BR-Racing with an Audi R8 LMS ultra in French GT Tour

By Tarek Ramchani

JWS Racing returns to the French GT Tour with Audi and some major changes. The Audi Sport customer racing team has recently changed its name and now becomes BR-Racing.

The team will field a single Audi R8 LMS ultra in the main "Championnat de France GT". The car will be a 2013 spec R16. The BR-Racing machine will be in the hands of drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Jean-Marc Quintois. As in 2012, the GT Tour effort will have technical support from Sainteloc Racing, who are now the leading Audi squad in French GT.

In addition to the GT Tour program, the BR-Racing team is also set to compete at the Spa 24 Hours this July. This will mark their first attempt at the Belgian endurance classic and stellar event of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The French R8 is expected to be in the Pro-Am Cup class.

Photo credit:
GT Tour
BR-Racing official Facebook

Audi teams seeking strong results at Magny-Cours

By Tarek Ramchani

The French GT Tour is heading to Magny-Cours this weekend for the fourth round of the season. The three regular Audi teams will be there aiming for strong performances and results.

Team Audi France, the official dealer team improved a lot last time out. At Val de Vienne the #32 WRT run Audi R8 LMS ultra got its first podium of the season. The car shared by Stephane Ortelli and David Hallyday will be among the big favorites at Magny-Cours, a track where the Audi R8 LMS has been always strong in the past three years. In the championship points standing both drivers are sixth with 48 points. WRT is doing really well in both the Blancpain Endurance Series and FIA GT1 World Championship, the Belgian squad wants to now win with Audi France in GT Tour.

Sainteloc Racing had an unlucky weekend at Val de Vienne, the cars were fast yet the team was really unlucky in both races. At Magny-Cours Sainteloc Racing will have two Audi R8 LMS ultra in the main "Championnat de France". The #4 car will be in hands of Gregory Guilvert and Paul Lamic, both are seventh in the points standings. The sister #5 car will be driven by Bruno Hernandez and Renaud Derlot who replaces a busy Dino Lunardi who is busy with the ADAC GT Masters in Germany.

JWS Racing will have a single R8 LMS, the #38 of William David and Jean Marc Quintois. The team is introducing a special livery this weekend celebrating July 14th, the French national day.

Sainteloc Racing is fielding a third Audi R8 LMS in the amateurs based "Coupe de France", a gentlemen trophy open for old GT3 spec cars. The #42 car will have Marc Sourd and Patrice Madelaine as drivers, both are second in the series points standing in their category.

Magny-Cours is a very challenging track, the Audi teams will have to fight hard against the dominant Porsche 997 GT3 R, mainly those from Pro GT the defending champions. As per usual the weekend will consist of two 1 hour sprint races which are scheduled on Saturday and on Sunday. We wish the best of luck for all the Audi teams and drivers.

Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Lasseaux / IG Autorennsport

Third place for Team Audi France in race 1 at Val de Vienne

By Tarek Ramchani

Round 3 of the French GT Tour is at Val de Vienne this weekend. Team Audi France got a fine third place finish in race 1 today. The official French dealer team had an amazing three-way battle for almost the whole race.

David Hallyday had a great start, moving from third to second with this #32 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Very bad luck hit the #5 Audi of Sainteloc Racing who were immediately out of the race. Hallyday put great pressure on the leading Mercedes-Benz SLS, and for many occasions almost took the race lead. Right behind Hallyday the third placed Porsche was catching fast. Later the three leading cars stopped for the mandatory pit stops. The Audi now in hands of Stephane Ortelli was back on track in second behind the Mercedes. Meanwhile the #38 Audi R8 LMS from JWS Racing stopped and had to retire, the car was running in the Gentlemen's Trophy. Still running in second, Ortelli tried to move to first without success. Minutes later the Porsche who run in third was able to pass the two leading cars and took the race lead. Behind the #4 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Gregaroy Guilvert was flying as the fastest on track. Maybe pushing too far, as the Sainteloc Racing driver had an excursion. However he was able to bring the car home in seventh. The race win went to the #2 Porsche GT3 R, seconds ahead of the #17 SLS AMG and the #32 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Stephane Ortelli and David Hallyday got their first podium finish this season, after frustrating races at Ledenon and Dijon. The #42 Audi R8 LMS from Sainteloc Racing finished in twelfth overall, second in the Gentlemen's Trophy.

Overall it was a good race 1 for Audi. Both Team Audi France and Sainteloc Racing have shown strong pace during race 1. All good for race 2 tomorrow as we are hoping for an Audi victory.

Val de Vienne full race 1 results

Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Lassaux / www.autorennsport.ch

More information:
GT Tour official website

Audi teams aiming high for GT Tour round 3 at Val de Vienne

By Tarek Ramchani

The French GT Tour series is heading to Val de Vienne this weekend for round three. The regular Audi teams will be there aiming to do well after a disappointing weekend at Dijon last time out.

Team Audi France the official dealer team has had an unlucky start to the season so far. Two very frustrating rounds at Ledenon and Dijon. The #32 Audi R8 LMS ultra shared by Stephane Ortelli and David Hallyday has always been fast on track, but has never been able to bring strong results. At Val de Vienne the WRT run car will aim for revenge in the French series. Elsewhere the same team racing as Belgian Audi Club WRT is doing really well in both FIA GT1 World Championship and Blancpain Endurance Series. At Dijon Team Audi France finished in a very disappointing tenth in race 1, while in race 2 they got a fourth place finish. In the overall standing Oretlli and Hallyday are only seventh.

Sainteloc Racing has done better, winning the first race of the season at Ledenon. The privateer Audi team has had a quite positive season so far in the FIA GT3 European Championship. The team has two Audi R8 LMS ultras with strong drivers squad. The #4 car with Grégory Guilvert and Paul Lamic were victorious at Ledenon, both drivers are sixth in the points standings. The sister #5 Audi will have Dino Lunardi and Bruno Hernandez, Lunardi is very fast with the R8 LMS and last year he was the ADAC GT Masters champion.

The three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will have to fight hard against the dominant Porsche 997 GT3 Rs and also the Ferrari 458s. Porsche cars won three races out of four. Audi will try to challenge the sister German brand for race victories and to take vital points for the overall championship standings.

In addition to the three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars, two additional old spec R8 LMS will run the "Coupe de France". The Gentlemen’s trophy which is exclusively open for amateurs drivers and older generation GT3 race cars. Both Sainteloc Racing and JWS Racing will field a single car each.

The Val de Vienne weekend will have two sprint races of one hour each. Race 1 is set for Saturday afternoon, and race 2 for Sunday. The official GT Tour will provide Live Streaming coverage on the internet. We wish the best of luck to all the Audi teams and drivers.

  
Photo credit: GT Tour

More information:
GT Tour official website

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