From across the ditch

Just as Audi has already opened its account for the 2022 racing season in Australia, so too in the land of the long white, the Audi R8 has added another championship victory with the New Zealand’s Team International Motorsport (IMS) storming off the blocks to claim the 2022 New Zealand Endurance Championship.

It’s the third time since 2018 that the IMS team has won the title which sees the best motorsport teams from the North and South Island’s independent competitions face off to see who will hoist the New Zealand Endurance Championship trophy.

Held some 80 kilometres south of Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island, the race was held at the Hampton Downs Motorsport Park circuit, using the 3.8 kilometre international circuit layout.

For Gentleman driver Neil Foster and teammate Jonny Reid, the prestigious three-hour race was the first race in nine months. But it didn’t take the two New Zealanders long to find their rhythm in the Audi R8 LMS despite the long break.

After some intense competition, Reid steadily built a lead on Andrew Waite who shared another Team IMS Audi R8 with co-driver Sam Filmore. At the end of an arduous three-hour battle and a safety-car intervention towards the end of the race, that lead had blown out to 24 seconds and Reid couldn’t be reeled in.

For the driving combination of Foster and Reid, it was their third National Endurance Championship having previously won in 2018 and 2019 in an Audi R8 LMS.