Victories for all Four Audi Sport Racing Models

• Audi R8 LMS prevails in Thailand, New Zealand and England
• Two victories for the Audi R8 LMS GT2, one for the Audi R8 LMS GT4
• Excellent season opener for Audi RS 3 LMS in Italy 

[source: Audi AG]

Audi’s customer teams, which started the new season in Thailand and New Zealand as defending champions, celebrated a perfect start with their victories. The three other race cars from the current Audi Sport customer racing model program contributed to the brand’s track record with many other top results.

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Triple success in Thailand: Team B-Quik Absolute Racing started its title defense in the Thailand Super Series with a one-two-three. Last year’s champion Akash Nandy from Malaysia, who is part of the Audi Sport Asia driver squad, won the first race of the series at Buriram with Thailand’s Adisak Tangphuncharoen. In his GT3 debut, Tangphuncharoen had qualified for grid position one in the Audi R8 LMS fielded by Team B-Quik Absolute Racing. However, he lost one position at the start and handed over his car in second place at the pit stop. In addition, he received a five-second penalty for violating the track limit regulations. After the pit stop, teammate Akash Nandy managed to take the lead and build up a large advantage. Despite the penalty, the duo still won the race by 7.6 seconds. Behind them followed two other Audi cars from the same team: the Chinese driver duo Sun Jingzu and Cheng Congfu finished second ahead of the Philippine Vicente Floirendo and Audi Sport driver Markus Winkelhock. In the second race, Sun Jingzu and Cheng Congfu were the fastest Audi team in third place. Henk Kiks, who drove a fourth Audi and recorded fifth place as his best result, now occupies second place in the Audi Sport Asia Trophy interim standings for privateers behind Andrew Haryanto. 

Winning start to the season in New Zealand: Jonny Reid and Sam Fillmore won the opening round of the New Zealand Endurance Championship in the Audi R8 LMS as defending champions. At Hampton Downs, Reid initially pulled away from pursuer Ant Pedersen in a Mercedes on a wet track but the latter came closer again on a drying track in the final hour of racing. A puncture forced the chaser to make a pit stop, with the Mercedes team switching to slicks. Reid, who had taken over the Audi again from teammate Fillmore towards the end, stopped two laps later and also had slick tires fitted. As a result, last year’s champions in their Audi from Team IMS won with an advantage of more than 23 seconds.

Dominant performance in British club racing: Team PB Racing dominated the second round of the British Endurance Championship. Peter Erceg and Marcus Clutton prevailed at Brands Hatch with a large lead in an Audi R8 LMS. After two hours of racing, they were six laps ahead of their best pursuers who drove a Porsche.