@VW Group: TCR titles for Audi Sport customer racing in Italy009504

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)

Dramatic finale in Italy: The fans could hardly have wished for a more exciting outcome to the TCR Italy. Audi driver Nicola Baldan had come to Monza for the sixth round as the leader of the standings. In the end, however, Nicolas Taylor won the title in his TCR debut season in another Audi. As third in the standings, Taylor had more of an outsider’s chance, but he reshuffled the cards with his second win of the season in Saturday’s race. The 19-year-old up-and-coming driver had only driven the circuit for the first time two weeks previously. In the rain, the Canadian kept a cool head at the start behind the safety car and won from pole position. Second place went to Frenchman Teddy Clairet, who drove an Audi RS 3 LMS from the family-owned Team Clairet. The decisive race on Sunday began with a setback for Nicola Baldan. The overall leader had to park his car in the starting phase due to an electrical problem and dropped back to third place in the standings. The race victory was secured by Teddy Clairet. Nicolas Taylor had started on slicks on a wet track and saw the checkered flag in seventh place. This put him level on points with Honda driver Ruben Volt from Estonia. Both drivers recorded two victories in the course of the year, but Taylor had achieved the decisive better result with a second place in Sicily in June. After Franco Girolami, an Audi driver from Aikoa Racing, won the title last year, Paolo and Matteo Ansaloni’s PMA Motorsport team has now won the championship with Audi. Taylor is the second Canadian to win a TCR title in an Audi this year, after Richard Boake achieved the feat in the Sports Car Championship Canada in September. Championship success in the TCR Italy DSG for racing cars with dual-clutch transmissions also went to an Audi driver in Monza. Luca Franca from Aikoa Racing secured an early title win in Saturday’s race finishing second ahead of Luca Verdi, who at least saved third place in the rain with defective windshield wipers. On Sunday, Verdi from Team Planet Motorsport was the best Audi driver in second place and thus second in the standings.

Audi R8 LMS GT4

First win of the season in Japan: Team Techno First continued its upward trend in the Super Taikyu Series. After two second places in the last two races, the customer team secured its first win of the season in the ST-Z class with the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in Okayama. Masaki Kanou/Ryomo Henzan/Hironobu Yasuda/Riki Okusa had shared the production-based sports car in the sixth round. The team’s strategy was to drive through on slicks without changing tires. Okusa took the lead on the fourth lap and extended his lead in the drizzle until his stop. Kanou then took over the car and took perfect care of the tires in heavier rain, which was the decisive factor for victory. After three hours, the race car crossed the finish line 29 seconds ahead of a Toyota. Audi Sport customer teams also collected trophies in German club racing at Oschersleben. In the sixth round of the DMV NES 500, Tobias Erdmann/Bernd Schaible won their class in the Audi R8 LMS GT4 from Seyffarth Motorsport with a lead of 1.11 minutes. In the DMV Super Touring & GT Cup, Erdmann also took class victory in the first race ahead of three BMW driver teams. Sophie Hofmann took the second Sprint class win in an Audi ahead of Bernd Schaible. In the Supercars Endurance in Portimão, a class victory also went to an Audi driver team. Patrick Cunha/Jorge Rodrigues won the GT4 bronze classification in the second race for the Veloso Motorsport team. As a result, the two Portuguese drivers secured the bronze class title in the Iberian racing series, as they did last year.

Coming up next week

02–03/11 Misano (I), 6. Lauf Coppa Italia Turismo