A five-strong Audi line-up is set to compete in this weekend’s Sepang 12 Hours, where the next generation Audi R8 LMS car will make its Asian endurance debut. The Malaysian race completes a successful inaugural season for the new car, which included victory in May at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and a second-place finish last month at the FIA GT World Cup at the Macau Grand Prix, where the car made its Asian race premiere.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT enters two Audi R8 LMS cars, demonstrating their increasing interest in the region after their podium success with René Rast in Macau last month. Stéphane Ortelli, Laurens Vanthoor and Stuart Leonard will compete in the number 17 car, with Enzo Ide, Christopher Mies and Christopher Haase in the number 150 entry.
This weekend also marks the debut of Phoenix Racing Asia, recently announced as a new service partner for the Audi R8 LMS Cup 2016, the first one-make series from the brand with the Four Rings. Competing in the Audi Hong Kong powered by Phoenix Racing Asia number 15 car is two-time Audi R8 LMS Cup champion Alex Yoong, 2012 Cup champion Marchy Lee and 20-year-old Shaun Thong, a member of the Audi in Asia Young Driver Development Programme. Malaysian Yoong will have the advantage of racing in front of his enthusiastic home fans.
The all-Asian squad will be joined by Phoenix Racing drivers Niki Mayr-Melnhof, Nicki Thiim and Markus Winkelhock in the number 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 car. Rounding out the Audi entries is the number 26 B-Quik Racing team of Henk Kiks, Daniel Bilski and Peter Kox, who will race the current generation Audi R8 LMS Cup car in the GTC class. Bilski and B-Quik Racing won this year’s Audi R8 LMS Cup Amateur Cup title and made Cup history as the first private team to do so, further highlighting the growth and development of customer racing in Asia.
This year’s Sepang 12 Hours is a precursor to the new Intercontinental GT Challenge, which will debut in 2016 and aims to set a new benchmark in international GT racing. Audi Sport customer racing will contest the championship as a registered manufacturer. The Asian endurance race will be part of the 2016 Intercontinental GT Challenge, together with the Bathurst 12 Hour, the Circuit of the Americas 6 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours, where Audi took two podium finishes earlier this year.
Today’s two Free Practice sessions are followed by a third and final Free Practice on Friday morning prior to Qualifying. The top 15 cars from Qualifying will compete in a shootout to determine the grid for Saturday’s race. The Sepang 12 Hours begins at 12 noon on Saturday, December 12.
