Audi Sport customer racing started October with title successes in German club racing, a victory in the GT3 support race of the Singapore Grand Prix and class wins in the GT4 European season.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Victories and title in the GTC Race series: Max Hofer is the overall winner of the 2022 GTC Race sprint category. The Austrian from Team Aust Motorsport won the final sprint of the club racing series in pouring rain at Hockenheim in an Audi R8 LMS with a five-second lead although the safety car brought the field back together at the end. Hofer was at times up to four seconds faster per lap than his pursuers. The 23-year-old Austrian thus continues a successful privateer career under the sign of the four rings: After completing the Audi Sport TT Cup in 2016 and competing in the ADAC TCR Germany with an RS 3 LMS in 2017, he won the Junior classification in the ADAC GT Masters in 2019 and finished fourth overall. Behind Hofer, Robin Rogalski finished second overall in 2022 and won the SemiPro classification. He had won the first sprint at Hockenheim in a Seyffarth Motorsport Audi R8 LMS ahead of the new Am champion Dino Steiner, who drove an Audi from Aust Motorsport. The race had been stopped after only four laps due to an accident involving Finn Zulauf in a Rutronik Racing Audi. The Audi privateers also remained unbeaten in the GT60 Endurance race. Rogalski won the one-hour race ahead of the driver duo Finn Zulauf/Stefan Mücke from Rutronik Racing and was thus the best SemiPro driver in the final standings. The Audi customer teams dominated four of the five endurance races and all ten sprints in the 2022 season. Aust Motorsport also won the sprint team classification ahead of Seyffarth Motorsport.
Uwe Alzen unbeatable again: Former professional driver Uwe Alzen dominated the sixth race weekend of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. Saturday’s race started in the dry and ended with a rain shower. The veteran crossed the finish line at Hockenheim in the Audi R8 LMS after 20 laps with a 1.45-minute lead. In the pouring rain on Sunday, the 55-year-old Audi privateer established an advantage of 1.24 minutes. At the finale at the Nürburgring in two weeks’ time, championship leader Alzen can win his third consecutive STT title with Audi.
One victory and two podium places: Audi Sport’s customers and their rivals in the Thailand Super Series entered unfamiliar territory. On the third race weekend, which however does not count towards the championship classification, the drivers competed in the support program of the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time. Andrew Haryanto scored a fine victory in the first race. The Indonesian had secured seventh place on the grid in qualifying on a dry track. Tropical rain fell before the first sprint but quickly subsided. Haryanto had managed a strong start in the Audi R8 LMS of Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute on rain tires. As a result, he gained three positions. Subsequently, he stormed past his teammate Yasser Shahin who had relied on slicks. After leaving two other opponents behind, Haryanto led the field until the safety car came onto the track six minutes before the end of the race. He didn’t let that bother him either, then found his rhythm again and won by 5.1 seconds. As the best Am driver, he left two professionals behind him in the battle for the podium places. In the second race, the Indonesian started from first place, but a battle for positions quickly broke out in the leading group, in which he dropped back to fourth place. Yasser Shahin, who started from position three, also initially lost two positions but overtook several rivals again and crossed the finish line in second place. After Harayanto had improved again as well, he completed the podium for Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute in third place. The two Audi drivers were the best Am contenders in the field of 22 competitors.
Three podium places in South Africa: Charl Arangies and Arnold Neveling returned from the fourth race weekend of the South African GT Racing Series with three trophies. On the Aldo Scribante circuit, they won the first one-hour race by 14.7 seconds in the Audi R8 LMS. In the second race they managed third place and finished the concluding third competition in second place, just 1.1 seconds behind.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Class title in the GT4 European Series: Saintéloc Racing won the Silver Cup at the GT4 European Series finale in Barcelona after a long chase to catch up. After a weak first half of the season, at the end of which Erwan Bastard/Roee Meyuhas were only seventh with less than half the points of the then championship leaders, the Frenchman and the American with Israeli roots caught up mightily from the fourth race weekend in Spa. A win each in the Silver Cup in Belgium and then at Hockenheim made them the favorites at the finale. Second place overall and third victory in the Silver Cup standings on Saturday in Barcelona ensured high tension on Sunday. Fourth place in their class was enough for Bastard/Meyuhas to win by three points. Saintéloc Racing also won the Silver Cup team classification. There is no overall classification in the GT4 European Series.
Two class wins in South Africa: Kwanda Mokoena and Tschops Sipuka managed a convincing performance in the fifth round of the South African Endurance Series on the Aldo Scribante circuit. In the Audi R8 LMS GT4 fielded by Team Amandla Coal, they won their class as third overall in the first three-hour race and second in the second contest over the same distance.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Two one-two finishes in TCR Scandinavia: The Audi customer teams ended the 2022 season on the Mantorp Park circuit with strong individual results but had to admit defeat to Cupra driver Robert Dahlgren in the championship battle. For the first time this year, nine Audi cars were at the start of the three sprints. Tobias Brink led the first race after the start in his RS 3 LMS but dropped back after a mistake. Instead, Oliver Söderström in a Lestrup Racing Audi took the lead and celebrated his second victory of the season. After Brink overtook Robert Dahlgren, he completed an Audi one-two. In the second sprint, Brink kept his concentration and thus managed a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Oliver Söderström. In the third race, Andreas Bäckman was the best Audi driver. The Swede from the Lestrup Racing Team improved from third on the grid to second position in the Audi RS 3 LMS. Tobias Brink, who won the weekend classification for the first time this year, thus improved to second in the standings ahead of brand colleague Andreas Bäckman. Lestrup Racing secured second place in the team classification ahead of Brink Motorsport, while Hugo Nerman and Oliver Söderström finished second and third in the junior classification.
Endurance success in Poland: Jakub and Jerzy Franek ended the 2022 season of the Polish Wyscigowe Samochodowe Mistrzostwa Polski racing series with an endurance victory. The two Polish privateers in the Audi RS 3 LMS won their class on the Poznan circuit after two hours of racing with a four-lap lead.
Coming up next week
06–09/10 Monza (I), round 4, Campionato Italiano GT Sprint
07–09/10 Indianapolis (USA), round 8, GT America
07–09/10 Indianapolis (USA), round 7, GT4 America
07–09/10 Hockenheim (D), round 8, DTM
07–09/10 Hockenheim (D), round 7, DTM Trophy
08/10 Nürburgring (D), round 7, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
08–09/10 Zolder (B), round 6, Belcar Endurance Championship
08–09/10 San Juan Villicum (RA), round 8, TCR South America
08–09/10 Jyllandsringen (DK), round 7, TCR Denmark