By Tarek Ramchani and Johan Laubscher
The Audi brand had a very successful 2013 season in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship. Four Audi Sport customer racing teams represented the Four Rings in one of the most demanding - if not the best - national GT series worldwide.
The Audi teams were challenged by very strong rivals from Britain and beyond, which formed a very healthy and quality field. Some podiums and strong performances, but also bad luck for the teams all season long. In the end United Autosports came very close to taking the overall honours, narrowly missing the British GT crown by a mere 1.5 points.
The season review has been compiled from the 2013 Audi Motorsport Blog Weekend Round Up posts. Each round has been added as was seen in the individual Weekend Round Up posts during 2013, which can be accessed via the links throughout the review below:
Oulton Park hosted the British GT Championship over the Easter weekend. Three Audi cars entered the event which included a R8 LMS and a 2012 and 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra. The United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra (2012) performed well this weekend and finished race one within the top ten. Race two saw the United Autosports entry battling at the front and they were part of the lead battle during the closing stages. The #25 UA entry finished in a well deserved second place during race two, after a dash to the flag following a late race caution.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (30-31/03 - 01/04/2013)
The British GT held round two of the championship over the long holiday weekend, running from Sunday until Monday. Three Audi teams were entered at Rockingham, an Audi R8 LMS from Blendini Motorsport, a 2012 Audi R8 LMS ultra from United Autosports and a 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra from M-sport. By the end of the 2-hour race, two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars had made it onto the podium. M-Sport finished in a strong second ahead of United Autosports in third. The Blendini Motorsport R8 LMS finished in seventeenth place.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (4-5/05/2013)
The Silverstone 500 was held this weekend, round three of the British GT Championship. The 500 was a special three-hour event and three Audi teams took part. M-Sport entered one 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra, United Autosports with one 2012 Audi R8 LMS ultra and Blendini Motorsport with an Audi R8 LMS. The teams had performed very well at round two of the championship but they battled this weekend. None of the Audis qualified within the top twenty. The race itself saw M-Sport perform very well and they recovered to fourth place overall, the only Audi within the top ten. United Autosports finished seventeenth and Blendini twentieth. The M-Sport Audi was penalized during the week that followed the Silverstone 500. They dropped from fourth to eleventh overall in the final classification.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (25-26/05/2013)
Following two endurance race meetings the British GT Championship arrived at Snetterton for two more traditional sprint races. Only two Audis competed this weekend, one Audi R8 LMS ultra each from M-Sport (2013 spec) and United Autosports (2012 spec). They performed well with M-Sport taking pole position for race one and United Autosports qualifying fourth for race two. The first race saw M-Sport taking another podium by finishing in second, followed by the UA Audi recovering up to fifth. United Autosports battled at the front during race two and finished in third, ahead of the M-Sport Audi which had moved up to tenth by the flag.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (15-16/06/2013)
The British GT headed to Brands Hatch this weekend with three Audis on the grid. United Autosports entered their Audi R8 LMS ultra along with the Audi R8 LMS entry from Blendini Motorsport. The third Audi entry had a familiar driver line-up, but was represented by a new team. M-Sport had previously run the #10 Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Rembert Berg and Warren Hughes. The M-Sport team will now be focussing their efforts on the test and development program for the new Bentley Continental GT3, thus WRT has been selected to run the Berg / Hughes #5 R8 LMS ultra for the remainder of the season. None of the Audis qualified within the top ten, the highest R8 LMS ultra was the United Autosports car in twelfth. By the end of the two hour race the best ranked Audi was the #25 United Autosports R8 LMS ultra in sixth place. Both the WRT and Blendini Audis dropped back due to problems. WRT managed to recover to fourteenth place.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (10-11/08/2013)
The British GT headed to Zandvoort for the sixth and penultimate round of the season. Two Audi cars were entered: the #25 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra and the #5 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Team WRT. One Audi placed within the top ten of both qualifying sessions, WRT in the first session and United Autosports in the second session. The first race finished with both Audis finishing inside of the top ten. The second race turned out to be very difficult for the two Audis. The United Autosports R8 LMS ultra finished tenth, whilst the WRT entry retired from the race.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (7-8/09/2013)
Donington Park played host to the British GT finale. Two Audis were entered this weekend: one Audi R8 LMS ultra from United Autosports and one R8 LMS from Blendini Motorsport. United Autosports arrived at the event with their drivers, Matthew Bell and Mark Patterson, still in the hunt for the driver’s title. It was a must win scenario, as they needed race victory and misfortune for fellow competitors. They qualified seventh for the two hour event. The race got underway with a terrific stint from Patterson, who was able to move up to the top three. Bell took over after the pit stop and stormed into the lead. During the closing stages the points stood at a mark which would have crowned the Audi drivers as champions, but unfortunately the final positions dictated that the Audi pairing would ultimately finish second in the points, missing out on the title by a mere 1.5 points. United Autosports may have missed the title, but they did win the final race of the year.
Taken from Weekend Round Up - Audi Motorsport Blog (5-6/10/2013)
Photo credit: British GT
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