Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche win GT4 European Series

Overall and class victory for the Audi R8 LMS in Europe and Asia

First win of the season for the Audi RS 3 LMS in America

Team Speedcar won its first drivers title in the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club. Following two GT3 championship victories in New Zealand, this success in Europe’s most prestigious GT4 racing series is already the third title for Audi Sport customer racing this season.

The Audi R8 LMS GT3 contributed further good individual results with victories in Belgium and Japan on the last weekend in August, while the Audi RS 3 LMS won an IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race for the first time this year.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

Precision work: For the eighth time since the 2018 season, an Audi customer team has won a title in the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club. The series awards driver titles only in class standings, but no overall winner. To date, private drivers with Audi have won the Pro-Am and Silver class championships three times each and the Junior Cup and Am class championships once each.

The most recent title in this series goes to the driver pairing of Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche. The two Frenchmen won the Silver Cup in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 ahead of schedule this year in difficult circumstances at the fifth and penultimate round at the NĂźrburgring. Benjamin Lariche started the first race in seventh place out of 38 participants.

There was an accident right at the start, in which Lariche was also involved. The damage to the Speedcar team’s Audi was too severe for it to continue. This meant that the championship leaders failed to score any points for the first time this season. In the second race, eighth place was enough for the two Frenchmen to secure the title.

Lariche battled for position with a Ford and a BMW in the second half of the race, at times dropping to ninth place, but managed to move up to the decisive eighth place on the third-to-last lap. After four wins this season and two further podium finishes, Consani/Lariche’s lead in the standings is exactly 52 points, which is enough to ensure that they cannot be overtaken in the final race in Barcelona in October.

For Consani/Lariche, this is their first title with an Audi R8 LMS GT4. This customer racing car was also among the best performers in its class in the fifth round of the GT Cup Series at the Slovakiaring. The Slovenian team Lema Racing fielded the production-based sports car for Grega Simunovic.

In the first sprint, the Croatian won his class with a 3.5-second lead, and in the second race, he crossed the finish line with a 16.4-second lead. In the endurance race, Grega and Zak Simunovic together took third place in the GT4 classification. An Audi R8 LMS GT4 took overall victory in the fourth round of the German amateur racing series DMV NES GP.

Bernd Schaible/Tobias Erdmann won the two-hour race in Oschersleben for Seyffarth Motorsport with a one-lap lead. The DMV Super Touring und GT Cup also held its fourth race at the same event. Tobias Erdmann finished third overall and was a class winner in the first sprint in his Audi R8 LMS GT4, while his teammate Bernd Schaible repeated exactly the same results in the second sprint.

Audi R8 LMS GT3

Class successes and good positions in the title race: The Audi customer teams celebrated four podium finishes, including a class victory, in the fifth round of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS. At the Okayama circuit in Japan, the Uno Racing Team secured its second Silver Cup victory of the season in the second race with the Audi R8 LMS.

The driver pairing of Rio/Shaun Thong secured the class victory with a four-tenths of a second lead. Second place went to Congfu Cheng/Yu Kuai, who started from pole position in the Silver class in the Audi of the FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom. However, Yu Kuai had to avoid an accident early on and fell behind on the outside lane.

Nevertheless, the number 45 Audi caught up again and Cheng Congfu was at the top of the Silver class until he was overtaken by Rio ten minutes before the end. The day before, Cheng/Kuai had finished second in the Silver Cup ahead of Rio/Thong. Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai lead the Silver Cup by 16 points ahead of the final race in China, are currently second in the China Cup and fifth in the overall standings.

In the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy, Stefan Wieninger secured his third victory of the season in the Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS. The Bavarian racing driver won the second race at Spa-Francorchamps with a 14.5-second lead over Mercedes-AMG driver Kenneth Heyer. Wieninger had initially built up a four-second lead before spinning and falling behind Heyer.

However, during a rain shower, Land-Motorsport performed significantly faster pit work, which laid the foundation for the subsequent victory. In the first race, both competitors had finished in reverse order. In both competitions, Thomas Westarp secured third place with the CCS Racing Team in another Audi R8 LMS.

In the fifth round of the GT Cup Series at the Slovakiaring, the Fullinrace by Interaction team achieved three podium finishes in its class. Petr Fulín was the third-best participant in a GT3 race car in the first sprint in his Audi R8 LMS. In the second sprint, he finished as the second-best GT3 driver. In the one-hour endurance race, he shared the cockpit with his Czech compatriot Jiří Navrátil and also finished in second place.

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

First triumph in America: In the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, the customer team RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate secured the first victory of the season for the Audi RS 3 LMS. At the eighth round of the racing series at Virginia International Raceway, Jaden Conwright and Luke Rumburg prevailed at the end of an exciting two-hour race.

Conwright drove the touring car in the final stages of the race and not only benefited from various penalties against other top teams, but also cleverly exploited the peculiarities of a mixed starting field for a daring maneuver. In the North American series, TCR race cars traditionally start in a joint field with 24 GT4 race cars.

Conwright benefited from the good top speed of his Audi, pulled up alongside the Hyundai that had been leading until then in the 50th of 55 laps in heavy traffic, and overtook it when braking on the kerbs of the right-hand corner known as Roller Coaster. With a 2.8-second lead, the Florida-based team ultimately won the third-to-last race of the season. 

TCR Eastern Europe held its fourth event at the Slovakiaring. In the first race, Martin Kadlečík was the best of three Audi drivers in the field, finishing second. The Czech driver finished 1.4 seconds ahead of Bartosz Groszek in another Audi, his teammate at Aditis Racing, in an Audi RS 3 LMS.

In the second sprint, Kadlečík started the race in seventh place and improved to second position with a sensational start. Groszek started the race in sixth place and fought a long battle with Hyundai driver Žarko Knego for third place. In the end, Kadlečík and Groszek finished second and third, just as they had done the day before.

After four of six events, the two Audi drivers also occupy these positions in the points standings. Kadlečík leads the junior standings by 71 points, while Aditis Motorsport leads the team standings, 20 points ahead of the Hyundai team Janík Motorsport. The Audi RS 3 LMS was successful in the TCR category at the fifth round of the German club racing series Cup und Tourenwagen Trophy. Manfred Lewe won this classification in the second race at Spa ahead of Daniel Haager in another Audi. Lewe had finished second in the first race.

Coming up in the next weeks

05–07/09 Salzburgring (A), round 4, ADAC GT Masters
05–07/09 The Bend (AUS), round 5, GT World Challenge Australia
05–07/09 The Bend (AUS), round 5, GT4 Australia
05–07/09 Barber Motorsports Park (USA), round 7, GT America
05–07/09 Red Bull Ring (A), round 6, International GT Open
05–07/09 Red Bull Ring (A), round 5, TCR Europe
05–07/09 Brno (CZ), round 6, GT Cup Series
05–07/09 Brno (CZ), round 5, TCR Eastern Europe
06–07/09 Mugello (I), round 5, Coppa Italia Turismo
12–13/09 Killarney (ZA), round 5, Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop
12–14/09 Red Bull Ring (A), round 7, DTM
12–14/09 Red Bull Ring (A), round 5, ADAC GT Masters
12–14/09 Mugello (I), round 4, Campionato Italiano GT Endurance
12–14/09 Mugello (I), round 5, TCR Italy
12–14/09 The Bend (AUS), round 1, TCR Australia
13/09 NĂźrburgring (D), round 7, NĂźrburgring Langstrecken-Serie
14/09 NĂźrburgring (D), round 8, NĂźrburgring Langstrecken-Serie
13–14/09 Snetterton (GB), round 6, TCR UK
13–15/09 Suzuka (J), Suzuka 1000 km

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