By
Johan Laubscher
The penultimate round of the 2013 Pirelli World Challenge headed
to Sonoma, round eight of the season. It turned into a very consistent weekend
for the Audis.
Four Audis were entered this weekend. Three Audi R8 LMS cars from GMG Racing, and one Audi R8 LMS ultra from DragonSpeed.
The Audis placed well during practice and qualifying yielded the
highest placed Audi in fourth, the #14 GMG car of James Sofronas. It was a chaotic
start to the race, which saw both championship contenders spun around in
different incidents on the first lap:
Duncan Ende (#24 GMG R8 LMS) was
the highest placed Audi, having taken second place. Elton Julian (#80 DragonSpeed R8 LMS ultra) finished
fifth, followed by Bill Ziegler (#95 GMG R8 LMS) in eighth place, all four Audis within the
top ten. The race was won by Andy Pilgrim in the factory #8 Cadillac CTS-V.R.
Houston will be hosting the finale of the Pirelli World Challenge
in October. The Houston Grand Prix will be the scene for an Audi (James
Sofronas) versus Cadillac (Johnny O'Connell and Andy Pilgrim) fight for the driver's title.
DragonSpeed has already announced that they are intending to
compete in the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge. At the beginning of this week they
announced a last minute deal which saw them competing in round eight of the
2013 World Challenge season at Sonoma this weekend. DragonSpeed was the first
North American to acquire an Audi R8 LMS ultra, and this weekend’s
participation at Sonoma also marked the North American track debut for an Audi
R8 LMS ultra competing in the country.
Photo credit: Pirelli World Challenge
