By Tarek Ramchani
A brilliant victory for Audi at the demanding and prestigious Nürburgring 24 Hours. The Ingolstadt brand the Nordschleife endurance classic after a titanic battles against BMW and Porsche.
It’s the first ever victory for the brand new Audi R8 LMS in a 24-hour endurance race. The winning car #28 car entered by Audi Sport Team WRT was shared by Christopher Mies, Edward Sandström, Nico Mueller and Laurens Vanthoor.
This is the third outright victory for Audi at the Nürburgring 24 Hours following wins in 2012 and 2014. Audi Sport Team WRT won the German endurance event for the first time after wins at the Spa 24 Hours.
The four Audi drivers pushed hard all race long and had a breathtaking threeway battle with a BMW Z4 GT3 from BMW Marc VDS and a Porsche 997 GT3-R from Falken Tire. The race lead has changed several times all race long and especially since this morning. At the end of a hard and fought race, the #28 Audi R8 LMS took the checkered falg victorious.
The second Audi Sport Team WRT performed well too. The #29 Audi R8 LMS driven by Nicki Thiim, Christer Joens, Pierre Kaffer and Laurens finised the race in seventh overall.
The Audi R8 LMS ultra cars had a solid race as well. The privateer Twin Busch Motorsport narrowly missed the Top 10, they ended the race in eleventh place with their #16 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Audi race experience with their #15 R8 LMS ultra was twelfth overall.
Bad luck hit the two Audi Sport Team Phoenix entries. Both #1 and #4 Audi R8 LMS cars were forced to retire following race incidents. A hard event for the local team who performed very well in the opening stages of the race.
More to come.
Photo credit: car racing
