“That was hard work. Congratulations to the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and its drivers who never gave up,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “They fought hard and fair for a podium finish, which our second factory supported team would have deserved as well.” Audi Sport Team Phoenix and its drivers Christopher Mies/Frank Stippler/Markus Winkelhock repeatedly held the lead as the race entered its final quarter. The German driver squad were always in the top three and within striking distance of the leader when fate intervened on lap 426. A tire failure caused a fire that ended the speedy race prematurely.
The Audi customer teams fielded nine other race cars at Spa. Team I.S.R. Racing from the Czech Republic was successful in the Pro-Am class. Philippe Giauque/Henry Hassid/Nicolas Lapierre/Franck Perera (CH/F/F/F) were delighted about second place in this category after 24 hours of racing. With Saintéloc Racing’s seventh place, Team WRT in eighth and I.S.R. Racing in ninth position, four Audi R8 LMS finished in the top ten – more single sportscars than of every other brand.
“Our teams gave their all and represented the Audi brand well at Spa,” concluded Chris Reinke. “We wish them as well as our other customer teams contesting other championships continued success throughout the remainder of the season. This year several of our customer teams are still fighting around the world for championship titles.”
– End –
Race result
1. Eng/Martin/Sims (BMW #99) 531 laps
2. Rosenqvist/Van der Zande/Vautier (Mercedes #88) +1m 55.408s
3. Müller/Rast/Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS #28) +2m 00.586s
4. Reip/Soucek/Soulet (Bentley #8) – 1 lap
5. Götz/Jäger/Paffett (Mercedes #86) –1 lap
6. Baumann/Buhk/Jaafar (Mercedes #84) –2 laps
7. Guilvert/Haase/Parisy (Audi R8 LMS #26) –4 laps
8. Baguette/Kaffer/de Leener (Audi R8 LMS #4) –4 laps
9. Mortara/Salaquarda/Stockinger (Audi R8 LMS #75) –4 laps
10. Comac/Jousse/Narac/Pilet (Porsche #76) – 4 laps