AUDI customer teams take a stunning one-two victory at Daytona

• Britain's Oliver Jarvis achieves GT class win on US race debut
• Alex Job Racing and APR Motorsport complete one-two success for the Audi R8 GRAND-AM
• All three race teams in contention for victory until the end

At the Daytona 24 Hours, the Audi R8 GRAND-AM produced its best showing to date when Britain's Oliver Jarvis along with co-drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Edoardo Mortara and Dion von Moltke, won the GT category in a dramatic finale.

The runners-up Ian Baas/Marc Basseng/René Rast/Frank Stippler. trailed the winners by just 1.4 seconds to earn the Audi R8 GRAND-AM a magnificent 1-2.

Despite 65 percent of each lap having been driven at full throttle, the R8 GRAND-AM that is powered by a production-derived 5.2-litre, V10 FSI engine, ran flawlessly on the notorious oval track for an entire day and night.

With the class victory at Daytona Audi, under factory commitments or in cooperation with its customers, has now won the world’s most important 24-hour races.

The latest evolution of the Audi R8 GRAND-AM experienced a successful baptism of fire in the toughest GRAND-AM race of the year. All four of the updated customer sport race cars for the United States ran with technical perfection to the finish.

Each of the three race teams held the lead at least once and had a chance of clinching victory until the very end.

"We achieved this dream result in what was only our second attempt at Daytona," enthused Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. "With that, the R8 GRAND-AM in the United States is continuing the string of successes of its GT3 sister model that has clinched a total of five overall victories at European 24-hour races in the past two years."

Alex Job Racing in the end was the best Audi team. Right in the first quarter of the race, the squad provided the first Audi driver - Edoardo Mortara (F/I) - to take the lead in the GT class. Afterwards, Dion von Moltke (USA), Filipe Albuquerque (P) and Jarvis, from Burwell near Cambridge, in the white R8 GRAND-AM set the pace. But spins and time penalties then caused car number "24" to drop back several times.

Particularly controversial was a 30-second penalty that was imposed after Mortara had spun and a competitor was allegedly obstructed in the incident.

Albuquerque then stood up to the pressure exerted by his brand colleagues in the dramatic final phase. For him, as for Mortara and “factory” Audi Sport driver Jarvis, this meant victory on their Daytona debuts.

Jarvis commented: “It's been an incredible experience and a great way to kick start my race season. The whole race was such a roller coaster of emotions as so much happened. With just two hours to go, it looked like we were out of contention for the race win despite running strongly for 22 hours as we were given what we felt was a very harsh 60 second ‘stop and go’ penalty. However, due to a late Safety Car period, we were able to get back on the lead lap which was key to our race victory.

“I've never previously experienced so much drama and action in a single race. The last half hour was almost unbearable to watch as we knew it was going to be a close finish but Filipe did a fantastic job of handling the pressure.

“When he crossed the finishing line, the team ‘erupted’ in celebration. I think I was definitely more nervous in the final few minutes as a spectator than if I was actually driving.

“Daytona is a race I've always wanted to contest and to win on my debut is something very special. This definitely rates as one of my best and most enjoyable wins. 

“A big thanks must go to Alex Job Racing who were superb all weekend and got the strategy absolutely spot on! Also to Audi for giving me the opportunity to be part of such a great event while of course the R8 GRAND-AM was just sensational.”

Audi’s first 24-hour victory in the United States completes an impressive track record. After eleven victories at Le Mans plus the successes of the R8 LMS at Spa, Zolder and the Nürburgring, Audi - thanks to its customer teams at Daytona - has clinched another classic 24-hour race in its favour.