Audi Sport celebrates a reasonably successful weekend of motorsports in Macau.
Asian customer racing teams under the Audi Sport umbrella managed to have a pretty successful weekend at the 67th Macau Grand Prix. Clinching a double podium in the Macau GT Cup, and managing a forth place finish in the Macau Guia Race.
In the Macau GT Cup, former Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup champion Marchy Lee of Audi Sport Asia Team X Works romped home to claim the second spot on the podium in a chaotic race on Sunday. Equalling his highest-ever GT Cup finish in Macau and finishing just behind Ye Hongli in his AMG when the race was called 10 laps into the 12 lap race, after the red flags brought out.
The red flags that were waved on lap 10 also cemented the third podium place for fellow Audi R8 LMS driver Chen Weian of Audi Sport Asia Team TSRT. Chen, who qualified third but started second due a penalty handed to Qualification Race winner Darryl O’Young, had a challenging start to the race, dropping down to forth and picking up a slow puncture.
Nevertheless, a stellar drive from Chen, which included an audacious move at the Lisboa Bend, saw him manage to hang on to a third place finish as the race results were classified a lap prior to when the race was halted. The third Audi R8 LMS GT3 on the Macau GT Cup piloted by Billy Lo of the Tianshi ZUVER Team crossed the line eighth overall.
In the Macau Guia Race meanwhile, Macau driver Filipe Souza of T.A Motorsport managed a forth place finish during an equally-chaotic main race on Sunday. Finishing a spot below where his Audi RS 3 LMS stood on Saturday’s Qualification Race. Fellow Audi RS 3 LMS driver Huang Chuhan of NewFaster crossed the line in eight place when the race was prematurely halted due to a double incident that occurred up front and near the rear of the field.
PRESS RELEASE: Audi Sport customer racing Asia celebrated a double podium in the Macau GT Cup at the 67th Macau Grand Prix. Former Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup champion Marchy Lee of Audi Sport Asia Team X Works battled to second ahead of fellow Audi R8 LMS driver Chen Weian of Audi Sport Asia Team TSRT. Privateer Billy Lo of Tianshi ZUVER Team crossed the line eighth overall in the third of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 entries in the Macau GT Cup.
“The Audi drivers and teams can be proud of their performances today. They fought for every inch of track on one of the most unforgiving circuit in the world. We came here aiming for victory but, all in all, two podiums at the Macau GT Cup is a very strong performance. Congratulations go to AMG and Ye Hongli for the GT Cup win,” said Alexander Blackie, Manager of Audi Sport customer racing Asia. “15 Audi race cars on the Guia Street Circuit was really something to behold, our thanks go to all of our customers and teams for making it such a spectacle.”
Twelve Audi RS 3 LMS cars contested the Macau Guia Race touring car classic, with Macau driver Filipe Souza of T.A. Motorsport finishing fourth – just outside of the podium positions – in Sunday’s main event, after claiming a hard-fought podium finish with the Audi RS 3 LMS in Saturday’s Qualification Race.
Macau GT Cup
Chen and Lee qualified third and fourth respectively in Saturday morning’s qualifying session before crossing the line in the same order in the Qualification Race. However, a penalty to the Qualification Race winner promoted Chen to the front row for Sunday’s race, with Lee starting from third and Billy Lo from sixth.
In Sunday’s Macau GT Cup final Chen had a challenging opening lap and dropped down to fourth, with Lee getting by and moving up to second. Lee remained untroubled for the rest of the race to equal his highest-ever GT Cup finish at Macau.
Behind, a determined Chen moved up into third two laps later with an audacious move at the infamous Lisboa Bend to move into podium contention.
All eyes were on Chen as he next had to withstand intense pressure from a rival behind, holding his line with aplomb. As the pressure intensified, Chen’s R8 LMS GT3 started to feel the effects of a slow puncture sustained earlier in the race. With his pace compromised, his rival managed to squeeze past, however, Chen was handed a lifeline when the red flag came out and halted the race on lap 10. With the results called from the end of the previous lap, Chen had claimed a well-deserved podium finish.
Billy Lo dropped back two places on the opening lap, the Macau driver finishing eighth in the race.
Macau Guia Race
In Saturday’s eight-lap Qualification Race, Souza resisted pressure from a rival in a twice-interrupted race to take the final podium position and earn himself a second-row grid position for Sunday’s main race.
At the start of the main race, Souza’s Audi RS 3 LMS dropped down the order, but he immediately mounted a comeback, finding his way past a rival after a brief safety car period.
A lap later, the race was halted for a second time after an incident, which involved Wu Yifan of 326 Racing Team, and the race was not resumed.
Souza was ultimately classified fourth, just off the podium, while fellow Audi RS 3 LMS driver Huang Chuhan of NewFaster was eighth.
