GT Open: Two Audi R8 LMS ultra teams competed at the Nürburgring opener

By Johan Laubscher

The International GT Open hosted its opening round at the Nürburgring this weekend. Two Audi Sport customer racing teams took part.

Team Novadriver entered the #58 Audi R8 LMS ultra with drivers César Campaniço and Aditya Patel. The German Team Spirit Race team, who are regular DMV TCC competitors, entered their #69 Audi R8 LMS ultra with Suzanne Weidt and Dietmar Haggenmüller. Both teams were entered in the GTS category for FIA GT3 specification machinery.

The first qualifying session saw Team Novadriver qualifying fifth in class, twelfth overall, ahead of Team Spirit Race, fourteenth in class. Team Novadriver again placed twelfth overall during the second qualifying session, taking sixth in class. Team Spirit Race qualified fifteenth in GTS.

Race one concluded with Team Novadriver scoring eighth place within the GTS class, followed by Team Spirit Race in fifteenth. 

The second and final race saw Team Novadriver finishing sixth in class, after losing time due to a penalty for a pitstop time infringement, as a result of a radio malfunction. The penalty unfortunately dropped them from fourth to sixth. Team Spirit Race finished thirteenth in class.

Round two of the International GT Open will be hosted at Portimão, 6-8 June.

Photo credit: GT Open [FOTOSPEEDY]