Audi Sport Team Tresor and Audi Sport Team Attempto every suffered a puncture within the first hour of the race. Both Audi R8 LMS vehicles dropped to the rear of the 66-car area. Attempto’s quantity 66 nonetheless completed in a good twelfth place after a comeback race. All three Audi Sport drivers proved their expertise within the course of: Young drivers Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall contributed as a lot as veteran Markus Winkelhock, who gained the race in 2014 and 2017. Audi Sport Team Tresor, alternatively, had further dangerous luck after the tire failure. The quantity 12 Audi Sport drivers Mattia Drudi/Christopher Haase and their teammate Luca Ghiotto misplaced further time as a result of a collision with an opponent. Therefore, the workforce withdrew the automotive after 92 laps. The quantity 11 sister automotive from Tresor by Car Collection, just like the quantity 26 from Saintéloc Racing and the quantity 10 from Boutsen Racing, retired already on Saturday as a result of accidents.
Ups and downs additionally characterised the further course of the race wherein Audi thrilled with catch-up races: Audi Sport Team Saintéloc misplaced 35 minutes after a collision round 2 a.m. because of the restore of a broken radiator. Privateer Lucas Légeret and his two Audi Sport teammates Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Mies, who grew to become a father at the weekend, nonetheless improved from twenty ninth to nineteenth place by the point they reached the end.
Audi Sport driver Charles Weerts within the quantity 32 of Audi Sport Team WRT was pressured to brake sharply after dawn on lap 295 at the exit of the La Source hairpin to keep away from a really slow-moving opponent. Teammate Nico Müller, who instantly adopted him, had no probability on this blind hairpin. He hit the Audi in entrance of him along with his quantity 46 automotive. Among different issues, he broken the Audi’s suspension, forcing the quantity 32 automotive to retire. Müller’s teammate Valentino Rossi, who was cheered by numerous followers, took over the cockpit after eight minutes of repairs. Together with the bike world champion, Audi Sport drivers Müller and Frédéric Vervisch crossed the end line in seventeenth place. Team WRT with its quantity 33 recorded one other end. Ulysse de Pauw/Arnold Robin/Maxim Robin/Ryuichiro Tomita, who had initially slid into the gravel entice and dropped again to place 58, improved to twenty fourth general, thus ending second within the Gold Cup. The quantity 31 sister automotive of Finlay Hutchison/Diego Menchaca/Lewis Proctor noticed the checkered flag in thirty ninth place after a gearbox change.
While Audi has already celebrated two 24-hour general victories this yr at the races in Dubai and at the Nürburgring, it’s now all in regards to the closing spurt within the GT World Challenge for the customer groups. In numerous classifications from Sprint, Endurance and Overall, a number of Audi groups and their drivers are in promising positions.
