Audi R8 LMS Cup Rounds 5 & 6 Results from Ordos

Marchy Lee of Hong Kong with Audi Ultra takes over championship lead with pole and two wins after he scored a perfect weekend at the Inner Mongolian Ordos International Circuit in both Rounds 5 & 6 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup.

 

Marchy scored the fastest laps in each race, did not put a foot wrong all weekend in his Audi R8 LMS Cup car and his results have vaulted him into first in the fight for the championship, two points ahead of rising star Adderly Fong with KLM Team in his first season of sportscar racing.

 

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Our former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong with Audi GQ is third in the championship a further 23 points behind. While Yoong finished second in Round 5, the Malaysian was forced to retire early in Round 6. Yoong spun and his restart resulted in a gearbox problem. 

 

Fong, who finished fifth in Round 5, scored a second-place finish in Round 6, but could not match Lee’s pace, crossing the finish line 14.198 seconds behind. Third in Round 5 was Charlie-Ro Charlz, who earned his second third-place finish in as many races. Charlz made his Audi R8 LMS Cup debut in Ordos, filling in for injured Audi Castrol driver Zhang Ran this weekend. Australian Charlz easily adapted to his smooth-handling Audi R8 LMS Cup car during qualifying, before piling on the pressure on Yoong in Round 5. 

 

Commented Director of Audi Sport customer racing in China, Rene Koneberg: “We’re delighted that three of our Audi China teams swept the podium in Round 5 for the first time in series history.”

 

Hong Kong driver Alex Au scored a double victory in the Amateur Cup in his Audi R8 LMS Cup debut. Hong Kong’s Byron Tong continues to lead the non-professional class.  Just in its first season, the Audi R8 LMS Cup, the marque’s first-ever one-makes racing series, is already gaining international attention and raising the bar on Asian motorsport. 

 

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This weekend the Audi R8 LMS Cup introduced a new tyre with partner Michelin, the S9LL (long life). Exclusive to the Audi R8 LMS Cup, the new tyre has been designed to last for an entire weekend of racing, from free practice to the chequered flag. 

 

“We believe the new long life tyre is a positive technological contribution to motorsport and Audi is proud to continue to stand at the forefront of motorsport innovation,” Koneberg said. 

 

Audi is a leading proponent of the track-to-road philosophy. Its technological innovations honed in motorsport are implemented in its road car production, directly translating to the consumer as improved efficiency.

 

Round 5 saw Lee start from pole and quickly begin to establish a gap between him and the rest of the field, before taking the chequered flag 10.745 seconds ahead of Yoong, who had quickly worked his way up from fifth on the grid to second place. Behind Charlz in third were Finn Pekka Saarinen and Fong, fourth and fifth, respectively. 

 

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Lee was equally impressive in Round 6, this time winning with a 14.198 second margin over Fong. Starting from pole, Lee immediately began to pull away. From fifth, Fong quickly moved into third position behind Lee and Yoong, with Saarinen and hometown hero Sun Zheng with Team Erdos Xinan chasing behind. On the third lap Yoong and Saarinen both spun, dropping down the order and leaving Fong to move into second place, ahead of Sun and Charlz. Charlz overtook Sun on Lap 4 and the top three would remain in place for the rest of the race. 

 

The Amateur Cup proved to be an exciting contest, with Hong Kong-based Frenchman Hugues Ripert leading the class until he was forced to retire on Lap 12. Au inherited the lead and although challenged by celebrity entertainer Aaron Kwok with Team Audi R8 LMS Cup and fellow Hong Kong racer Byron Tong, Au held strong. 

 

The Audi R8 LMS Cup debuted earlier this April at the Shanghai International Circuit. Two races in Zhuhai followed in June, before Rounds 5&6 in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. The series will next return to the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai for Rounds 7&8 from September 14-16, before November’s highly anticipated season finale. 

 

Round 5 – Results　

No.	Comp No.	Name.	Class	Entrant	Time
1	1	Marchy LEE (HKG)		Audi Ultra	31:31.483
2	8	Alex YOONG (MAL)		Audi GQ	+10.745
3	66	Charlie-Ro CHARLZ (AUS)		Audi Castrol	+11.979
4	75	Pekka SAARINEN (FIN)		J-Fly Racing Team	+13.047
5	68	Adderly FONG (HKG)		KLM Team	+13.654
6	9	WANG Jian Wei (CHN)		Team Betterlife	+40.466
7	33	SUN Zheng (CHN)		Team Erdos Xinan	+40.891
8	23	Alex AU (HKG)	Am	AK Racing	+1:19.204
9	27	Byron Tong (HKG)	Am	Audi Driving Dreams	+1:28.921
10	77	SUN Chao (CHN)		P D GROUP Team	+1:35.215
11	3	Hugues RIPERT (HKG)	Am	Spark Motorsport	1 Lap
12	88	Aaron KWOK (HKG)	Am	Team Audi R8 LMS Cup	1 Lap
13	99	HUA Xia Wei (CHN)		Team Chengdu New Elements	1 Lap
14	13	Adrian FU (HKG)	Am	FuSpeed Racing	1 Lap
15	6	HAN Han (CHN)		Team Zhe Jiang Aotong	2 Laps
DNF	7	Kevin TSE		Paulian Archiland J-Fly Racing	–

(AM) Amateur Cup Competitor 

Fastest Lap: Marchy LEE /Audi Ultra/1:44.350/Lap 2　

 

Round 6 –Results 

No.	Comp No.	Name.	Class	Entrant	Time
1	1	Marchy LEE (HKG)		Audi Ultra	31:50.081
2	68	Adderly FONG (HKG)		KLM Team	+14.198
3	66	Charlie-Ro CHARLZ (AUS)		Audi Castrol	+16.809
4	33	SUN Zheng (CHN)		Team Erdos Xinan	+19.856
5	9	WANG Jian Wei (CHN)		Team Betterlife	+43.070
6	77	SUN Chao (CHN)		P D GROUP Team	+47.682
7	6	HAN Han (CHN)		Team Zhe Jiang Aotong	+48.551
8	23	Alex AU (HKG)	Am	AK Racing	+1:14.235
9	88	Aaron KWOK (HKG)	Am	Team Audi R8 LMS Cup	+1:16.224
10	27	Byron Tong (HKG)	Am	Audi Driving Dreams	1 Lap
11	3	Hugues RIPERT (HKG)	Am	Spark Motorsport	1 Lap
12	13	Adrian FU (HKG)	Am	FuSpeed Racing	1 Lap
DNF	75	Pekka SAARINEN (FIN)		J-Fly Racing Team	–
DNF	8	Alex YOONG (MAL)		Audi GQ	–
DNF	7	Kevin TSE		Paulian Archiland J-Fly Racing	–
DNF	99	HUA Xia Wei (CHN)		Team Chengdu New Elements	–

(AM) Amateur Cup Competitor 

Fastest Lap: Marchy LEE /Audi Ultra/1:45.626/Lap 8 

 

Photo Gallery: Audi R8 LMS Cup Rounds 5 & 6

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