In the Canadian Touring Car Championship, Canadian privateer Zachary Vanier won the first title of an Audi Sport customer this year with an Audi RS 3 LMS. A one-two victory for the Audi R8 LMS in the Nürburgring Endurance Series and successes in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy complete a successful weekend for Audi Sport.
Audi RS 3 LMS (TCR)
Title success in Canada: Team Pfaff Motorsports scored the first championship victory of the 2020 season for Audi Sport customer racing. In the Canadian Touring Car Championship, Zachary Vanier continued his winning streak in the Audi RS 3 LMS at Calabogie Motorsports Park, having already won the TCR class in the previous three races. He secured pole positions for the two 40-minute races in the finale. Vanier won the TCR classification in the first race by more than five seconds ahead of TWOth Autosport’s Travis Hill and Mark Motors Racing’s Marco Cirone, who both also drove an Audi RS 3 LMS. The Canadian perfectly mastered the sometimes heavy rain in the remnants of Hurricane Laura. In the final race of the season in the sun on a dry track on Sunday, Vanier maintained a 0.7-second lead over his rival Louis-Philippe Montour in a Volkswagen, with third place going to Audi brand colleague Marco Cirone. In the final standings, Vanier claimed first place with 866 points ahead of Marco Cirone with 803 points. Ron Tomlinson from TWOth Autosport in third place with 723 points also relied on an Audi RS 3 LMS this season. TWOth Autosport also won the TCR team classification. For title holder Zanier, who will turn 18 in October and started his motorsport career in snowcross at the age of nine, it’s now time to move on professionally in the automotive world. The young driver from Sudbury in the province of Ontario has just finished school and will start his studies at the Automotive Business School of Canada in September.
TCR Japan 2020 Audi RS 3 LMS #21 (Hitotsuyama Racing), Takuro Shinohara Copyright: TCR Japan
Championship lead extended: In TCR Japan, Takuro Shinohara has increased his lead in the standings. The young driver had already won the inaugural event with Audi Team Hitotsuyama and also presented himself in top form at the second round at Motegi. From pole position, he clinched his second victory of the season in Saturday’s race. This puts Shinohara at the top of Saturday’s standings with a lead of 18 points. In Sunday’s sprint race, the Japanese finished second in the race from second place on the grid. In the team classification, which combines the races on Saturday and Sunday, Audi Team Hitotsuyama is leading with a ten-point lead.
Three podium places in Sweden: The second round of TCR Scandinavia brought the Audi customer team Brink Motorsport three trophies. In the first sprint on the Skellefteå circuit, Tobias Brink improved from fifth place on the grid in the Audi RS 3 LMS to the third position. In the second race, the Swede crossed the finish line in second place. In the final third sprint Brink improved from seventh on the grid to the second position. His teammate Hannes Morin was third in the race and stood next to him on the podium. At the halfway point of the season, Brink is thus tied for third place in the championship with Rob Huff, who is second in the standings.
Ready for the 24-hour race: Team Bonk Motorsport has completed its preparations for the Nürburgring 24 Hours with a podium result on the Nordschleife. At the fifth round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, Hermann Bock, Max Partl and Alexander Prinz shared an Audi RS 3 LMS in the SP3T class with a healthy number of eight participants. The driver combination reached the third place after 37 laps. After a victory in the second race, a second place at the next event, and third place in the subsequent competition, Team Bonk Motorsport thus continued its podium series on the fifth race weekend.
Two class wins in the Netherlands: Max Frederik Gruhn dominated his class on the third race weekend of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy in Assen. The junior driver in the Audi RS 3 LMS prevailed in both sprints in his category with a one-lap lead in each case over Opel driver Franjo Kovac.
Catching up in Italy: Eric Brigliadori managed a remarkable catch-up on the third race weekend of TCR Italy. The private driver had only qualified for 13th on the grid in the Audi RS 3 LMS, but in the first sprint on a wet track, he drove continuously forwards. In the course of just 13 laps, he improved to the third position and took over the lead of the standings. On Sunday, Brigliadori initially finished fourth and remained the leader of the standings, but a five-second penalty due to a collision with a competitor later threw him back to the 13th position. The Audi privateer is thus third in the standings and continues to lead the junior classification for drivers under 25 years of age. His BF Motorsport team is tied for first place with one other team in the Trofeo Nazionale team classification at the halfway point of the season.
