Victories for the Audi R8 LMS at the Red Bull Ring and title in Italy

Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)Open final races: In TCR Italy, the title battle is coming to a head ahead of the final round. Nicola Baldan traveled to Mugello for the fifth event with a six-point lead over Nicolas Taylor, but over the course of the weekend, his lead shrunk to just three points. In the first sprint, Baldan was the best of eleven Audi RS 3 LMS drivers in the field, finishing third for Aikoa Racing. This increased his lead to 13 points on Saturday, as rival Taylor only managed fifth place. In the second race, Taylor celebrated his fourth victory of the season. Matteo Poloni from Gear Works in second place and Baldan in third completed a 1-2-3 victory for the Audi RS 3 LMS. However, the current points gap does not reflect the full complexity of the situation: the system traditionally used in Italy of discarding the two worst results from twelve races means that, taking this drop score into account, Canadian Taylor would currently have to discard 24 points, while Baldan would lose 36 points. This would put Taylor ahead of Baldan. Nicolas Taylor started Sunday’s race in third place and overtook a Honda on the ninth lap. With five minutes to go, he overtook Poloni’s Audi from the slipstream. Matteo Poloni and his team could still be satisfied with second place: a serious accident the day before had almost meant the end for the RS 3 LMS, which the team repaired overnight. Poloni, who is third in the standings, achieved his podium result after the accident despite a swollen left foot. Several Audi drivers also impressed in other categories at Mugello. Sandro Pelatti won the Master category for PMA Motorsport on Saturday and finished second on Sunday ahead of Denis Babuin in the Planet Motorsport Audi. Carlo Alberto Bocca was the second-best rookie on both days in the BF Motorsport Audi. In the Under-25 classification, Pietro Alessi finished second for BF Motorsports on Saturday ahead of Nicolas Taylor, who won this category the following day. The TCR Italy DSG for touring cars with dual-clutch transmissions also held its fifth round at Mugello. Mattia Lancellotti from Planet Motorsport finished second in the Audi RS 3 LMS on Saturday ahead of team-mate Gabriele Torelli. On Sunday, Lancellotti won by 0.2 seconds ahead of Torelli. The Master classification went to Gustavo Sandrucci in the Casals Motorsport Audi in both races. The best rookie in both races was Giacomo Prandelli in the Audi from Aikoa Racing, while Mattia Lancellotti was second best on Saturday and best driver in the Under-25 classification on Sunday. The fifth round of TCR Europe shook up the standings so fundamentally that no fewer than twelve drivers have a chance of winning the title at the series finale in Barcelona. The best Audi driver at the Red Bull Ring was Nicolas Taylor. The Canadian secured second place in the Audi RS 3 LMS from PMA Motorsport in a turbulent first race, which was interrupted by a red flag after a mass accident involving five cars. It was Taylor’s first podium finish in this racing series. At the same time, he was the second-best driver in the Young Driver category, finishing third in this class in the second race. Teddy Clairet, who had come to Austria as the championship leader in an Audi from the Clairet Sport team, had a disappointing weekend, finishing twelfth and seventh. However, the Frenchman is only seven points behind Marco Butti and Eric Gené, who are now tied for the lead. 70 points are still up for grabs in the final race on the last weekend of September. With Jimmy Clairet in fifth place, Nicola Baldan in seventh, and Nicolas Taylor in eighth, three other private Audi drivers still have a mathematical chance of winning the title. Things are also getting exciting again in TCR Eastern Europe. At the fifth event in Brno, Martin Kadlečik celebrated his best race weekend of the season so far in the Aditis Racing Audi RS 3 LMS. After winning the second and third rounds, the Czech driver won both sprint races in Brno for the first time. Initially, the two Hyundai drivers Adam Kout and Jiří Zbožínek dominated the first race. At the halfway point, Kadlečik overtook Zbožínek in front of him, and then passed Kout two minutes before the end. On Sunday, Kadlečik started from seventh place and was already fourth after two laps. A battle then ensued with championship leader Kout, which Kadlečik won with a clever maneuver on the final lap. This allowed the Audi driver, who is second in the championship standings, to significantly reduce the gap in the standings at his home race. Ahead of the finale at Balaton Park in Hungary, the gap narrowed from 20 to just eight points. Max Kruse Racing had a convincing weekend at the Nürburgring in German endurance racing. In the seventh round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, the team won the AT3 class with the Audi RS 3 LMS driven by Timo Hochwind/Christoph Lenz/Jasmin Preisig. The sister car driven by Christoph Lenz/Marcus Menden/Nico Otto finished second, 8.1 seconds behind, after four hours of racing. The Audi RS 3 LMS of the Goroyan RT by sharky-racing team won the SP3T class with Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky/Ivars Vallers. The same team also prevailed in the TCR class. Danny Brink/Artur Goroyan/Oleg Kvitka won this classification ahead of Møller Bil Motorsport with Atle Gulbrandsen/Anders Lindstad/Kenneth Østvold. The two Audi RS 3 LMS cars were separated by one lap at the finish. The following day saw a similar picture in the eighth race: once again, Hochwind/Lenz/Preisig were the best participants in the AT3 class, while Vallers and Åhlin-Kottulinsky shared victory in the SP3T class with Gabriel Rindone. The TCR victory went to Brink/Goroyan/Kvitka for the second time in a row. At the fifth weekend of the Italian club racing series Coppa Italia Turismo in Mugello, there was no way past the numerous Audi privateers. Koray Kamiloglu from the Erven Madem H2K Racing Team won the first race in an Audi RS 3 LMS ahead of Giuseppe Bodega and Ramazan Kaya, two drivers from BF Motorsport in two other Audis. In the second sprint, Denis Babuin from Planet Motorsport in an Audi prevailed over Fulvio Ferri in an RS 3 LMS from BF Motorsport. In the DSG classification for race cars with dual-clutch transmissions, Giacomo Orioli from Planet Motorsport was the winner twice. Third place in the first race went to his teammate Tiziano Bergamasco and in the second race to Temel Camlidag from BF Motorsport, both also in Audi cars. Team Chengdu RevX Racing made a strong showing in the fourth round of TCR Asia with the Audi RS 3 LMS. Chang Chien Shang finished third in the first race at the Inje circuit in Korea. In the second race, a four-way battle for victory unfolded at the end, with Audi driver Chang overtaking Hyundai driver Junui Park in the penultimate corner of the final lap to secure victory.Audi R8 LMS GT4Podium results in club racing: In the French Ultimate Cup Series, Herrero Racing and Team Speedcar recorded a total of seven podium finishes in the UCS4 class. At the fourth round of the series in Aragón, Spain, Pierre Arraou finished second in both of the first two sprint races in Herrero Racing’s Audi R8 LMS GT4 and won the remaining two sprints. Olivier Huez finished third in the second race and second in the fourth race in Speedcar’s Audi R8 LMS GT4. In between, his teammate Marine Pidoux finished third in the third race. The Audi R8 LMS GT4 also won trophies in South Africa. In the Extreme Supercars Driven by Dunlop racing series, Giacomo Giannoccaro finished third in class C in the first two of three sprints with Team G&H Transport.Coming up in the next weeks19–20/09 Christchurch (NZ), round 1, South Island Endurance Series19–21/09 Valencia (E), round 5, GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup19–21/09 Jerez (E), round 4, TCR Spain19–21/09 Sepang (MAL), round 4, Thailand Super Series19–21/09 Jerez (E), round 4, Campeonato de España GT19–21/09 Indianapolis (USA), round 9, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge19–21/09 Barcelona (E), round 7, International GT Open19–21/09 Vallelunga (I), round 3, TCR European Endurance20–21/09 Wuhan (CHN), round 4, GT China Cup20–21/09 Vallelunga (I), round 4, TCR European Endurance20–21/09 Donington (GB), round 5, GT Cup Championship26–27/09 Nürburgring (D), round 9, Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie26–27/09 Barcelona (E), round 6, TCR Europe26–28/09 Imola (I), round 3, Campionato Italiano GT Sprint26–28/09 Barcelona (E), round 5, 24H Series European Series26–28/09 Balaton Park (H), round 6, TCR Eastern Europe