Audi R8 LMS Cup Press Release
• Edoardo Mortara finishes third in the Macau GT Cup, ahead of teammate Laurens Vanthoor in fourth.• Adderly Fong had to settle for 20th after early pit stop• Jacky Yeung seals 2014 GT Asia GTM title
Macau, November 16, 2014 – Edoardo Mortara and Laurens Vanthoor finished third and fourth in the Macau GT Cup on Sunday. The Audi drivers started on grid positions one and two but lost the lead right after the lights turned green and were not able to regain it. Despite a promising qualifying, Italian Mortara, known as “Mr. Macau”, had to eventually settle for the final podium spot after five successive title wins at Macau in previous years.
Fans witnessed a historic and rare race of the Macau GT Cup, without a red flag or safety car period. The two Audi R8 LMS ultra race cars of Mortara and Vanthoor entered the race as favourites. However, in a storming start, Mortara and Vanthoor fell behind the two charging Mercedes, who snatched the lead by the first turn. The Audi drivers kept fighting, but despite numerous attempts they were not able to completely close the gap to the race leaders on the narrow and winding streets of Macau.
“It was not our day today. We came with high expectations. We were here to win. But we plan to come back next year and will try to do better. Macau is a very special race for us”, said Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing.
Audi R8 LMS Cup driver Adderly Fong also endured an unpleasant start to the race. Taking off from position 10, the young Hong Kong driver had hoped to challenge the international stars, but was forced to make a pit stop for a tyre change after contact with another car in the first lap. After returning to the track, Fong finished in 20th. “We were a bit unlucky as we had the pace and could have ended up on a much higher position”, commented Ingo Matter, Director of Fong’s Team Absolute Racing.
The GT Cup was also the final round of the 2014 GT Asia season. Tiger Racing Team’s Jacky Yeung came to Macau leading the competition’s GTM class and another solid performance saw him seal the title with his Audi R8 LMS Cup car.
Driving their Audi R8 LMS ultra in the GT Asia GT3 class, Philip Ma and Jeffrey Lee had a solid race and finished in 23rd and 24th respectively.
Photo credit: Audi R8 LMS Cup
