Macau GT Cup: Stunning Audi R8 LMS ultra livery for Adderly Fong

By Johan Laubscher

The new Macau livery for Adderly Fong, the 2013 Audi R8 LMS Cup champion, has been revealed.

Last week Fong announced that he will be participating in the 2014 Macau GT Cup and that he will be driving an Absolute Racing run Brothers Racing Team (BRT) Audi R8 LMS ultra.

The new KLM Group livery for the #17 Audi R8 LMS ultra was revealed today. The stunning red, gold and black livery was penned by berzerkdesign.de, who was also responsible for the other Absolute Racing liveries this year.

Fong will be lining up alongside a strong contingent of Audi Sport customer racing teams and drivers, headlined by the Audi race experience squad with Edoardo Mortara and LaurensVanthoor. Absolute Racing will also be out in force with four cars.

The Macau GT Cup will be held from 13-16 November 2014.

Photo credit: Absolute Racing / berzerkdesign.de

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Macau GT Cup: Adderly Fong and BRT Audi R8 LMS ultra join the 2014 grid

By Johan Laubscher

The total of six Audi Sport customer racing entries had been included on the original Macau GT Cup entry list and that number increased to seven on Thursday.

The 2013 Audi R8 LMS Cup champion, Adderly Fong, has announced that he will be taking part in the Macau GT Cup during November. He will be driving for the Chinese Brothers Racing Team (BRT), run by Absolute Racing. BRT has been competing with Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars since 2013 and they have been seen in the 2013 and 2014 Audi R8 LMS Cup, 2013 Sepang 12 Hours, and the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series.

It was at Macau where Adderly Fong won the 2013 Audi R8 LMS Cup title with a third place finish last November.  

Fong will be behind the wheel of a 2013 specification Audi R8 LMS ultra. He will be lining up alongside a strong contingent of Audi Sport customer racing teams and drivers, headlined by the Audi race experience squad with Edoardo Mortara and LaurensVanthoor. Absolute Racing will also be out in force with four cars.

The Macau GT Cup will be held from 13-16 November 2014.

Photo credit: 

Absolute Racing

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Top 10 finish for Audi teams in the Paul Ricard night race

By Tarek Ramchani

After an unlucky qualifying session the Audi teams faced a mixed race in the Paul Ricard night race, round 3 of the Blancpain Endurance Series.

After three hours of racing two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars made it into the Top 10 overall. Before the start of the race the Audi teams we aware it will be hard to fight for race win even with strong teams and drivers line-ups. The Audi R8 LMS ultra suffered an obvious lack of top speed compared to their rivals in the very long straights of the French circuit. The Pro-Cup Audis were in a mission, battle for top spots and collect big points.

The #26 Audi from Sainteloc Racing finished the race in a solid fifth place. The car shared by Stéphane Ortelli, Edward Sandstrom and Gregory Gulivert had a solid race and battled very well in a great quality field.

The #3 R8 LMS ultra from the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT charged back and was able to improve from P14 to a seventh place and sixth within the Pro-Cup class. The car was driven by Christopher Mies, James Nash and Frank Stippler.

Their team-mates Laurens Vanthoor, Cesar Ramos and Marc Basseng ended in thirteenth place with their #1 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Belgian Audi Club.

The #55 Audi from the Chinese Brothers Racing Team finished the race in sixteenth place with drivers Zheng Sun, Congfu Cheng and Andre Coutow.

The remaining four Audi R8 LMS ultra entries competed in the Gentlemen Trophy class. The #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT was twenty-seventh, the #25 Sainteloc Racing was thirtieth, the #22 Team Parker Racing was thirty-fourth and the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT was thirty-ninth.

The overall race win went the factory #7 Bentley Continental GT3 from M-Sport Team Bentley. Second place went to the #98 McLaren MP4-12C from ART Grand Prix. Third place for the #85 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 from HTP Motorsport.

The Paul Ricard round was the last race in Blancpain Endurance Series before the stellar event of the series, the prestigious Spa 24 Hours.

Photo credit: Belgian Audi Club

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Unlucky qualifying session for Audi teams at Paul Ricard

By Tarek Ramchani

The Audi teams had an unlucky and frustrating Blancpain Endurance Series qualifying session at the Paul Ricard. A single Audi R8 LMS ultra car made it into the Top 10.

The best ranked Audi car was the #26 R8 LMS from the French team Sainteloc Racing. The car driven by Stéphane Ortelli, Edward Sandstrom and Gregory Guilvert was eight fastest with a best time of 1:57.971, only 0.773s down to the leading McLaren car. The three drivers were classified fourth within the Pro-Cup class.

The #3 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT which lead the first Q1 ended in fourteenth place. The car is shared by Christopher Mies, James Nash and Frank Stippler.

The second Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Pro-Cup entry had a harder session. The #1 car with drivers Laurens Vanthoor, Marc Basseng and Cesar Ramos finished in twenty-fourth place.

The other Audi R8 LMS ultra cars were further down. The #55 Brothers Racing Team (Pro-Cup) was twenty-ninth, the #25 Sainteloc Racing (Gentlemen Trophy) was thirty-sixth, the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT (Gentlemen Trophy) was thirty-seventh, the #22 Team Parker Racing (Gentlemen Trophy) was thirty-eighth and the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT (Gentlemen Trophy) was fourty-first.

Overall pole position went to the #98 McLaren MP4-12C from ART Grand Prix. The #85 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 from HTP Motorsport was second. The #80 Nissan GT-R from Nissan GT Academy Team RJN was third leading the Pro-Am field.

The combines qualifying session results can be seen here.

The three-hour nigh race will start at 19:15 with a Live Stream coverage at www.blancpain-gt-series.com

Photo credit: Blancpain GT Series

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Mixed pre-qualifying session for Audi teams at Paul Ricard

By Tarek Ramchani

Action has started at the Paul Ricard in the Blancpain Endurance Series. The Audi Sport customer racing squad faced a hard pre-qualifying session this afternoon in the famous French circuit.

Only one Audi R8 LMS ultra managed to enter the Top 10. The #3 Audi from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT finished in fifth place overall and second within the Pro-Cup class. The car driven by Christopher Mies, James Nash and Frank Stippler with a best time of 1:58.4122, they only 0.264s behind the leading #11 Ferrari 458 GT3 from Kessel Racing.

A much harder session for all other Audi Pro-Cup entries, all of them were pushed outside the Top 20. The #1 car from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Marc Basseng and Cesar Ramos was twenty-fourth. The #55 Audi from Brothers Racing Team in the hands of Zheng Sun, Congfu Cheng and Andre Coutow was twenty-fifth. The #26 Audi from Sainteloc Racing with drivers Stéphane Ortelli, Edward Sandström and Grégory Guilvert was twenty-seventh.

Four Audi R8 LMS ultra cars are competiting in the Gentlemen Trophy class. The #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT of Jean-Luc Blanchemain, Yves Weerts and Pierre Hirschi was fourth in class. The #22 Audi from Team Parker Racing driven by Ian Loggie, Chris Jones and Julian Westwood was sixth. The #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT of Stéphane Pourquie, Harry Teneketzian and Grégoire Chaix was eighth. The #25 Audi Sainteloc Racing of Claude-Yves Gosselin, Jean-Claude Lagniez and Marc Sourd was ninth.

The Audi teams will be back on track tomorrow at the Paul Ricard. The qualifying session will be held a 11:20 local time, the race will start at 19:15.

Photo credit: Blancpain GT Series

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Eight Audi R8 LMS ultra in the Paul Ricard night race

By Tarek Ramchani

The Blancpain Endurance Series is heading to southern France this weekend, round three of the 2014 season at the Paul Ricard Circuit. The Audi Sport customer racing squad will be very well represented with no less than eight Audi R8 LMS ultra cars.

In the upper Pro-Cup class, four Audi R8 LMS ultra will fight for the outright win. In the opening two rounds of the series Audi cars finished second at Monza with Sainteloc Racing and third at Silverstone with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. At Paul Ricard the target will be a first victory this season in a very demanding field.

The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT will field two cars. The #1 Audi in the hands of Marc Basseng, Cesar Ramos and Laurens Vanthoor. The sister #2 Audi will be driven by James Nash, Frank Stippler and Christopher Mies.

Sainteloc Racing will be back with a single car effort in Pro-Cup. Their #26 Audi R8 LMS ultra will have a strong driver line-up with Stéphane Ortelli, Edward Sandström and Grégory Guilvert.

The fourth effort is coming from the Chinese team Brothers Racing Team. The Absolute Racing run #55 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be shared by Zheng Sun, Congfu Cheng and Andre Couto.

No Audi entries in the Pro-Am class, all the remaining four R8 LMS ultra cars will compete in the Gentleman Trophy class.

As it is the case in Pro-Cup, the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT will field two cars in the class open to gentlemen and amateur drivers. The #2 R8 LMS ultra with Stéphane Pourquie, Harry Teneketzian and Grégoire Chaix. The sister #4 machine will be shared by Jean-Luc Blanchemain, Yves Weerts and Pierre Hirschi.

Team Parker Racing from the UK will enter their #22 Audi R8 LMS ultra with drivers Ian Loggie, Chris Jones and Julian Westwood.

Sainteloc Racing completes the Audi entries in the class with the #25 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Claude-Yves Gosselin, Jean-Claude Lagniez and Marc Sourd.

The three-hour race is set for Saturday with a night time finish. The Paul Ricard round will be the final one before the demanding and stellar event in the Blancpain Endurance Series calendar, the Spa 24 Hours.

Photo credit: Blancpain GT Series

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Podium finish for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT at Silverstone

By Tarek Ramchani

Silverstone played host to a great second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series today

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Top 5 in qualfying for Audi at Silverstone

By Tarek Ramchani

Silverstone is hosting the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series this weekend.

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BES: Audi teams performed well in the Monza qualifying

By Tarek Ramchani

Monza is hosting the Blancpain Endurance Series season opener this weekend. The Audi Sport customer racing squad is very well represented with seven Audi R8 LMS ultra taking part in the event.

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BES: Brothers Racing Team Audi R8 LMS ultra heading to the Blancpain Endurance Series

By Johan Laubscher

Brothers Racing Team (BRT) from China will be entering the Blancpain Endurance Series this year, joining a number of Audi Sport customer racing teams already entered for the European series.

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Audi R8 LMS Cup: Audi China forms motorsport partnership with Chinese racing team BRT

Audi R8 LMS Cup Press Release

• Audi China forms motorsport partnership with Chinese racing team BRT
• Cooperation supports internationalization of Chinese motorsport
• Audi China driver “Franky” Cheng Congfu to race for BRT in Europe
• BRT to field four cars in the 2014 Audi R8 LMS Cup

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