Five Audi R8 LMS assault on French GT Tour

By Tarek Ramchani

The FFSA GT Tour series will start this weekend at the Ledenon circuit. Last year Audi missed out the championship title in the very last round. This year no less than five Audi R8 LMS race cars will enter the French national GT series.

Team Audi France:

As in the last couple of years Team Audi France will lead the Audi squad in GT Tour. Last year a single car was entered with support from the Belgians of WRT, this year it's the same again. A brand new Audi R8 LMS ultra for the team's regular drivers: Stephane Ortelli and David Hallyday. In 2011 the two drivers battled for the championship title until the last round at Paul Ricard. The official Audi France dealer team will be among the big favorites fighting for the series crown.

Sainteloc Racing:

Sainteloc Racing is a truly privateer team that has been racing with Audi since 2010. Last year they entered two cars and this year no less than three Audi R8 LMSs are joining the series from Sainteloc. Two brand new Audi R8 LMS ultra models in the "main" GT Championship. Gregory Guilvert and Lamic and Dino Lunardi and Bruno Hernandez will share the cars. Right before the French series starts, the two R8 LMS ultra also raced at an international level, doing quite well in both FIA GT3 European Championship and Blancpain Endurance

The third car is an older spec R8 LMS, it will enter the "amateur" GT Cup. Madelaine/Sourd will be the drivers. This car will be among the big favorites in the GT Cup division.

JWS Racing:

New comers to the series and to Audi, JWS Racing will enter the GT Cup with their old spec Audi R8 LMS. The car will be shared by William David and Jean-Marc Quintois. The team is young, but they are aiming high in the GT Cup battle.

For 2012, the GT Tour has a seven round calendar, with a visit to Navara in Spain. The series is set to use the same Balance of Performance as used by the FIA GT3 European Championship. We are hoping for  strong performances from the three Audi teams with the Audi R8 LMS ultra is being the strongest GT3 racer at the moment.

More Informations:

GT Tour official website

GT Tour official Facebook

Good warm up for WRT and JWS Audi R8 LMS teams - VdeV

By Johan Laubscher

Earlier in the year Audi fans saw some clues from the Belgian W Racing Team regarding a specific French championship. The WRT team took part in the V de V series test days at Dijon and rumours surrounding a few WRT V de V race participations emerged. V de V is a French championship for a variety of different race cars which compete in both sprint and endurances races across Europe.

The opening round of the V de V series took place in Spain at the Catalunya circuit for a 6 hour endurance race on the weekend of April 1st. Originally a total of four Audi R8 LMS cars had been entered for the race. Two from WRT and one from both JWS Racing and AB Sport Auto. Despite four cars on the original entry list only two cars would ultimately take part. One car from WRT driven by François Verbist, Yves Weerts and Kurt Mollekens and one car from JWS driven by William David and Jean-Marc Quintois. The WRT team had originally planned two cars, one for the team bosses to have some fun in and the other to be driven by more rapid drivers, but in the end only one car took part in an event deemed to be more for fun and preparation than for out right results. The JWS Racing entry was also aimed for preparation. This was the first race meeting for the JWS Racing team and their goal was to use the race to prepare for the 2012 French GT Tour season.

Both teams qualified very well for the race with WRT claiming class pole followed by JWS second in class, 4th and 6th overall respectively. The race got underway in very warm conditions with some great racing. JWS unfortunately retired early on lap 6 after an on-track incident. The team was very disappointed but they are fully focused on their next race, the season opener of the French GT Tour. WRT soldiered on in the 6 hour race which served as a good warm up for the team’s busy 2012 season, ahead of their FIA GT1 debut one week after this event. WRT finished the 6 hour endurance race in 4th position overall and 2nd position in class.

The 6 hours of Catalunya served as a good warm up for the both JWS Racing and WRT teams. We will soon see both teams and their R8 LMS cars in action again in various other races around Europe and in the case of WRT, around the world as well.

Photos by JWS Racing

More Information:

JWS Racing FB page

W Racing Team FB page 

V de V website

WRT # 8 Audi R8 LMS and JWS #38 Audi R8 LMS

JWS Racing #38 Audi R8 LMS