Tresor Attempto Racing scored a class victory in the highly acclaimed edition of the Spa 24 Hours to mark its 100th anniversary. Further international successes for the Audi R8 LMS in GT3 and GT4 versions rounded off a successful weekend for the customer teams.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Big celebration in the Ardennes: The Spa 24 Hours was held for the first time exactly 100 years ago. 99,500 spectators had every reason to celebrate at the anniversary edition on the last weekend in June, which featured many attractions, including a class victory for an Audi customer racing team. Numerous safety car deployments repeatedly interrupted the race rhythm and brought the field together, so that the individual classifications remained exciting right to the end. Tresor Attempto Racing put in a convincing performance in the Bronze Cup, the second strongest class with 20 participants in a field of 66 GT3 sports cars. Max Hofer/Andrey Mukovoz/Aleksei Nesov/Dylan Pereira fought a close battle with their pursuers right to the end. As class winners and tenth in the overall standings, the four private drivers were also the best of eight Audi R8 LMS driver line-ups. Saintéloc Racing, another Audi customer team, also contributed a class podium result with second place in the Gold Cup of Paul Evrard/Gilles Magnus/Jim Pla/Hugo de Wilde. Stefan Wieninger put in a faultless performance at the second ADAC Racing Weekend at the Nürburgring. The privateer driver from Land-Motorsport was initially behind fellow Audi driver Martin Zander in the first sprint in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy in the Audi R8 LMS. Wieninger then overtook his rival from the équipe vitesse team and won by 7.5 seconds after 24 laps. In the second race, Wieninger even built up a 12.4-second lead over the Porsche of his closest rival. Berthold Gruhn won Class 2a in both races in his Audi R8 LMS. The GTC Race series also held its second competition at this event. In the second sprint, Land-Motorsport finished third with Ivan Peklin. The Audi customer team Stradale Motorsport remained undefeated in South Africa. At the fifth event of the Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop racing series, South African Arnold Neveling won all three sprints on the Aldo Scribante circuit in his Audi R8 LMS. Andy Deng maintained his lead in the GT Sprint Challenge standings in China. At the second event, the driver from the Winhere Racing by HAR team won the second race on Sunday. He celebrated this success after a tactically clever drive, as he delayed the pit stop for a long time. Due to a handicap stipulated in the regulations, he had to make the longest mandatory pit stop of all the competitors at 95 seconds. In his victory on the Ningbo circuit, he left Li Dongsheng/Li Donghui behind in another Audi R8 LMS. This driver duo had already achieved second place the day before with the Climax Racing team. Another Audi customer team, Zhou Tianji/Lin Weixong from Team Azure Lane by HEHEHE Racing, finished third in the first race.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
In a promising position: Robert Consani/Benjamin Lariche improved to second place in the Silver Cup standings at the halfway point of the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club season. At the third event at Spa, the Audi R8 LMS of the Speedcar team led the 55-strong field after the first pit stop, but Consani was beaten by 3.8 seconds at the end of the one-hour race. After three of six events, Consani/Lariche moved up one position in the Silver classification and are now the second-best of 21 driver pairings. Jürgen Hemker collected three trophies at the ADAC Racing Weekend at the Nürburgring. The private driver from the Konrad Motorsport team drove the Audi R8 LMS GT4 to third place in his class in the first race of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. In the DMV Super Touring & GT Cup as part of the same event platform, Hemker won his class in the first race and was second in the second race. At the second race weekend of the P9 Challenge at the Lausitzring, the Audi R8 LMS GT4 achieved two double victories in its category. Sophie Hofmann won Class 2 for Seyffarth Motorsport ahead of the driver duo Bernd Schaible/Tobias Erdmann. In China, Team Harmony Racing took two second places in the GT Sprint Challenge in the GT4 category. Bao Junbin/David Chen secured these results in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 at the second event on the Ningbo circuit. Harry He from the Madness Racing Team completed the second result with third place in another Audi.
Coming up next week
03–07/07 Bangsaen (THA), round 2, Thailand Super Series
04–06/07 Spa (B), round 4, TCR Europe
05–06/07 Spa (B), round 3, Belcar Endurance Championship
05–07/07 Misano (I), round 4, 24H Series powered by Hankook
05–07/07 Norisring (D), round 4, DTM
05–07/07 Norisring (D), round 3, ADAC GT4 Germany
06/07 Oulton Park (GB), round 4, British Endurance Championship
06–07/07 Suzuka (J), round 4, GT World Challenge Asia