Fourteen race cars from Audi Sport customer racing are preparing to do battle on the Guia Street Circuit in downtown Macau. The 65th running of the Macau Grand Prix sees four Audi R8 LMS GT3s entered in the FIA GT World Cup and 10 Audi RS 3 LMS entries, including four Asian ‘wildcards’, in the season finale triple-header of the FIA WTCR.
“We are delighted that the strong commitment of our customers is making such a strong Audi line-up in Macau possible. This shows how well we have established ourselves in the Asian market,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “Now we can hardly wait for the chase through the street canyons to begin.”
The Audi R8 LMS GT3 has triumphed in the headline GT Cup race on four occasions, making Audi the most successful manufacturer since the race first hit the Guia Street Circuit in 2008. Attempting to extend this record will be three official Audi Sport customer racing entries – Dries Vanthoor and Robin Frijns with Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar and Christopher Haase with Audi Sport Team Rutronik – and Chinese customer team Zun Motorsport Crew, which enters former Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup champion and official Audi Sport Asia driver Adderly Fong.
Frijns finished second in last year’s GT World Cup, while it will be Macau debuts for Vanthoor – brother of Audi’s last victor at the event, Laurens Vanthoor in 2016 – and Haase. Zun Motorsport Crew have been successful with the Audi R8 LMS in this season’s Pan Delta Circuit Hero One series, with Fong taking two victories from three races with the team this year in Zhuhai, China. Fong is the Audi R8 LMS driver with the most experience on the downtown street circuit of Macau. This year will be the Hong Kong-native’s seventh appearance at the tradition-steeped event after two appearances in Formula 3, one with the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup and three previous starts at the GT World Cup.
The 2018 season of the WTCR comes to a close with a triple-header at the Macau Grand Prix. Audi Sport customer racing fields four official entries, Jean-Karl Vernay and Gordon Shedden with Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team and Frederic Vervisch and Denis Dupont with Audi Sport Team Cometoyou. Two customer entries from Cometoyou Racing, Nathanael Berthon and Aurelien Panis, complete the six full-season Audi RS 3 LMS entries for the WTCR.
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team, Audi Sport Team Comtoyou and Comtoyou Racing have clinched 15 podium finishes to date, including four victories, three second places and eight third places. The best Audi Sport driver in the standings is Jean-Karl Vernay in fifth position, trailed by Frédéric Vervisch in eighth.
The six full-season cars will be joined by four ‘wildcard’ Audi RS 3 LMS entries from Asian customer teams. Long-time Audi customer squad TSRT Zuver Team will field the 2018 Pan Delta Circuit Hero One TCR champion Billy Lo. Fellow Pan Delta Circuit Hero One competitors Champ x TA Motorsport field Filipe Souza and Lam Kam San, while Team Work Motorsport enter Kevin Tse.
With 10 Audi RS 3 LMS joining the four Audi R8 LMS GT3s, Audi Sport lines up at the 2018 Macau Grand Prix as the most represented manufacturer on the city streets by some distance.
The Macau Grand Prix, features four headlines races with the FIA Formula 3 World Cup and Motorcycle Grand Prix joining the FIA GT World Cup and the FIA WTCR across the weekend.
