The R8 LMS showed encouraging pace in the opening two rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone. Cars run by official customer teams Phoenix Racing and Team Rosberg grabbed a second and two third places over the weekend and had looked set for a win until a gearbox problem intervened.


Phoenix Racing’s Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies worked their way into the lead of the first race, before retiring with that gearbox issue, but then put in a tremendous performance to finish second in race two. Nicolas Armindo/Cesar Campanico in the leading Team Rosberg car were third in both races.


Haase/Mies starred at Silverstone for Phoenix Racing

Armindo was the quickest of the drivers in qualifying and the Frenchman was delighted with his car. “We have done a lot of work,” he said after securing third place on the grid for race one, “and I think a good love story is starting between me and the car. It will not be easy for sure, but I think we have the speed.”


At the start of the first race though he dropped to fourth behind Mies. The Audi duo were bang on the pace in the early laps forming part of a four-car lead battle with the Morgan of Dimitri Enjalbert and the Aston Martin of Thomas Accary. Armindo made a couple of attempts to pass his fellow R8 driver, but then ran onto the grass after sliding on fuel dropped by one of the cars ahead, and slipped back. After the pit stops and driver changes Haase immediately started to make progress, passing the Aston Martin, then the Morgan and pulling away into a seemingly comfortable lead. Then came the disappointment of retirement and Campanico was left to uphold Audi honour in an excellent third place.


Race two did not look so promising as Haase/Mies started 16th and Campanico/Armindo 25th. However both teams had made good progress with their cars, particularly in finding a set-up which made the tyres last better. Haase/Mies made it up to second place and Campanico/Armindo to third. Armindo grabbed the place with a dramatic move on the final corner after a great drive.



Nordschleife success

Audi’s R8 LMS dress rehearsal for the Nurburgring 24 Hours was also a success. The cars finished first and second in their class in the third round of the BFGoodrich Endurance Championship on the Nurburgring Nordschleife and Marc Basseng, Marcel Fässler, Mike Rockenfeller and Frank Stippler missed taking an outright win by a mere 0.981 seconds. Christian Abt, Jean-Francois Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer and Lucas Luhr finished third and thus completed an Audi one-two in the SP9 class. The other two Audi R8 LMS were also in the leading group but slid off the circuit on a patch of liquid at the same time as several other competitors on the fourth lap.