Audi Sport customer racing ended the 2022 season with a series of successes in Asia. The brand’s customer teams recorded race victories and further championship titles in China as well as in Thailand. One endurance victory and one sprint victory in South Africa complete the tally.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Full success in the Thailand Super Series: The Audi customer team B-Quik Absolute Racing finished the final two races of the season in the Thailand Super Series with a victory, a one-two and the title win. At the finale in Buriram, Akash Nandy and Sandy Stuvik won the first one-hour race in the Audi R8 LMS. They fought a battle with title rival Honda for almost the entire race duration but the opponent retired after a puncture three laps before the end. As a result, the two Audi drivers took a commanding win with a lead of 22 seconds. In the second race, an amateur team prevailed in the overall standings: After 37 laps, Daniel Bilski and Philip Massoud were 25 seconds ahead of privateer Vincente Floirendo, who shared the Audi R8 LMS with Audi Sport driver Markus Winkelhock. In the final standings, Akash Nandy and Sandy Stuvik prevailed. After 2019 and 2020, Team B-Quik Absolute Racing has won the Thailand Super Series drivers championship for the third time. Sandy Stuvik was on board for each of these successes. At the same time, Henk Kiks’ team has secured the team championship.
Successful season finale in China: Audi Sport customer racing Asia experienced a strong end to the season with its customers. The Chinese junior driver with the pseudonym Rio won the GT Super Sprint Challenge. He steered an Audi R8 LMS fielded by Team Uno Racing to five victories in six races. After the scheduled final races were cancelled due to the pandemic, Rio was 38 points ahead of his nearest rival. In the team standings, four Audi customer teams were in front in the end: Climax Racing won the classification ahead of Absolute Racing, the Uno Racing team and YC Racing. In the China GT Championship, the FAW Audi Racing Team with Chris Chia also clinched a title success at the race weekend at Pingtan. The Chinese finished the first race in second place, won the second race and finished third in the third race. Hence, the privateer clinched the championship win.
Strong finale in South Africa: Kwanda Mokoena managed a successful switch from the GT4 to the GT3 version of the Audi R8 LMS at the finale of the South African Endurance Series. The South African junior driver shared the cockpit in Team Into Africa/Amandla Coal with his compatriot Andrew Rackstraw and Audi Sport driver Luca Engstler at Killarney. Mokoena, Rackstraw and Engstler prevailed with a three-lap advantage after nine hours of racing. As a result, junior driver Mokoena clinched overall victory in the South African Endurance Championship. At the same event, another Audi customer celebrated two successes in the finale of the South African GT Racing Series. Michael Stephen in the Audi R8 LMS won the first one-hour race and finished the second one in second place.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Class title in China: Absolute Racing won a class title in China with the Audi R8 LMS GT4. Vincent Lin clinched three victories and three further podium results in the GT Super Sprint Challenge. This means that the Chinese won his category with an advantage of 65 points. In China GT, Cao Qi with the Phantom Pro Racing Team recorded a third and a second place at the finale in Pingtan.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Podium and vice class title in the TCR Asia: At the TCR Asia finale at the Shanghai Tianma Circuit, Chinese privateer driver Wu Yifan managed a podium result in the first race. As the best amateur driver, he finished third overall in the Audi RS 3 LMS from the 326 Racing Team. In the final standings of the race series, he finished second in the Am classification.
The entire Audi Sport customer racing team wishes you a happy holiday season and a good start to the new season.