“At the close of the season, we’d have wished for a better result, which definitely would have been possible,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “However, a whole range of factors caused each of our cars to lose ground during the course of the weekend. Our four drivers, Niels Langeveld, Gordon Shedden, Jean-Karl Vernay and Frédéric Vervisch, showed a strong fighting spirit up until the end – many thanks to them for that.” Frédéric Vervisch was the driver with both the best chances and the greatest misfortune. Having entered the first race from fifth on the grid, the Belgian from Comtoyou Team Audi Sport retired when a slow puncture forced him to pit. He was looking forward to the second race with eager anticipation after having clinched third on the grid as the best qualifying result of all Audi Sport drivers. However, on the way to the grid, he noticed a defective drive shaft which the team was no longer able to replace in time. Consequently, he subsequently started from the pit lane, was handed a drive-through penalty for exceeding the duration of the repair during the starting formation and in the end finished only in position 25. In the third race, Vervisch showed what was possible: from eighth on the grid he attacked on a wet track and finished in fourth, directly in front of Norbert Michelisz, the new World Cup winner. Afterwards, the original third-placed competitor received a sports penalty, so that Vervisch moved up to third place. Niels Langeveld from Comtoyou Team Audi Sport achieved 15th position in the second race as his best result of the weekend.
