Audi Sport has published the list of 14 official drivers it will field in GT races for the 2023 season.
The number has dropped compared to past years, with the abandonment of some pillars such as René Rast and Nico Müller, who after the closure of the LMDh program in favor of entering the field in F1 preferred to take other paths, which they subsequently chose together to their Team WRT the young Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor.
The last farewells to the Ingolstadt manufacturer are those of Nathanaël Berthon, employed in the development of the Audi RS 3 LMS TCR and seen in action in the FIA WTCR fighting for the title against the BRC Hyundai driven by Mikel Azcona until the last round, and above all of Kelvin Van Der Linde, who leaves the Four Rings with successes in GT endurance competitions, ADAC GT Masters, where he won the title in 2014 and 2019, and DTM.
Kelvin van der Linde, ABT CUPRA Formula E Team, on the starting grid
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
The 2023 driver roster sees the entry of Simon Gachet and Max Hofer. The 29-year-old Frenchman had already taken home the Silver-Sprint title in the GT World Challenge Europe 2020, winning the Gold Medal at the FIA Motorsport Games in 2022. The 23-year-old Austrian instead grew up in the Audi Sport TT Cup and TCR Germany, before moving on to GT4 and the ADAC GT Masters, getting his hands on the GTC championship title with the R8 LMS GT3.
Among the confirmations there is the Romagna-born Mattia Drudi and the young Luca Engstler, who joined the Audi line-up last year together with the Belgian Gilles Magnus, in addition to Ricardo Feller, Christopher Haase, Pierre Kaffer, Dennis Marschall, Christopher Mies, Markus Winkelhock , Frédéric Vervisch, Patric Niederhauser and Nürburgring veteran, Frank Stippler.
#26 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3: Lucas Legert, Simon Gachet, Gilles Magnus
Photo by: SRO
“With this driver line-up, we are well positioned for the 2023 season and can support customers with the individual strengths of our drivers across a wide variety of programmes,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport Customer Racing.
“A warm welcome to Simon and Max, who have known our products for a long time. We have observed them for years and are delighted to be able to give them these opportunities.”
“A big thank you also goes to two other drivers who are no longer part of our team this year. Nathanaël Berthon achieved victories for us in the WTCR and made a fundamental contribution to the development of the Audi RS 3 LMS”.
“Kelvin Van Der Linde has achieved titles, 24-hour race victories and many other successes with Audi. While he is giving new impetus to his career, we would be happy to see him behind the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS again in the near future for programs individuals or competitions”.
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