Former Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup GT4 champion Anderson Tanoto and Denmark’s Nicolaj Møller Madsen are set to enter the upgraded evolution model Audi R8 LMS GT4 in GT World Challenge Asia. The Silver/Am pairing will contest the fourth season of Asia’s leading multi-marque GT championship with long-standing Audi Sport customer team Absolute Racing in the GT4 class.
“Anderson Tanoto was one of our first GT4 customers in Asia, and he saw immediate results, including winning the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup’s GT4 category in 2018. Nicolaj Møller Madsen has a strong record with the Audi R8 LMS GT4 in Europe. His pairing with Anderson will be very competitive in class,” said Martin Kuehl, Director of Audi Sport customer racing Asia.
Tanoto’s first ever race with the Audi R8 LMS GT4 was at the formidable Nürburgring with the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup in 2018 and he took a podium finish in race two of the weekend. Winning the category title that year, the Indonesian continued his successful development behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT4 into 2019, securing a double-podium at the Suzuka rounds of GT World Challenge Asia and finishing second in class in the final season of Audi’s one-make GT series.
“It is a whole new challenge for me,” commented Anderson Tanoto. “Last year’s experience in GT World Challenge Asia’s Suzuka rounds, where we finished with a double podium, was an eye-opener. It is a privilege to return with a new Audi R8 LMS GT4 this year alongside Absolute Racing. I am excited to team-up with an experienced GT4 driver like Møller Madsen. This is a huge step up and it will help my development as a driver. I know the team’s expectations are high, but I feel ready for the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced in motor racing.”
26-year-old Dane Nicolaj Møller Madsen has also contested an Audi one-make series, the Audi Sport TT Cup in 2015, finishing second overall. Over the last two seasons he has found success in the GT4 category with Audi, winning the GT4 European Series’ Silver Cup in 2018 and finishing sixth in class last year.
Anderson Tanoto Nicolaj Møller Madsen
“I am really happy and proud to join Absolute Racing for the GT World Challenge Asia in the GT4 class,” said Nicolaj Møller Madsen. “I think all race drivers have been looking to get a chance to race in Asia, mainly because of the amazing racing tracks and even more amazing fans. In the past three years I been trying to find a way to get into Asia, and now it finally happened. Doing it with a team like Absolute Racing just makes it even more special. I am looking forward to taking my experience from the last two years with Audi in Europe to Asia, and I think we will have the car to fight for the title. I am not going to fly six times for 15 hours each time to finish second, so for sure the goal is to win!”
The six-round 11-race GT World Challenge Asia season gets underway at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia with rounds one and two on March 28-29, before visits to Thailand’s Chang International Circuit and to two of Japan’s most storied race tracks, Fuji Speedway and Suzuka. The series then closes out with two events in Shanghai, China: first a double-header in September, before a series-first endurance event – the Shanghai 888 – to close out the season on October 17-18.
