Fourth victory for the Audi R8 LMS in the Nürburgring 24 Hours

Audi Sport Team WRT had to be satisfied with third place in the end. Following the setback of Audi Sport Team Land, the Belgian team with drivers Marcel Fässler/Robin Frijns/Nico Müller/René Rast (CH/NL/CH/D) looked like the sure winners, but they lost the game of tire poker: The team first changed to slicks and then later made the final change to rain tires. 

Phoenix Racing, with another Audi R8 LMS, delivered another result within the top twenty finishers, following a comeback drive. After damage suffered due to an accident, the team fell back to as low as 79th place. Dennis Busch/Nicolaj Møller Madsen/Mike Rockenfeller/Frank Stippler (D/DK/D/D) fought back to 19th. The private customer team, Car Collection Motorsport, was satisfied to have finished the race, too. The amateur drivers Klaus Koch/Lorenzo Rocco/Ronnie Saurenmann/Jan-Erik Slooten (D/I/CH/D) finished in 27th place. Another privateer team added a class victory to the Audi Sport customer racing success story. LMS Engineering won the SP 3T class with drivers Ulrich Andree/Daniela Schmid/Christian Schmitz/Stefan Wieninger, who drove an Audi TT RS.

Two debuts brought Audi’s customer racing program more valuable results: The Bonk Motorsport team with the Audi RS 3 LMS, which was racing at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the first time, finished in second and third place within the TCR class. The Audi R8 LMS GT4 also completed its first race. Audi Sport Team Phoenix crossed the finish line in third and fifth in the SP-X class with the production-based sports car.

“With temperatures of more than 25 degrees Celsius and a rain shower in the final phase, we have experienced one of the toughest, fastest and most dramatic races in history,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. Having driven 158 laps, the winners completed only one lap fewer than the record distance covered by Audi in 2014. “Audi was the dominant brand, leading the race for 143 laps – corresponding to 90 percent of the race. My utmost congratulations go to all of the customers, team members and drivers, who have made this result possible. This success was achieved in dramatic fashion, and it will certainly go down in the motorsport history books.”