Thailand’s Bhurit Bhirombhakdi took his second consecutive Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup victory on Germany’s 4.638km Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, taking the chequered flag after a drama-filled round four. His impressive points haul over the weekend earned the Singha Plan-B by Absolute Racing driver the prize of a seat on an Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup team in the 2019 Total 24 Hours of Spa.
As Audi Sport customer racing celebrates ten years, the Audi campus was the focal point of the Nürburgring paddock over the weekend, with the Cup pits within and accessible to the thousands of onsite fans.
China’s Sun Jingzu of Absolute Racing was classified second in round four after getting by Montaplast by Land Motorsport’s Carsten Tilke on the final lap.
There was high drama on lap eight when the race and championship leaders, Andrew Haryanto of ProMax Team and Yasser Shahin of Team HCB-Rutronik Racing had a coming together. The incident forced Shahin out of the race and dropped Haryanto down the order, blowing the GT3 title race wide open.
Haryanto retains his hold at the top of the GT3 leaderboard on 71 points, but Bhirombhakdi jumps into second (63 points) and closes the gap to just eight points. Shahin is third (40 points) after a challenging weekend.
LMS Engineering’s Stefan Wieninger took GT4 honours in round four, his second consecutive win on his Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup debut. Second after what was a thrilling battle right up to the flag was Carlos Checa, ahead of Anderson Tanoto who managed to guide his damaged Hard Memory Hero Super Car Team car over the line after a late-race incident.
After the debut of the GT4 class, Wieninger’s double victory puts him at the top of the standings on 51 points, with Checa second (37 points) and Jean-Luc Weidt third (25 points).
“We saw customer racing at its best at the Cup’s debut at the Nürburging,” said Martin Kuehl, Director of Audi Sport customer racing Asia. “The field was a great mix of Asian, Australian and European drivers, and the Nürburging 24 Hours provided a stunning environment for all teams and drivers.”
