Series of successes for Audi customer teams in Europe, South Africa and the USA
Impressive performance at Most: Filip Salaquarda continued his winning streak in the Central European Eset Cup on the fourth race weekend. The Czech won the one-hour endurance race in his home country on the Most circuit at the wheel of his Audi R8 LMS with a commanding 54.1-second advantage. Even the onset of rain did not unsettle the 39-year-old Audi privateer. In both sprints there was no way past Salaquarda either. He won the first race with a margin of 29.6 seconds. In the GT3 class, another Audi driver finished on the podium: Petr Kačirek from Team Duck Racing secured third place in an R8 LMS. In the second sprint, Salaquarda crossed the finish line 34.1 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Kačirek was again third in his class. After his fourth consecutive victory, Salaquarda leads the endurance championship by 44 points with two rounds to go. In the sprint standings, he is 31 points ahead of the runner-up after seven wins in eight races so far.
First win of the season in America: Johnny O’Connell celebrated his first victory in the sixth round of GT America powered by AWS. The American had started from third place in the Audi R8 LMS fielded by Team SKI Autosports on the street circuit of Nashville. Qualifying had been cancelled due to heavy rain, so the second free practice session had served as the basis for the grid. Right at the start, O’Connell overtook an opponent. When Jason Daskalos in the Mercedes touched a wall while lapping, O’Connell took the lead and built up an advantage of 7.5 seconds to the finish. In the second race, he was narrowly beaten for second, 1.1 seconds behind.
Two wins in South Africa: Team Ultimate Outlaws enjoyed a perfect third race weekend in the South African GT Championship. Michael Stephen won the first event on the Aldo Scribante circuit by 35.7 seconds. In the second race, the number 24 Audi R8 LMS even lapped its nearest rival twice in the course of one hour.
First podium result in Japan: The fourth round of the Japanese Super GT race series turned out to be the most successful weekend so far for Team LeMans. On the demanding Fuji circuit, Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi/Seiya Jin started the race from fifth place on the grid. In the last of 93 laps, the privateer team’s Audi R8 LMS overtook two opponents to secure third place in the GT300 classification.
