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Three Audi customer teams prove their strength in the second half of two championships: while ABT Sportsline turned the tide in the DTM with Kelvin van der Linde in wet weather at the Nürburgring and retook the lead of the standings, two teams were successful in North America with the Audi R8 LMS. James Sofronas took his first win of the season in GT America powered by AWS, while Johnny O’Connell maintained his lead in the standings with two podium finishes. Audi Sport customer racing also had a good weekend in touring car racing. Team LV Racing won four trophies with the Audi RS 3 LMS at a race weekend in Estonia.
- Victory for Kelvin van der Linde with ABT Sportsline at the Nürburgring
- James Sofronas achieves first win of the season in America with GMG Racing
- Ivars Vallers with the Audi RS 3 LMS from LV Racing in front in the Baltic States
Victories in Europe and America: ABT Sportsline achieved a sensational weekend in difficult conditions at the fifth round of the DTM at the Nürburgring. After Kelvin van der Linde had secured pole position in the Audi R8 LMS, it began to rain at the start of the first race. The South African remained in a class of his own on the wet Eifel circuit and built up a lead of more than 15 seconds over Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti over the course of 37 laps. Thanks to his second win of the season in front of a total of 62,500 spectators at the weekend, the Audi privateer driver also overtook the Italian in the standings and is now back in first place. In the second race, van der Linde fought his way up from twelfth to fourth place despite 20 kilograms of extra weight, an attack by an opponent and, towards the end, a loss of air pressure in one tire. With three events still to go, Kelvin van der Linde has extended his lead in the standings to seven points ahead of Bortolotti. The Audi R8 LMS scored its third win of the season in the GT America powered by AWS racing series. After Audi privateer Johnny O’Connell had finished third in Saturday’s race on the sixth race weekend at Road America, another privateer, James Sofronas, came out on top in the Audi R8 LMS on Sunday. The long-time Audi customer, who has already finished second twice this season, had started from pole position. In the GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS, the Californian withstood the attacks of his rival Justin Rothberg and won by 0.379 seconds ahead of the BMW driver. Third place again went to Johnny O’Connell, who thus remains championship leader in the SKI Autosports Audi with two events to go before the end of the season.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Successful in the Baltic States and in Denmark: Ivars Vallers returned from the fourth round of the Baltic Touring Car Championship on the Audruring with a whole collection of trophies. The racing driver from Latvia won the first sprint by half a second in the Audi RS 3 LMS from LV Racing. He finished the two subsequent races in Estonia in second place. In the two-hour Nankang Endurance Academy race at the same event, Vallers came out on top in his class as a solo driver with a two-lap lead. This also secured him a fourth trophy within two days. Remarkable: In a field of 37 participants, he finished third overall in the production-based touring car from Audi ahead of several GT4 sports cars. Storm Development put in a strong performance in the third round of the Danish Endurance Championship. In the second race at Jyllandsringen, Stefan Lorenzen/Niels Nyboe finished as class winners three seconds ahead of their closest rivals. On the third race weekend of the TCR Mexico, Team Zesati achieved three podium finishes with the Audi RS 3 LMS. In the first race on the Puebla circuit, Carlo Zesati finished second ahead of Paolo Zesati in another Audi. Bruno Zesati finished third in the second race.
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