Audi wins 24-hour Nurburgring endurance race

PHOTO: Audi Sport Team Phoenix drivers Robin Frijns, Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Frederic Vervisch celebrate their win — and the 10th anniversary of Audi’s first victory at the 24H Nurburgring.

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Audi Sport teams’ R8 LMS GT3 Evo II race cars dominate top finishing spots in the 50th edition of world’s toughest enduro.

“Born the racetrack, built for the road:” Audi lived by this statement once again as it took the overall victory in the 50th edition of the 24H Nurburgring, one of the world’s most grueling 24-hour endurance motorsport events, with the race car version of the Audi R8 — the R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. And besides winning the event held on May 28 and 29 on the combined Nordschleife (North Loop) and GP-Strecke (Grand Prix track) circuits of the Nurburgring in Germany, various other teams of Audi Sport — the high-performance division of Audi — ruled over a competitive field of 130 entries. 

The Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II shared by drivers Robin Frijns, Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Frederic Vervisch of Audi Sport Team Phoenix crossed the finish line in first place after a spectacular race marked by numerous overtaking maneuvers, lead changes and a dramatic finale in the rain. This marked the sixth overall victory in a decade for Audi, which is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its first win in 24H Nurburgring.

Audi Sport Team Phoenix beat the two Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars of Team GetSpeed, which settled for second and third places on the podium. Three other Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II cars finished in the top 10 spots, with two other Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars, a Porsche 911 GT3R and a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 making up seventh to 10th places. The highest finishing BMW entry, an M4 GT3, came in 15th place.

The 2022 edition of the Nurburgring event saw the top finishers completing a record 159 laps on the nearly 26-kilometer-long combined tracks, turning it into a 24-hour “sprint race.” 

Audi Sport Team Phoenix started the race from 22nd position on the grid, and avoided any major mistakes during the race. It made the correct tire selections even when heavy rains fell in the final hours of the race. Because of these, Van der Linde, Vanthoor and Vervisch logged their second 24-hour victory with Audi, while Frijns clinched his first. Team Phoenix won the race for the fourth time with Audi.

Audi’s victory at the Nurburgring declared the Audi R8 LMS GT3’s Evo II as a car which can win against enormously tough competition. This was proven not just by the triumphant Audi Sport Team Phoenix car, but also by the other Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II cars in the field. 

Audi Sport Team Car Collection narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. The team started the race from the second row and was the most promising R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in the field for much of the race, before incurring two time penalties that set the squad back. The car entered by Scherer Sport Team Phoenix finished fifth, while the entry of Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport team came in sixth.       

Without doubt, no Audi is closer to motor racing than the Audi R8 Coupe. Like all the RS models built by Audi Sport, the R8 Coupe went through over 8,000 kilometers of development work and testing at the Nurburgring. Powering the car is a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter FSI V10 engine making 620 hp and 580 Nm output, resulting in a sprint time of 3.1 seconds from rest to 100 km/h, and a maximum speed of 331 km/h. Paired to the engine is a seven-speed s-tronic dual clutch transmission that sends the power output to a quattro permanent all-wheel drive system.