Audi outlines complete driver lineup for all Rolex 24 classes

Audis
Audis

Audi of America showcases three-class race offerings at the annual ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA race weekend held from Jan. 25-27. Audi Sport customer racing will be represented in the field with eight cars competing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge support series opener on Friday Jan. 25. The 57th running of the 24 hour endurance race will feature four Audi R8 LMS GT3 race cars poised to take the top podium. The brand has won this event twice in the last five years.

Audi Sport customer racing
The 2019 racing season begins with the toughest challenge on the schedule for our Audi R8 LMS GT3 IMSA race teams. The late January event pushes the Audi Sport effort to the limit with 24 hours of racing at Daytona International Speedway. Three new IMSA teams will field the GT3 race car at the event: Starworks, Moorespeed, and WRT Speedstar. Returning to the grid for the third time is Land Motorsports who nearly took the overall win 2017, now on a mission to take the top spot.

In 2009, Audi Sport launched the customer racing program with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 race car, offering customers vehicles designed to compete in international GT3 racing. Redesigned in 2015, the Daytona-winning car continues to dominate in GT3 class having won every major endurance race around the world including at Daytona in 2016.

Audi R8 LMS GT4
The Audi R8 LMS GT4 was derived from the production R8 V10 Plus Coupe and shares 60 percent of its parts with the road car. The GT4's performance and value make it ideal for amateur teams. The 2019 season will include four GT4 race cars fielded by returning team Carbahn Motorsports and new to the Audi Sport customer racing GT4 program, eEuroparts.com. Both teams have entered two Audi R8 LMS GT4 race cars for the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class.

Audi RS 3 LMS TCR
In the third category, the Audi RS 3 LMS TCR race car rounds out the Audi Sport customer racing offering. The Audi RS 3 LMS has won a championship in each year of U.S. competition since its introduction in 2017. Audi will defend the manufacturer’s championship with four cars on the grid. eEuroparts.com has expanded its program to three cars in 2019 and JDC-Miller MotorSports will support one full-season TCR race car.

Audi Sport Team Support
Audi Sport customer racing continues to maximize customer team support in 2019 by expanding the engineering team, reorganizing the parts program and continuing existing sponsorships. The GT3/GT4 race engineer Shawn Ulrich has been promoted to Technical Director. Shawn will be supported by Audi Master Guild Technician, Jon Bialczak. Newly hired RS 3 LMS engineer, Mark Murray, is known throughout the paddock for his Audi Sport prototype experience and winning 24 hours of Le Mans with Champion Racing. To complement the fleet of winning vehicles on the grid, and talent in the pits, an updated parts logistics program will now be supported by parts manager Peter Stuyck from Centigrade, Inc.

Audi Tire Center and Audi Genuine Parts will continue to support race teams in the 2019 season, promoting certified Audi maintenance Genuine Parts and customization through Audi Genuine Accessories.

The driver line-up features multiple 24-hour race winners. The teams/drivers are made up as follows:

GT3

Intended Series
(NAEC, Full or Sprint)

Car

Team

Principal

Drivers

R8
LMS
GT3

IMSA WeatherTech – NAEC

29

Monteplast by Land Motorsports

Christian Land

Christopher Mies (Germany)
Dries Vanthoor (Belgian)
Ricardo Feller (Switzerland)
Daniel Morad (Canada)

R8
LMS
GT3

IMSA WeatherTech – Full Season

8

Starworks Motorsport

Peter Baron

Parker Chase (USA)
Ryan Dalziel (Great Britain)
Ezequiel Perez Companc (Argentina)
Chris Haase (Germany)

R8
LMS

GT3

IMSA WeatherTech – Full Season

19

Moorespeed

David Moore

Will Hardeman (USA)
Alex Riberas (Spain)
Andrew Davis (USA)
Markus Winkelhock (Germany)

R8

LMS

GT3

IMSA WeatherTech – Rolex 24 only

88

WRT Speedstar Audi Sport

Vincent Vosse

Frederic Vervisch (Belgium)
Kelvin van der Linde (South Africa)
Ian James (USA)
Roman DeAngelis (Canada)

GT4

Intended Series

Car

Team

Principal

Drivers

R8

LMS

GT4

Michelin Pilot Challenge

39

Carbahn Motorsports

Steve Dinan

Tyler McQuarrie
Jeff Westphal

R8

LMS

GT4

Michelin Pilot Challenge

93

Carbahn Motorsports

Steve Dinan

Mark Siegel
Tom Dyer

R8

LMS

GT4

Michelin Pilot Challenge

2

eEuroparts.com ROWE Racing

Matt Moran

Tyler Cooke
Kenton Koch

R8

LMS

GT4

Michelin Pilot Challenge

8

eEuroparts.com ROWE Racing

Matt Moran

Gunnar Jeannette
Rodrigo Sales

RS 3

Intended Series

Car

Team

Principal

Drivers

RS 3

LMS

Michelin Pilot Challenge

10

eEuroparts.com ROWE Racing

Matt Moran

Kieron O'Rourke
Lee Carpentier

RS 3

LMS

Michelin Pilot Challenge

12

eEuroparts.com ROWE Racing

Matt Moran

Russell McDonough
Ryan Nash

RS 3

LMS

Michelin Pilot Challenge

61

Roadshagger Racing by eEuroparts.com

Gavin Ernstone

Gavin Ernstone
Jon Morley

RS 3

LMS

Michelin Pilot Challenge

54

JDC-Miller MotorSports

John Church

Michael Johnson
Stephen Simpson

Stream live at IMSATV or Tune in:

Network

Start Date

Day Of Week

Start Time

Green

Duration

End Time

Program Name

NBCSN

1/24/2019

Thursday

2:00PM

01:00

3:00 PM

Season Preview

NBCSN

1/24/2019

Thursday

3:00 PM

02:00

5:00 PM

Rolex 24 Qualifying

NBCSN

1/26/2019

Saturday

2:00PM

2:40 PM

03:00

5:00 PM

Rolex 24

NBC Sports App

1/26/2019

Saturday

5:00PM

04:00

9:00 PM

Rolex 24

NBCSN

1/26/2019

Saturday

9:00 PM

06:00

3:00AM

Rolex 24

NBC Sports App

1/26/2019

Saturday

3:00 AM

03:00

6:00 AM

Rolex 24

NBCSN

1/27/2019

Sunday

6:00 AM

09:00

3:00PM

Rolex 24