Two Audi customer teams ended July with important successes. In South Africa, privateer driver Arnold Neveling continued his winning streak from previous races in the Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop. Saintéloc Racing achieved an important strategic interim success in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. The French Audi privateer outfit celebrated its second class victory of the year at the third event. This gave Sébastien Chetail’s team an advantage in the title fight for the Gold Cup standings with two races to go. At Volkswagen’s big GTI fan festival, the many visitors were also able to admire the original winning car of the 2024 Nürburgring 24 Hours, the Audi R8 LMS from SCHERER SPORT PHX.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Fourth win of the season in South Africa: The Audi customer team Stradale Motorsport was also first class on the sixth race weekend in the Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop racing series. Having already won the previous three races, the team traveled to the East London Grand Prix Circuit with the Audi R8 LMS under the sponsorship of Goscor Lift Trucks full of expectation. Arnold Neveling finished the first race on the tradition-steeped circuit in the Audi in second place behind the Lamborghini of Stuart White. In the second race, the Audi driver was again behind his opponent and put him under pressure in the early stages. When a puncture forced the Lamborghini driver into the pits, the way was clear for Neveling. The 34-year-old Audi privateer driver from Johannesburg secured his fourth victory of the year with a 16.6-second lead. Neveling pointed to the good balance of his car, which gave him a lot of confidence on the fast circuit within sight of the Indian Ocean, as the reason for his winning margin. Saintéloc Racing celebrated its second win of the season in the Gold Cup class of the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup. The two Frenchmen Jim Pla and Paul Evrard shared the team’s Audi R8 LMS with Belgian Gilles Magnus. At the start of the three-hour race at the Nürburgring, the white Audi was in second place in its class, in third position at the middle of the race, before Gilles Magnus pulled out a lead of 5.3 seconds at the end. After first place at the season opener in Le Castellet and second place at the Spa 24 Hours, the driver trio now celebrated its second class victory. This increased their lead in the Gold standings to nine points with two races still to go. Saintéloc Racing also leads the corresponding team standings.
Audi Sport
Nürburgring winners in front of a large audience: For three days, the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg was transformed into GTI Fan City, where more than 700 GTI owners presented their cars. Included in the supporting program: a special Audi R8 LMS. The winning car of the 2024 Nürburgring 24 Hours, privately entered by the SCHERER SPORT PHX team, was a real eye-catcher at the GTI Fan Festival in northern Germany. The GT3 sports car had won the race on June 2 with the driver quartet Ricardo Feller/Dennis Marschall/Christopher Mies/Frank Stippler. With this customer success, Audi Sport customer racing recorded its seventh victory in this endurance classic since 2012.
Coming up next week
02–03/08 Kyalami (ZA), round 4, South African Endurance Series
02–04/08 Queensland (AUS), round 4, GT World Challenge Australia
02–04/08 Queensland (AUS), round 5, TCR Australia
02–04/08 Road America (USA), round 7, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
02–04/08 El Pinar (RA), round 5, Kumho FIA TCR World Tour
03/08 Nürburgring (D), round 4, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
03–04/08 Most (CZ), round 4, TCR Eastern Europe
03–04/08 Most (CZ), round 5, Eset Cup Series