Season opener with 13 race cars from Audi Sport customer racing

The Audi R8 LMS version that has been prepared for GT4 racing will contest the event in Dubai in the hands of privateers for the first time. The German Phoenix Racing team from Meuspath is preparing two race cars for the GT4 class. On board will be a driver team from Hong Kong which in Marchy Lee and Adderly Fong includes the first two champions of the Audi R8 LMS Cup. The second driver combination is giving an opportunity to three drivers having been promoted from another Audi one-make cup: Joonas Lappalainen and Philip Ellis were the title winners in the Audi Sport TT Cup the last two years and Gosia Rdest was another successful participant. 

Five customer teams in the TCR class are completing the brand’s lineup with a total of six Audi RS 3 LMS cars. Lap 57 Motorsports from the United Arab Emirates, the Swiss Stanco Tanner Motorsport by Autorama Wetzikon team, the German Bonk Motorsport company from Münster, Bas Koeten Racing from the Netherlands and the Belgian AC Motorsport team are representing Audi’s colors in this class which, with 14 entrants, is well-filled. Following free practice and qualifying sessions on Thursday, January 11, the 24-hour race will be started at 3:00 PM local time on Friday, January 12. It will be the first championship round of the 24H GT Series for GT sports cars and the 24H TCE Series for touring cars.

Driver lineups

GT3

BWT Mücke Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS #9

Ricardo Feller/Christer Jöns/Mike David Ortmann/Andreas Weishaupt/Markus Winkelhock (CH/D/D/D/D)

Car Collection Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS #33

Ali Çapan/Dimitri Parhofer/Dirg Parhofer/Frank Stippler/Rémi Terrail (TR/D/D/D/F)

Car Collection Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS #34

Wiggo Dalmo/Gustav Edelhoff/Elmar Grimm/Dr. Johannes Kirchhoff/Ingo Vogler (N/D/D/D/D)

Optimum Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS #96

Bradley Ellis/Christopher Haase/Oliver Wilkinson (GB/D/GB)

MS7 by WRT, Audi R8 LMS #777

Mohammed Bin Saud Al Saud/Christopher Mies/Dries Vanthoor/Michael Vergers (KSA/D/B/NL)

GT4

Phoenix Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT #247

Adderly Fong/Charles Kwan/Marchy Lee/Darryl O’Young/Shaun Thong (HK/HK/HK/HK/HK)


Phoenix Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT #248

Philip Ellis/John-Louis Jasper/Joonas Lappalainen/Gosia Rdest (GB/D/FIN/PL)

TCR

Lap 57 Motorsports, Audi RS 3 LMS #57

Abdullah Al Hammadi/Mohammed Al Owais/Ashan Silva/Nadir Zuhour (UAE/UAE/LKA/UAE)

Stanco Tanner Motorsport by Autorama Wetzikon, Audi RS 3 LMS #112 

Ralf Henggeler/Andrew Mollison/Luigi Stanco/Stefan Tanner (CH/GB/I/CH)

Bonk Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS #115 

Hermann Bock/Max Partl/Rainer Partl (D/D/D)

Bas Koeten Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS #125 

Mathijs Bakker/Ronny Jost/Anthony Lambert/JM Littman (NL/CH/B/GB)

Bonk Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS #127 

Michael Bonk/Axel Burghardt/Volker Piepmeyer/Simon Wirth (D/D/D/D)

AC Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS #888

Stéphane Perrin/Vincent Radermecker/Alexandre Renneteau (F/B/F)