The streets of Adelaide

Sweltering heat and massive crowds were on hand for the opening round of the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup in Adelaide.

The Superloop Adelaide 500 race weekend marked the debut for Australia as an official round in the international Audi R8 LMS Cup.

Stuart Martin

4 March, 2019


The popularity of these race cars, so close in many ways to their road-going counterparts, was obvious in Adelaide

Australian motorsport circles once rang out with the saying ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ and in some instances it rings true even today.

While other Australian motorsport series have moved significantly away from production car racing roots, the GT series has seen a resurgence in interest surrounding motorsport that involves racing machines also made for the road.

Renewed interest in the 12-Hour endurance race at Mount Panorama is reflected in the support of GT3 racing globally.

In Australia, GT racing has grown in strength and numbers over recent years and the popularity of these race cars, so close in many ways to their road-going counterparts, at the Adelaide 500 weekend was no exception. 

The Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup is the brand’s first one-make series and remains the only brand-specific category worldwide to use full-spec GT3 race cars.

The Superloop Adelaide 500 race weekend marked the debut of this year’s 2019 Audi R8 LMS Cup, before the series heads off around Asia for the remaining nine rounds in China, Japan and Malaysia. As part of the undercard for the opening of the Supercars series for 2019, spectator interest was huge across the entire weekend, despite temperatures that tested drivers and their machines to the limit.

Scheduled between the Bathurst 12-Hour, the Australia Formula 1 Grand Prix and the start of the GT Championship, the field saw a 10-car grid on the circuit to the east of Adelaide’s CBD.

The GT3 cars are on almost on par with the Supercars of Holden, Ford and Nissan in terms of lap times and the off-beat howl of the V10 powerplants endears the category to the crowd.

Any suggestion the series is gentlemen racers unprepared to rub panels in the name of competitive racing is quickly refuted by the on-track action.

The race lost two key combatants – Singha Plan-B by Absolute Racing’s Bhurit Bhirombhakdi and defending champion Absolute Racing’s Andrew Haryanto – who continued their 2018 battle to the detriment of their vehicles, with both failing to finish the first race.

Ambient temperatures of over 40 degrees resulted in track temperatures 10 degrees higher and the race car cabins were closer to 60 degrees, making shade and hydration among the more in-demand commodities for those spectators trackside, let alone the drivers.

The GT3 cars are on almost on par with the Supercars of Holden, Ford and Nissan in terms of lap times

The searing heat on the Saturday tested the drivers and their machines 

The searing heat on the Saturday tested the drivers and their machines even more; hampered by perspiration in their eyes and drink bottles delivering warm fluids thanks to the in-cabin temperatures, this was a true test of endurance.

Adelaide business identity Yasser Shahin kept clear of the early race carnage and pursued eventual race winner Tony Bates, putting The Bend Motorsport Park R8 into second despite gearbox problems. 

Shahin also recorded the fastest lap of the race prior to his gearbox issue, but he managed to nurse the car home and kept third-placed Audi Sport Team Valvoline’s Geoff Emery on the bottom step of the podium by less than half a second.

Absolute Racing’s Mark Williamson took the GT4 win ahead of fellow team member Anderson Tanoto, while Absolute’s Ryan Liu didn’t start the event after a 200km/h altercation with the notorious turn 8 wall left the R8’s elegant snout somewhat shorter.

Slightly cooler conditions greeted fans and drivers on the final day of the event, giving teams food for thought on changing tyre pressures and other factors that would be impacted by less demanding temperatures.

Between 10 and 30kg of ‘success ballast’ was added to the podium-placed cars from Round 1 but this didn’t hamper Geoff Emery.

The third place-getter from round one took top spot in the second race, as the Audi Sport Team Valvoline driver also slotted into top spot on the GT3 championship leaderboard.

CTVS Racers by Absolute’s Alex Au took a hard-earned second after an eventful race ahead of The Bend Motorsport Park’s Yasser Shahin in front of a record Adelaide 500 crowd of 91,500 people. 

Au and Bhirombhakdi bolted from the start and shoved their noses into the first corner fray, prompting much of the record crowd to gasp in anticipation of carbon-fibre carnage through Senna Chicane, but some good race craft kept the field moving.

In Round 2, between 10 and 30kg of ‘success ballast’ was added to the podium-placed cars from Round 1

The series lays claim to an international television viewing audience of 39 million in more than 70 countries

Bhirombhakdi failed to finish, perhaps succumbing to Emery’s pressure and speared off the track with just over a lap of the race remaining.

The GT4 order was reversed for Sunday’s race, with Anderson Tanoto ahead of Mark Williamson.

There’s no question these drivers compete to win and more than a few jibes in the post-race press conferences demonstrated the intent, but it was far from the icy atmosphere that cloaks many media calls from F1 down.

Handshakes at the end aren’t forced, and neither is the humour with the combatants leaving the biff’n’barge on the track. 

Following the successful opening in Adelaide, the series to China for Rounds 3 and 4, to be held at the Zhuhai International Circuit in the Guangdong Province in May, followed by two more rounds at the Shanghai International in June.

Form Rounds 7 and 8 the series heads to Suzuka in Japan at the end of August, before the final two rounds at Malaysia’s celebrated Sepang International Circuit.

The series lays claim to an international television viewing audience of 39 million in more than 70 countries, as well as being broadcast live online on social media platforms.