Audi customers successful in Saudi Arabia and at the Nürburgring

Audi R8 LMS (GT3)

Title in Saudi Arabia: For the first time, a motorsport title went to an Audi driver on the Arabian peninsula. Mohammed Bin Saud recorded his fourth victory in six races on April 15 at the Reem Circuit near Riyadh. In doing so, the local Audi Sport customer, who relies on the support from the WRT team from Belgium, won the 2016/2017 Saudi GT Championship, which is held during the winter, in the Audi R8 LMS.

One-two victory at the Nürburgring: Audi was the most successful brand in the dress rehearsal for the 24-hour race. The Phoenix Racing team drove to victory from eighth on the grid in the qualification race. After six hours of racing, Dennis Busch/Nicolaj Møller Madsen/Mike Rockenfeller crossed the finish line 18.8 seconds ahead of Nico Müller/Frédéric Vervisch, who competed for Audi Sport Team WRT in another Audi R8 LMS. For the Dane Møller Madsen, runner-up in the 2015 Audi Sport TT Cup, it was the first overall victory in an Audi R8 LMS.

Trophies at the opener: In the Special Touring Car Trophy, Andreas Schmidt took third place in his class in both rounds with an Audi R8 LMS ultra at Hockenheim. At the first event of the FIA CEZ Circuit Racing Championship at the Hungaroring, Richard Chlad Jr also finished third in the second race with an Audi R8 LMS ultra.

Audi R8 LMS (GT4)

Debut with an experienced team: Audi will rely on Audi Sport Team Phoenix as the team for the new GT4 project at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The Audi R8 LMS GT4, which was presented in New York in April, will contest its first race from May 25 to 28 in the Eifel. The Phoenix Racing team, based in Meuspath next to the Nürburging, will enter two new GT4 race cars on behalf of Audi Sport customer racing. Ernst Moser’s team was involved in the first Audi overall victory at the 24-hour race in 2012 and has already won the classic a total four times.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Three victories in the TCR Benelux: The first of six events was dominated by Audi. The ComToYou Racing team with Swiss Stefano Comini won sprint races 1 and 2 on the Spa circuit in Belgium, as well as the fourth and final race with Sheldon van der Linde. In addition, the South African took second in the third race. Comini/van der Linde are the first championship leaders of the new season with a 22-point advantage.

One-two victory at the Nürburgring: At the qualification race for the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the Audi customer team Bonk Motorsport prevailed in the TCR class with the Audi RS 3 LMS. Hermann Bock/Rainer Partl won by one lap ahead of their team mates Michael Bonk/Axel Burghardt/Volker Piepmeyer.

First success in Asia: Audi celebrated the first successes for the Audi RS 3 LMS in Asia at the second race weekend of the TCR Asia at the Zhuhai circuit in China. Jasper Thong won the first of two races for Audi Hong Kong with the Phoenix Racing Asia team. With Chinese driver Huang Chu Han from the Tianshi Racing Team, another Audi customer secured a third place finish.

Endurance racing success in Hungary: Milovan Vesnić and Jakub Wyszomirski won the FIA CEZ Circuit Racing Championship at the Hungaroring with an Audi RS 3 LMS. At the same event, Rudolf Pesovic achieved second place in both sprint races in the Audi RS 3 LMS. 

Basic information online: Audi has summarized all information on the Audi RS 3 LMS in a basic information document. The basic information about the 2017 season is available digitally. 

Coming up next week

28–30/04 Virginia (USA), Pirelli World Challenge SprintX/TC 1st and 2nd round

28–30/04 Oschersleben (D), ADAC GT Masters 1st and 2nd round

28–30/04 Oschersleben (D), ADAC TCR Germany 1st and 2nd round

28–30/04 Imola (I), Italian GT Championship 1st and 2nd round

28–29/04 Dijon (F), DMV GTC 3rd and 4th round

29–30/04 Sugo (J), Super Taikyu Series 3rd and 4th round

27–30/04 Buriram (THA), Thailand Super Series 1st and 2nd round

28–30/04 Bikernieki Riga (LV), TCR Baltic Trophy 1st round

29–30/04 Estoril (P), TCR Spain-Ibérico 1st and 2nd round