Absolute Racing Returns to Macau GP Podium with Audi and Mortara

The team entered three Audi R8 LMS GT3s in the race and battled for victory with Edoardo Mortara – an absolute expert on the streets of Macau with four wins in the streets of Macau with Absolute Racing. On Friday's qualifying session, Mortara had secured a good starting position with second place on the grid. 

The 36-year-old pro driver finished third in the qualifying race for the FIA GT World Cup on Saturday. He set the fastest race lap by two tenths of a second in the Audi R8 LMS of Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute. As a result, he also started the decisive World Cup race on Sunday in third place. Over the course of the 16-lap competition, he improved to second position. In the end, he missed his eighth personal victory in Macau by just 2.5 seconds behind winner.

Teammate Christopher Haase had finished Saturday's qualifying race in twelfth and knew in advance that he had a lot to work on to move up in the classification. The German pro driver showed all his skills, even struggling with high tyre pressures. He gained five positions in the second half of the race to cross the finish line in seventh.

Absolute Racing-run FAW Audi Racing Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II finished 13th. After last year's premature end to his weekend in Macau's Circuito da Guia, Cheng Congfu was more cautious this time and took advantage of that during the race on Sunday. Without taking unnecessary risks, the Chinese driver benefited from other drivers setbacks to climb in the classification to finish second between the Silver-ranked drivers.

TEAM QUOTES: 

Ingo Matter (Team Director): “Words cannot express how much Edo impressed us this weekend. Before the Macau Grand Prix, he had never driven an Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II since our previous race together last year, and he had also never used the new tyres for this year. His performance was amazing, and we think we made the most of the package that we were given. Christopher performed admirably as well. Franky's P2 in the Silver Cup is another noteworthy accomplishment for our partner FAW. I would want to express my gratitude to the entire team that put in two weeks of work to make it happen, as well as Audi Sport customer racing in Beijing and Neuburg, for their continued support.”

Cheng Congfu (#13 FAW Audi Racing Team): “I lost two positions at the beginning of today's race, which has an impact on the outcome because this is a challenging circuit to overtake. Over the weekend, the car's balance wasn't really ideal for me. I'm hoping that in the future I'll get the chance to take part in another event of this calibre.”

Edoardo Mortara (#40 Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute): “My race was an intense one from the start to the end. For some reason we were missing some acceleration and top speed than yesterday, so I had to push even harder in the mountain section, sliding around and touching the walls. I don’t even know how we managed to finish where we finished. I guess Maro had a problem. The move wasn’t great but it is what it is. In all honesty, we wouldn’t have been able to challenge. I'm happy with the second place finish.”

Christopher Haase (#41 Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute): "I had a very very good start, actually too good for the Mandarin corner, where I took the two guys in front. We were not as fast as we expected, and that put me in a difficult position, and I lost a few places. Afterwards I struggled with tire pressures, but I caught back position while the others were fighting for positions. I started P8 and finished P7, and that's obviously not bad."