GT Tour: Belgian Audi Club Team WRT may join the series at Spa

By Tarek Ramchani

The second round of the French GT Tour Series will be in Belgium, at Spa-Francorchamps. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT is planning to join the event with two Audi R8 LMS ultra.

WRT is no stranger to the French series, they managed the official Team Audi France entry for the last couple of years, with Stéphane Ortelli and David Hallyday as their drivers. In 2011 Team Audi France and WRT come very close to the title. Last season, at the finale of Paul Ricard, WRT entered a car on their own under the Belgian Audi Club banner.

Vincent Vosse, WRT team manager, spoke with our friends at Endurance-Info and said that racing at Spa will help the team prepare for the big Spa 24 Hours.

For now nothing is official yet, as the drivers line-ups are still to be announced, but it will be great to see the Belgian Audi team racing on home soil.

Photo credit: GT Tour

WRT at Paul Ricard's 2012 GT Tour finale: Team Audi France and Belgian Audi Club

GT Tour: Fourth place for Sainteloc Racing Audi in race 1 at Le Mans

By Tarek Ramchani

Le Mans is hosting the first round of the French GT Tour this weekend. Four Audi R8 LMS ultra cars have entered the event, from Sainteloc Racing and Team Speed Car. Race 1 was held today with a fourth place finish as the best result for the Audi squad.

The #42 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Sainteloc Racing shared by Gregory Guilvert and David Hallyday finished in a strong fourth place. After very close battles in the 1-hour sprint race at the Bugatti track, the two Audi drivers were less than three seconds behind the race winning McLaren MP4-12C from Sebatien Loeb Racing. All three the other R8 LMS ultra cars had a very hard event, they finished respectively in the 21st, 22nd and 26th places. Race 1 results are here.

Race 2 is set for tomorrow. Again another 1-hour sprint race,  we hope that both Guilvert and Hallyday will be able to fight for the victory.

Photo credit: Endurance-Info

Team Speed Car joins French GT Tour with an Audi R8 LMS ultra

By Tarek Ramchani

A new Audi team is joining the French GT Tour series this year. Team Speed Car will enter three GT3 cars for the full 2013 season. One of their cars is a brand new Audi R8 LMS ultra. The car will be shared by drivers Vincent Abril and Sébastien Cabirou. They will be racing in the main "Championnat de France GT" category. The team will also have two old Aston Martin DBRS9 cars in the "Coupe de France GT", a class for older generation cars. Team Speed Car will join the already confirmed, and Audi regulars, from Sainteloc Racing who are expected to field multiple R8 LMS and ultra cars.

The car looks great with its dominant chrome paint scheme. The French R16 livery was designed by our friends at Berzerkdesign from Germany.

The team recently tested the car at the Ledenon circuit. These photos were taken on site by our friend Sylvain Kukulka. Team Speed Car will debut with the Audi R8 LMS ultra at Le Mans, on the short Bugatti circuit, the season opener of the 2013 GT Tour series. We wish the best of luck to the whole team with the car in a very competitive and challenging field.

Sainteloc Racing back to French GT Tour with Audi

By Tarek Ramchani

Team Sainteloc Racing, a French privateer Audi team, is set to come back to the French GT Tour series. They will be racing for their fourth straight year with the Audi brand and the R8 LMS in GT3 racing. The Saint-Etienne based team is expected to field multiple R8 LMS cars this year. During 2012 Sainteloc Racing fielded three cars and also supported the JWS Racing Audi entry.

The first driver to be confirmed is Grégory Guilvert, who scored two wins in GT Tour with the team last year. With the official Team Audi France shutting down their racing program with the R8 LMS, Sainteloc Racing will now be the top Audi team in the series and among the teams fighting for the title.

In addition to a full season in the GT Tour series, Sainteloc Racing is expected to return to the Blancpain Endurance Series as well.

Photo credit: GT Tour

Video: Two Exceptional Audi R8 LMS videos from Audi France

By Johan Laubscher

Audi France provided a special live broadcast of the French GT Tour races during last weekend. The Facebook page of Audi France had been promoting the broadcast during that week with a special trailer video. The video has beautiful images mixed with an excitement building soundtrack. After the weekend Audi France uploaded another video similar to the trailer, this video being two minutes long continuing with the theme of man and machine. Both videos are well worth watching. The video's slogan is "50 % adrenalin, 50% technology and 100% Audi", enjoy:  

Symbiosis film trailer 

Symbiosis film feature

More information: 

Link to Audi France live broadcast page

Audi France FB page

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