Audi R8 LMS GT3
Championship lead defended: Kelvin van der Linde remains the front runner in the DTM after the second race weekend. At the Lausitzring, the South African had 25 kilograms of additional weight on board his Audi R8 LMS for regulatory reasons after his victory at Monza. This put him at a clear disadvantage and, after starting from the front row, he dropped back to fourth position in the course of the first race. In contrast, his ABT Sportsline teammate Mike Rockenfeller celebrated his first podium result of the current season in third place. In the second race, van der Linde was on course for victory when he ran out of power on the 27th of 33 laps. With the presence of mind, the South African reset the electronics at over 200 km/h, then restarted the engine, lost only two positions and crossed the finish line still in third place, 5.2 seconds behind. As a result, the 25-year-old professional driver maintained a four-point lead over Ferrari driver Liam Lawson as the leader of the standings. ABT Sportsline is second in the team standings, one point behind.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Spectacular victory in South America: At the second event of the TCR South America, Audi customer team Cobra Racing achieved a remarkable success with its first win of the season in Curitiba. Initially, an electronic fault threw the team back to last place in qualifying. With the help of a remote diagnosis by Audi Sport customer racing in Germany, Nonô Figueiredo’s team fixed the problem. Regular driver Rodrigo Baptista was the starting driver for the one-hour endurance race in the Audi RS 3 LMS. He shared the cockpit with guest entrant Tom Coronel from Europe. Accidents, penalties and punctures of many competitors characterized the turbulent action. Baptista improved to third place before handing over his car to his Dutch teammate. Coronel engaged in a battle with Honda driver Raphael Reis in the second half of the race, who made a mistake with two laps to go. Tom Coronel took advantage of the situation, overtook the man in front of him and in the end won by just under five seconds. Rodrigo Baptista has thus moved to within seven points of leader Pepe Oriola in the standings.
1-2 victory in the TCR Eastern Europe: Milovan Vesnić made the breakthrough on the third race weekend of the TCR Eastern Europe. On the Grobnik circuit in Croatia, the Serb set the pace already in qualifying. With a lead of 84 thousandths of a second, he secured the fastest qualifying time in the Audi RS 3 LMS. In the race, the former TCR Eastern Europe champion clinched a start-finish victory – his first in two years. Bartos Groszek completed the Audi customers’ 1-2 success in second place, just under four tenths behind. The Pole had started the race in third place for the Hornak-Aditis team and already overtook the man in front of him, Carol Wittke, at the start. In the second sprint, Groszek again finished second and was the best of four Audi privateers in the field.
Three podium results in Japan: At the third round of TCR Japan, two Audi customer teams returned from Sugo with a total of three trophies. In the first sprint, Audi Team Mars was the best of three teams fielding an RS 3 LMS. Masanobu Kato finished fourth and moved up one position after a competitor was disqualified. In the second race, Takuro Shinohara made a spirited recovery after a weak start. Last year’s champion ultimately finished third for Audi Team Hitotsuyama. In the third race Shinohara lost a position at the start which he immediately recovered. After 17 laps he crossed the finish line in second place.
Two second places in Russia: Dmitry Bragin was the best of five Audi privateer drivers on the third race weekend of the TCR Russia. At the beginning of the first race on the Igora Drive circuit, the Russian fought for the lead in the Audi RS 3 LMS. In the end, he had to admit defeat to Mikhail Mityaev by 1.2 seconds. At the start of the second sprint, the Audi driver from Team Taif Motorsport improved from fourth to third place. On the second lap, Bragin pushed past Egor Fokin in a fierce duel. In the end, Bragin put pressure on leader Kirill Ladygin, but lost time while lapping slower opponents. Second place earned him 20 championship points, so Bragin moved up from fourth to second in the standings.
Audi R8 LMS GT4
Podium results in club racing: Vivien Schöllhorn gained further experience with the Audi R8 LMS GT4 at the third round of the P9 Challenge. At the Hockenheimring, the junior driver, who is a regular participant in the Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup, finished both sprint races with Team Seyffarth Motorsport in third place in her class.
Coming up next week
28–31/07 Spa (B), round 4, GT4 European Series
29–31/07 Spa (B), round 4, TCR Europe
29/07–01/08 Spa (B), Spa 24 Hours/round 1, Intercontinental GT Challenge
29/07–01/08 Spa (B), Spa 24 Hours/round 3, GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
31/07 Brands Hatch (GB), round 5, Britcar Endurance Series
31/07–01/08 Aragon (E), round 2, Campeonato de España Resistencia
31/07–01/08 Autopolis (J), round 4, Super Taikyu Series