Audi Sport customer racing closed the 2015 racing season with a dream result in Malaysia as the next generation R8 LMS car made its endurance race debut in Asia. Stuart Leonard, Stéphane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor won the Sepang 12 Hours for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT in front of their teammates Enzo Ide, Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies. Third place went to Niki Mayr-Melnhof, Nicki Thiim and Markus Winkelhock of Phoenix Racing.
The all-Asian entry featuring two-time Audi R8 LMS Cup champion Alex Yoong, 2012 Cup champion Marchy Lee and 20-year Shaun Thong, who is part of the Audi in Asia Young Driver Development Programme, finished just outside the top five with a sixth-place finish.
The weather in Malaysia made for a dramatic race. Two cloud bursts initially forced race control to interrupt the competition for an hour and 46 minutes and subsequently for another 53 minutes. With the drivers then re-starting the race behind the safety car, the leaders’ gaps were elimated and thrilling position battles repeatedly ensued. As a result, two hours before the end of the race, the four fastest entrants were within just four seconds of each other.
At this stage, the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT gained an advantage by making its pit stop within a caution period so that only little time was lost. Vanthoor in the number 17 R8 LMS took the lead while, following the driver change, the sister car of Mies in the number 150 entry initially failed to start, losing 46 seconds in the process. Mies began a recovery in rain, overtaking Thiim in the number 16 Audi, and, on the final pit stop lap, took the lead.
However, during the final pit stop, Vanthoor received fresh tires and just 39 minutes before the end of the race, the Belgian re-took the lead, securing a one-two result for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. For Ortelli the victory was especially significant, as he won his last race for Audi Sport customer racing.
For the Belgian squad of Vincent Vosse, this marked the next major success. In April, the team took the Audi R8 LMS to its first race victory in a 4-hour race at the Nürburgring and won the 24-hour race at the same venue in May. Now, at Sepang, the production-based race car, 50 percent of which is based on the road-going model, again proved its performance capability and reliability.
“Sincere congratulations to our three squads on the podium,” said Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “In 2010 and 2011, we finished this race as the runners-up and now we’ve won it. With that, we’re closing a very successful first season of the new Audi R8 LMS with a dream result before our customers will be battling for success on four continents with a total of up to 50 Audi GT3 sports cars next year.”
Lee, Thong and Yoong, racing with Audi Hong Kong powered by Phoenix Racing Asia, encountered a challenge early on when, under the Safety Car, they fell back a lap. Running fifth for much of the race, the all-Asian squad unfortunately dropped to sixth in the later stages of the race. The B-Quik Racing team of Daniel Bilski, Henk Kiks and Peter Kox in the first-generation Audi R8 LMS finished third in the GTC class for Cup cars and 13th overall. The squad from Thailand had initially led their class, before losing 18 minutes due to a sensor issue.
Said Yoong: “It was nice to be part of something where everyone was pushing so hard. We lost a lap early on under the Safety Car, which kind of put us on the back foot and it was a really competitive field this year. I really enjoyed driving the new Audi R8 LMS. It behaved like a proper racing car and in the wet it was a lot of fun. I was really impressed with the new car and can’t wait to race it in the Audi R8 LMS Cup next year. Racing it this weekend for the first time gives me an idea heading into the winter what it will be like next season.”
Sepang 12 Hours – Results
1. 17/Leonard, Ortelli,Vanthoor/ Audi R8 LMS/ Belgian Audi Club Team WRT
2. 150/Ide, Haase, Mies/ Audi R8 LMS/ Belgian Audi Club Team WRT/ +8.33
3. 16/Mayr-Melnhof, Thiim, Winkelhock/ Audi R8 LMS/ Phoenix Racing/+1:00.4
4. 55/ Parente, Caldarelli, Watson, Hamaguchi/ McLaren 650sGT3/ FFF Racing Team by ACM/ 1 Lap
5. 8/ Buhk, Soulet, Soucek/ Bentley Continental GT3/ Bentley Team M-Sport/ 2 Laps
6. 15/ Lee, Thong, Yoong/ Audi R8 LMS/ Audi Hong Kong powered by Phoenix Racing Asia/ 3 Laps
