Audi customers celebrate success in Europe, Australia and Asia
- Audi customer teams clinch podium positions at GT rounds in Germany and Australia
- First victory of the season for Cheng Congfu in the Audi R8 LMS Cup
- Stefano Comini is the new table leader in the Audi RS 3 LMS
Audi Sport customer racing celebrated five international victories with its customers in competition with other brands, as well as many more trophies.
Audi R8 LMS (GT3)
Audi drivers dominate at the Ring: The fourth of eight race events in the DMV GTC racing series at the Nürburgring was a great success for Audi customers. In the first race, Ronny C’Rock won in front of Fabian Plentz, Peter Schmidt and Tommy Tulpe. After the 1-2-3-4 victory, Audi customer teams then went on to stand on every podium step in the second round as well. Ronny C’Rock from Land Motorsport won once again in front of Fabian Plentz. Tommy Tulpe secured third place. Plentz and Tulpe also won the Dunlop 60 race as a driver duo at the same event.
Triumph for Audi drivers: In Winton, Australia, Audi customer teams celebrated a huge success with a 1-2-3 and a 1-2-3-4 victory in the second event of the Australian GT Trophy Series. The first race was won by Steven McLaughlan, in front of Rod Salmon and Rick Mensa. In the second round, McLaughlan prevailed once again. The best of the rest were Matthew Stoupas, Rick Mensa and Travers Beynon. In this racing series, only the first generation of the Audi R8 LMS is permitted. McLaughlan leads Salmon on the table with a 102-point advantage, followed by two more Audi privateers, Rob Smith and Rick Mensa.
Alessio Picariello extends table lead: A win in the first round and second place in race 2 – as was the case in the season opener in Malaysia, Alessio Picariello was at the front in the second round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup in Japan. He thus extends his lead in the cup to 31 points. Cheng Confu from China climbs to second place after he prevailed in the second race at Suzuka. Mitch Gilbert from Malaysia, after finishing second and third at the weekend, is now third on the table. The Monegasque Stéphane Richelmi stood on the podium for the first time, having finished third in the first race.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Audi driver is the international table leader: Title-defender Stefano Comini climbed to the top of the TCR International Series table in Austria. The Swiss from Team Comtoyou Racing took two third-place finishes at the Salzburgring in the Audi RS 3 LMS. At the halfway point in the season, he leads the standings by three points.
Success in Japan: The Audi Team DreamDrive finished second in the ST-R class for TCR models at the third round of the Super Taikyu Series in Japan. Third place went to the Audi RS 3 LMS of BRP Team Mie.
Podium result in Portugal: Rafael Lobato won another trophy in the Audi RS 3 LMS at the second TCR race on the Iberian Peninsula. In Portimão, he finished second 5.9 seconds behind the winner in the second round. The race counts for both TCR Portugal and TCR Spain-Ibérico.
Second place in Austria: In the P9 Challenge on the Salzburgring, an Audi customer took a podium with the RS 3 LMS. Christoph Schrezenmeier took second place with the TCR model in the middle of a field of nominally stronger Cup racing cars.
Dates for next week
15–17/06 Solvalla (S), TCR Scandinavia 7th to 9th round
16-18/06 Monza (I), Italian GT Championship 3rd and 4th round
16-18/06 Monza (I), TCR Italy 5th and 6th round
16–17/06 Le Mans (F), Michelin Le Mans Cup 2nd round
17–18/06 Hungaroring (H), TCR International Series 6th round
17-18/06 Nizhny Novgorod Ring (RUS), TCR Russia 5th and 6th round