Audi is aiming for the fifth victory of the R8 LMS at Spa

Audi Sport customer racing wants to continue its winning streak at the 74th edition of the Spa 24 Hours, from July 28 to 31. The goal: The R8 LMS is already aiming for its third overall 24-hour victory this year. In addition, valuable points and decisive championship positions in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS are at stake for drivers and teams in various classes. No less than twelve Audi R8 LMS entries are set to compete in the world’s biggest GT3 race in the Belgian Ardennes.

“Our endurance racing season has been excellent with two 24-hour race wins so far,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “The performances of the customer team WRT in Dubai in January and Audi Sport Team Phoenix at the Nürburgring in June are already outstanding at the year’s halfway point. Now, we want to continue our success story at Spa, where we achieved overall victories in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017.” Two of the teams that were successful there – WRT and Saintéloc Racing – are back with Audi Sport. Adding to this are the teams Attempto Racing, Boutsen Racing and Tresor by Car Collection.

The endurance classic in the Ardennes, held for the first time in 1924, is a home race for two teams: Boutsen Racing comes from Wavre, about an hour and a half by car from Spa. Led by Olivia Boutsen and Olivier Lainé, the outfit has had many participations in the Spa 24 Hours. For the first time, the team is fielding an Audi for their privateers Adam Eteki, Benjamin Lessennes, Antoine Leclerc and Karim Ojjeh in the gold class.

The WRT team from Baudour, around 180 kilometers from the track, achieved Audi’s first victory at Spa in 2011 and another in 2014. And exactly 20 years ago, team principal Vincent Vosse, who was still a racing driver at the time, personally won the 24-hour race. The five driver line-ups that the Belgian and his team are relying on include two pro squads from Audi Sport Team WRT. Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts form a strong combination. At the 2021 Spa 24 Hours, the trio drove a tremendous comeback race from the back of the grid at the start to finish runner-up and they also dominated the GT World Challenge Europe season opener at Imola at the beginning of April. Nico Müller and Frédéric Vervisch are taking part with prominent support: Nine-time motorcycle world champion, Valentino Rossi, is quickly learning his new trade after switching to car racing, not least thanks to the two professionals from Audi. A respectable fifth place overall in a field of 53 participants at Le Castellet in early June was the trio’s best result so far this season. WRT is currently second in the endurance team’s standings, just one point behind the leaders.