Rounds Three and Four of the 2016 Audi R8 LMS Cup

Rounds Three and Four of the 2016 Audi R8 LMS Cup took place this past weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand.

On Saturday morning, Qualifying and Superpole took place to decide the starting order for the Round Three race later in the afternoon. At the end of both sessions, Belgian newcomer Alessio Picariello emerged on top (setting the fastest time in both sessions along the way) to take pole position. Following behind him was Audi Hong Kong's Marchy Lee and reigning champion Alex Yoong.

The rolling start to the afternoon race saw Picariello and Lee embroiled in a tight wheel-to-wheel battle through the first two corners. This allowed Yoong to pass them on the outside. Subsequently, Picariello recovered to apply intense pressure on Yoong throughout the remaining 16 laps, but Yoong's experience shone through and he managed to hang on for the win, even with fading tyres. Lee finished in third place, ahead of Ryo Ogawa.

"The first half of the race went perfectly as far as I'm concerned and after that I was trying to keep my head down. Alessio was all over me in the second half of the race so I had to be very clever with how I drove. I had to not make any mistakes or he would have got through. I'm happy for the first win of the season for Phoenix Racing Asia and Audi TEDA Racing Team," said Alex Yoong.

The starting positions for Sunday's Round Four race was determined by the fastest lap time set during Round Three, with Martin Rump sitting on pole after setting the fastest lap in what was a disappointing race for him - he suffered mechanical issues after contact with Kyong-Ouk You from Team Audi Korea. You forced him off the track, meaning that he did not actually finish Saturday's race.

It was clear that 20-year old Rump was out to prove a point - starting from pole, he immediately began to put distance between himself and the rest of the field, driving at a blistering pace. He romped to a wire-to-wire finish, taking the chequered flag 7.3 seconds ahead of Picariello. Despite carrying 35kg of race success ballast, Picariello managed to hold off Jan Kisiel, who finished in third place.

Further down the field, Alex Yoong (carrying 50kg of race success ballast after winning the previous race) finished fifth after driving a impeccable race to fend off the challenge of Ogawa, who remained on his tail throughout the race. 

In the Amateur class, Jeffrey Lee emerged victorious in both races this weekend, fending off competition from Alex Au. In the Masters class, Daniel Bilski took home double victory for local outfit B-Quick Racing. 

"The intense competition between the Cup rookies and the established drivers has been the story of the season so far. Today was the day of the youngsters. Congratulations to Martin Rump, Alessio Picariello and Jan Kisiel for their great performances," said Bernd Goeres, Director of Audi Sport customer racing Asia.

After Rounds Three and Four, Picariello sits atop the overall classification on 65 points, just ahead of Yoong (63 points) and Rump (61 points). The next rounds of competition will take place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia next month.

Check out the gallery for a look at the exciting Audi R8 LMS Cup action that took place over the weekend. You can also visit www.audir8lmscup.com or www.audi-motorsport.com to keep up with the race series, as well as catch live streams of the upccoming races. 

2016 Audi R8 LMS Cup - Overall Classification after Round Four

Pos	Points		Driver	Team					Class
1	65		Alessio Picariello	MGT Team by Absolute					Pro
2	63		Alex Yoong	Audi TEDA Racing Team					Pro
3	61		Martin Rump	Champion Racing Team					Pro
4	49		Marchy Lee	Audi Hong Kong					Pro
5	45		Rahel Frey	Castrol Racing Team					Pro
6	32		Jan Kisiel	KCMG					Pro
7	30		Cheng Confu (Franky)	FAW-VW Audi Racing Team					Pro
8	20		Ryo Ogawa	KCMG					Pro
9	20		Aditya Patel	Team Audi R8 LMS Cup					Pro
10	7		Yuichi Nakayama	KCMG					Pro
11	7		Kyong-Ouk You	Team Audi Korea					Pro
12	6		Jeffrey Lee	Team Audi Volkswagen Taiwan					Am
13	2		Alex Au	Phoenix Racing Asia					Am
14	0		Johnson Huang	Absolute Racing					Am
15	0		Vincent Floirendo	EN Sport by Absolute					Am
16	0		Bhurit Bhirombhakdi	Absolute Racing					Am
17	0		Sun Jing Zu	Absolute Racing					Am
18	0		Daniel Bilski	B-Quick Racing					Masters
19	0		Yoon Sanghwi (Rick)	Phoenix Racing Car					Masters
20	0		Thong Wei Heen (Jasper)	Phoenix Racing Asia					Am
21	0		Chun Hua Chen (Kevin)	J-Fly Racing by Absolute					Masters
22	0		Mark Chung	J-Fly Racing by Absolute					Masters