round. Teammate Riokonig was third in the first sprint and won the second race. Both drivers knew the race series from previous events but were now competing in an Audi R8 LMS for the first time. In the China Endurance Championship, Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute Racing finished third in the Audi R8 LMS at Zhuhai as well. At the wheel, Audi Sport Asia driver Chen Weian and Daniel Cao took turns during the two-and-a-half-hour race. At the opening round of the China GT race series in Shanghai, the FAW VW Audi Racing Team with Cheng Congfu and Anthony Liu secured victory in the first race and second place in the second race.

Audi R8 LMS GT2

Good finale: Elias Sabo in the Audi R8 LMS GT2 managed a nice end to the season in the GT America racing series. On the Indianapolis circuit, the gentleman driver for GMG Racing won his class in both races. Sports cars from the GT2, GT3 and GT4 classes competed in the two mixed 40-minute events. Sabo, in seventh place overall, left two GT3 sports cars behind him in each of the two heats.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

Podium at Indianapolis: Alex Welch closed the 2021 season on the podium on the seventh race weekend of GT America. The American privateer finished third out of eleven contenders in the class for production-based GT4 sports cars in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in the second race.

Two second places at Portimão: Pierre Arraou contested the third race weekend of the Supercars GT4 South series in Portugal. The Frenchman finished second in his class in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in each of the two 45-minute races.

Two trophies for Jürgen Hemker: At the finale of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy at the Nürburgring, the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing team brought an Audi R8 LMS GT4 to the start. Privateer driver Jürgen Hemker finished both sprint races in the Eifel in third place in his class.

Third place in China: Hu Bo from China was on the podium on the fourth race weekend of the GT Super Sprint Challenge. At Zhuhai, the privateer driver from Team Absolute Racing crossed the finish line in third place in his class in the Audi R8 LMS GT4.