Title decision in the ADAC GT Masters: Kelvin van der Linde/Patric Niederhauser in an Audi R8 LMS from HCB-Rutronik Racing, on scoring a victory at Hockenheim on the race weekend before the finale, managed to win the drivers’ classification early. Worldwide, the weekend saw teams from Audi Sport customer racing celebrating victories and podium finishes with the Audi R8 LMS, the Audi R8 LMS GT4 and the Audi RS 3 LMS.
Fourth title success in Germany: For the fourth time since 2009, Audi Sport customer racing has won one of the world’s highest-caliber GT3 series, the ADAC GT Masters. Kelvin van der Linde/Patric Niederhauser, on clinching their second victory this season in round six at Hockenheim, celebrated their title win early. South African Audi Sport driver van der Linde and Swiss privateer Niederhauser, who have been sharing an Audi R8 LMS from HCB-Rutronik Racing this season, entered the decisive race on Sunday from pole position and crossed the finish line in the top spot, too. In the team’s maiden season in the ADAC GT Masters, Niederhauser clinched his first championship success, while van der Linde won the ADAC GT Masters for the second time. In 2014, he had decided the racing series in his favor for the first time together with René Rast. Twice before, Audi drivers had secured this title – in 2009, it was Christian Abt, in 2016, Christopher Mies/Connor De Phillippi. Consequently, worldwide, an overall drivers’ classification went to drivers of an Audi R8 LMS for the 64th time since the beginning of the customer racing program. On the ADAC GT Masters weekend at the Hockenheimring, Audi teams achieved additional podium finishes:Dennis Marschall/Carrie Schreiner (HCB-Rutronik Racing) finished the first race in third place while Ricardo Feller/Dries Vanthoor (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) finished the second race runners-up.
Victory in the Super Taikyu Series: Audi’s customer team X Works Racing based in Hong Kong achieved its first victory in the Super Taikyu Series in the five-hour race at Motegi, Japan,. Philip Tang, Smart Tse and Shaun Thong in an Audi R8 LMS had entered the race from the front row of the grid. After dropping to fourth position following a spin and a drive-through penalty, the trio showed a strong fightback in the turbulent race. In the final stage, they captured the lead and kept it up until the finish.
Double victory at Zhuhai: In the finale of the Circuit Hero Series season – held as part of the Pan Delta Racing Festival at Zhuhai, China – David Chen in an Audi R8 LMS from Audi Sport China’s TSRT team celebrated two victories after having moved up into the top category for the last race weekend. The Audi driver from China had entered the first race from pole position and in the second race, claimed victory after starting from eighth position on the grid. Another highlight for Chen: due his results on the previous race weekends, he also became GTC Champion. Ma Ka Chun in an Audi R8 LMS from Team Zun Motorsport Crew as the runner-up in the first race at Zhuhai caused an Audi one-two result and crowned himself champion in the Supercar Challenge class. In the second race, Lin Yiming in third position achieved a podium finish as well.