Audi Sport customer racing Asia has announced its official driver line-up for 2019. Chinese motorsport legend Cheng Congfu and 22-year-old Estonian Martin Rump are joined by FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 race winner Weiron Tan of Malaysia and rising star David Chen to present Audi Sport customer racing Asia teams with a roster of potent Asia-based racing talent.
The strategic driver programme forms part of Audi Sport customer racing Asia’s industry-leading support for local teams, which also includes onsite parts inventories at the region’s leading championships, as well as technical support from Audi Sport engineers.
As well as a busy season of competition ahead, Cheng has also been named as Brand Ambassador for Audi China. The Chinese star is his country’s most successful circuit racer to date having competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the DTM and various high-profile Asian championships including the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup.
Upon his arrival in Asia, Martin Rump immediately made his mark, lifting Volkswagen Group China’s Formula Masters China Series title in 2015. The junior single-seater series was supported by Audi, and Rump’s performance earned him a call-up to the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup in 2016. He finished third overall in his first season, seven points from the championship title.
Tan, meanwhile, has found success in almost every discipline of racing and in 2011, his talents were recognized when he was signed to the Caterham F1 Academy. More recently, Tan made headlines worldwide with his standout performance in the prestigious FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Along with fellow countrymen and Jackie Chan DC Racing teammates Jazeman Jaafar and Nabil Jeffri, Tan took the LMP2 victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji, making history as the first all-Asian line-up to win a WEC round.
Recently-announced Audi Sport Asia driver David Chen made waves in the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup in 2017, becoming the first amateur-ranked competitor to take an overall race win on his way to securing the Am+ Cup title at the age of just 21. He also won the 2017/18 Asian Le Mans Series Am title and is the reigning Pan Delta Circuit Hero One GTC class champion.
Cheng Congfu will also be joined by Rump and Tan as the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup’s professional mentors for 2019. All championship drivers in the all-privateer series have onsite support and assistance from the Cup mentors, with the professionals setting benchmark data and giving one-on-one coaching over each of the five race weekends.
David Chen’s season-long entry with former Macau Grand Prix winner André Couto into Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia has already been announced with Audi Sport Asia Team TSRT, while fellow Audi Sport Asia driver Cheng Congfu partners Sun Jingzu in the championship with Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute.
