Audi Sport Team Phoenix wins 50th Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race

One of Audi’s customer racing teams, Audi Sport Team Phoenix, fielding the Audi R8 LMS, has won the 50th Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race. The event saw the return of 230,000 spectators in a race packed with numerous overtaking maneuvers, lead changes, and a dramatic finale with rain showers.

“Congratulations to Audi Sport Team Phoenix. This victory has a special meaning because strong nerves were required in the changing conditions, especially during the final hours — from the drivers on the track, as well as from the mechanics, engineers, and strategists in the pits. The fact that fans were finally allowed at the track again and turned this race weekend into one big party makes the success particularly valuable,” said Audi Sport Customer Racing Head Chris Reinke.

The winning Audi R8 LMS covered a total of 159 laps and was manned by a four-driver team from the Nürburgring-based Audi Sport Team Phoenix led by Ernst Moser. The number 15 car originally started from P22, and thanks to drivers van der Linde, Vanthoor, Vervisch, and Frijns, their Audi R8 LMS avoided penalties and major slip-ups for the entire duration of the race.

Furthermore, the team's decision to change tires during the brief but heavy rain showers during the latter part of the endurance race allowed them to climb up to the top spot and secure the win.

“Congratulations to the entire team. This victory is once again proof of a strong team performance. Our new Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II displayed that it is an absolute winning car against enormously tough competition,” said Audi Sport Managing Director Julius Seebach.

In addition to Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s spectacular victory, other Audi team partners displayed dominance at the said 24-hour race.

Audi Sport Team Car Collection, with drivers Christopher Haase, Nico Müller, Patric Niederhauser, and René Rast, narrowly missed the podium as they landed in fourth place. The team’s number 22 R8 LMS was unfortunately set back by two time penalties.

Two other Audi R8 LMS cars managed to make it into the top 10 overall. One was from Scherer Sport Team Phoenix, manned by drivers Michele Beretta, Kuba Giermaziak, Kim-Luis Schramm, and Markus Winkelhock and the other was from Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport driven by Mattia Drudi, Patrick Kolb, Christopher Mies, and Patric Niederhauser. The former finished fifth while the latter finished sixth.

Another car from Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport, this time driven by Dennis Fetzer, Klaus Koch, Dennis Marschall, and Simon Reicher, finished 13th.

The number 5 car from Scherer Sport Team Phoenix, shared by Ricardo Feller, Kelvin van der Linde, Vincent Kolb, and Frank Stippler, was the only one of a total of seven Audi R8 LMS cars that had to retire early after van der Linde collided with a lapped car during the night.

Furthermore, the Twin Busch by Équipe Vitesse team, which competed in the Pro-Am classification with Elia Erhart, Michael Heimrich, Pierre Kaffer, and Arno Klasen finished 14th overall while the Audi RS 3 LMS from the Max Kruse Racing team, which competed in the fiercely contested TCR class, was forced to retire after an accident in the morning.

Photos from Audi

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