⦁ Yasser Shaheen with Melbourne Performance Center Champion in Australia
⦁ Another endurance title for Audi at the Nürburgring
⦁ Jasmine Preisig wins world-class title in the Audi RS 3 LMS
Neuburg a. Danube, December 5, 2022 – After six titles in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS 2022, Audi Sport customer racing has also won three Australian championship titles. Winning the manufacturers’ classification on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife rounds off a convincing long-distance season in Germany.
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Second consecutive title for Yasser Shaheen: Yasser Shaheen, an Audi private owner, won Australia’s Fanatec GT World Challenge on AWS for the second year in a row as the best Pro-Am driver. At a street race in Adelaide, the Australian won the first sprint in the Audi R8 LMS alongside Audi Sport driver Christopher Mees. Tony Bates and Audi Sport driver Kelvin van der Linde finished second, just 0.333 seconds down. Liam Talbot and Fraser Ross completed the Audi triple victory. Audi Team Shannons Insurance’s Talbot/Ross then won the second race by three seconds over original winners Bates/van der Linde, who received a five second penalty and dropped to second. In the third race, Shaheen/Mies took their second win of the weekend, Talbot/Ross took second place. After 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, the Audi Sport customer team wins the Australian GT Sprint title for the seventh time. For Shaheen, it was not only his second consecutive Australian title, but also his third overall. Audi R8 LMS wheel. Historically, it was the last winner of the 2019 Audi Sport R8 LMS Asia Cup. Troy Russell and Lee Burleigh’s Melbourne Performance Center as Audi Sport’s longstanding contract partner for racing in Australia and as a starting team won seven out of eleven. Sprint races last season in an Audi R8 LMS. Behind Shaheen, Liam Talbot finished second in the Pro-Am standings and Gary Higgon/Paul Stockell won the amateur riders’ championship. An Audi customer also led in the GT Trophy classification: Michael Kokkinos from the Launch Racing team won the classic car classification in the Audi R8 LMS ultra ahead of fellow Audi driver Brad Schumacher. In addition to the six titles in the European GT World Challenge championship, Audi Sport has thus won three more titles in the Australian counterpart of the popular GT racing series.
Another title on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife: Audi shaped endurance racing on the Nürburgring 2022 like no other manufacturer. With four overall victories for the Scherer Sport Team Phoenix, the Audi R8 LMS is more successful than any other sports car in the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). Added to this is the overall victory of Audi Sport Team Phoenix in the 24-hour race. The organizers of the Nürburgring Endurance Series and the 24h Nürburgring calculate a joint manufacturers’ rating from the results of all NLS runs, the 24-hour qualifying session and the 24-hour race. Audi won this rating in the SP9/SPX/SP-Pro category ahead of nine other brands. Porsche follows in second place, 39 points behind, BMW in third place ahead of Mercedes-AMG.
Four rings at the Essen Motor Show: Visitors to the Essen Motor Show were able to take a close look at many Audi Sport customer racing cars. The R8 LMS GT3 evo II, with which the brand celebrated its sixth victory in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in May, was on display at the ADAC stand. Audi R8 LMS GT2 and two Audi R8 LMS GT3 from Attempto Racing from DTM and Aust Motorsport from GTC Race attracted a lot of attention. The Attempto Racing car wore the same football livery that Marius Zug finished fourth in the season finale.
Thunderhill class victory: At the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the Audi Three Thieves Racing customer team clinched class victory with an Audi R8 LMS. The team finished the California long-distance race with the driver combination Tom Burt/Phil Fogg/Kevin Roggenback/Rick Wright in seventh place overall and thus won the ES class.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Second in 24H Finals: Wolf-Power Racing finished the 24H Endurance Series season second in their class. At the Kuwait 12 Hours, Jasmine Preisig, Ivars Vallers and Mohammad Al Sabah shared the cockpit of an Audi RS 3 LMS. Although various body parts were damaged in the race, the Swiss team did not give up and took second place. As a result, the Swiss Jasmine Preisig also won the Women’s 24H Continental Championship Cup in an Audi RS 3 LMS, having already won this class in the European category. In addition, the 30-year-old driver finished second in the TCR division of the 24-hour continental championship at the end of the season.
Coming up next week
07–08/12 Shanghai (CN), round 6, TCR Asia
07–11/12 Pingtan (CN), round 4, China GT Championship 08–11/12 Buriram (THA), round 5, Thailand Super Series 09–10/12 Killarney (ZA), round 6, South African Endurance Series 09–10/12 Killarney (ZA), round 5, South African GT Series 09–11/12 Abu Dhabi (UAE), round 4, Intercontinental GT Challenge