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Audi Sport Team Phoenix Wins 50th Edition of the 24-Hour Nurburgring Race

A day of May, an Audi R8 LMS, a strong team of drivers and a supportive team of technicians is what it takes to win a 24-hour race.
Audi R8 LMS #15 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) 15 photos
Photo: Audi
Audi Sport customer racing - 24h Nürburgring 2022Audi R8 LMS #15 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Robin Frijns/Kelvin van der Linde/Dries Vanthoor/Frédéric VervischAudi R8 LMS #15 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Robin Frijns/Kelvin van der Linde/Dries Vanthoor/Frédéric VervischKelvin van der Linde - 24h Nürburgring 2022Dries Vanthoor, Robin Frijns, Ernst Moser, Frédéric Vervisch, Kelvin van der Linde - 24h Nürburgring 2022Audi R8 LMS #5 (Scherer Sport Team Phoenix), Ricardo Feller/Kelvin van der Linde/Vincent Kolb/Frank StipplerAudi R8 LMS #24 (Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport), Mattia Drudi/Patrick Kolb/Christopher Mies/Patric NiederhauserAudi RS 3 LMS (Max Kruse Racing), Peter Hansen/Benjamin Leuchter/Lars NielsenAudi R8 LMS #23 (Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport), Dennis Fetzer/Klaus Koch/Dennis Marschall/Simon ReicherAudi R8 LMS #15 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Robin Frijns/Kelvin van der Linde/Dries Vanthoor/Frédéric VervischDries Vanthoor, Robin Frijns, Ernst Moser, Frédéric Vervisch, Kelvin van der Linde,Audi Sport customer racingAudi R8 LMS #5 (Scherer Sport Team Phoenix), Ricardo Feller/Kelvin van der Linde/Vincent Kolb/Frank StipplerAudi R8 LMS #15 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Robin Frijns/Kelvin van der Linde/Dries Vanthoor/Frédéric Vervisch
One of the Worlds biggest Endurance races was won this year by Audi. The 50th edition held in Nürburgring this weekend was a real reason to celebrate for the Audi team, along with 230,000 spectators back on the track, after the Covid restrictions were lifted.

The race was started by Robin Frijns, Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Frédéric Vervisch from 22nd position on the grid, with no penalties and no major slip-ups throughout the 24 hours. Toward the end of the 159 laps, a few short but heavy rains challenged the team to make the right decisions regarding the tire selections. This is the sixth overall victory in a decade for the four-ring brand.

Included already on the list of notoriety by the 24-hour Nürburgring event, Van der Linde had previously won an award with Audi in 2017, while Vanthoor and Vervisch won together the grand prize in 2019 as teammates. For the Dutch Robin Frijns, this was the first success on this track.

Audi had some other remarkable moments on the German field. With the Audi R8 LMS, Christopher Haase, Nico Müller, Patric Niederhauser and René Rast had to settle for a fourth place, while the quartet from Audi Sport Team Car Collection started the race from the second row and the race car kept the crowd in suspense for a long time. Also, two other Audi R8 LMS cars found their place in the top 10. Michele Beretta, Kuba Giermaziak, Kim-Luis Schramm and Markus Winkelhock in the car from Scherer Sport Team Phoenix finished fifth, and the number 24 car from the Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport team, with Mattia Drudi, Patrick Kolb, Christopher Mies and Patric Niederhauser finished in sixth place.

Crowned with mentions were Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport, with Dennis Fetzer, Klaus Koch, Dennis Marschall and Simon Reicher in 13th place and Twin Busch by équipe vitesse team, which competed in the Pro-Am classification with Elia Erhart, Michael Heimrich, Pierre Kaffer and Arno Klasen finished 14th.

Others weren't so lucky, like the number 5 car from Scherer Sport Team Phoenix, shared by Ricardo Feller, Kelvin van der Linde, Vincent Kolb and Frank Stippler, which was the only one of a total of seven Audi R8 LMS cars that had to retire early after van der Linde collided with a lapped car during the night. Also, The Audi RS 3 LMS from the Max Kruse Racing team, which competed in the fiercely contested TCR class, was forced to quit after an accident in the morning.

This year, Ernst Moser and his Phoenix squad added to their record the fouth prize won with Audi.

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