BSS: Victory and podium results for the Audi R8 LMS ultra teams at Nogaro

By Johan Laubscher

Nogaro in France played host to the first round of the Blancpain Sprint Series. It was also the second round of the Blancpain GT Series and a total of six Audi R8 LMS ultra cars took part.

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT entered three cars along with a fourth WRT entry under the G Drive Racing banner. Phoenix Racing entered their two newly liveried cars this weekend.

The Qualifying Race on Sunday saw a 1-2 finish for the Audi Sport customer racing teams. The #1 WRT crew of Cesar Ramos and Laurens Vanthoor won the race ahead of the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi of Niki Mayer-Melnhof and Markus Winkelhock. G Drive Racing finished fourth, the #4 WRT Audi was seventh and the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi in tenth. It was originally an Audi 1-2-3 with the #2 WRT Audi in second place, however the car of Enzo Ide and Rene Rast was disqualified for a technical infringement.

The Championship Race on Monday ended with a double podium for WRT. The #3 G Drive Racing R8 LMS ultra of Gregory Guilvert and Stephane Ortelli finished second, ahead of the #4 WRT Audi with Mateusz Lisowski and Vicent Abril, who took the Silver Cup race victory. The #2 WRT Audi finished seventh and the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi in ninth. Two Audis unfortunately retired, the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi and the #1 WRT car, who both ultimately retired following a touch on the warm up lap.

Round two of the Blancpain Sprint Series will be held at Paul Ricard from 27-28 June.

Photo credit: Blancpain GT Series