Mies Parts Ways With Audi Sport

Audi Sport factory driver Christopher Mies will part ways with the German brand after a lengthy tenure that saw him claim two Nürburgring 24 victories.

The German racer will make his final start for Audi at this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS finale at Adelaide.

Mies leaves the German lineup’s ranks ahead of its planned shuttering of factory-supported GT3 activities next year amidst a shift to a customer-only support model. It is understood some of Audi’s drivers still have contracts into 2024.

Mies was one of the first Audi drivers to achieve championship success as part of the Ingolstadt marque’s GT3 effort when he joined Christopher Haase at Phoenix Racing to win the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship.

He then went on to secure back-to-back wins at the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2011 and 2012, first with Joest Racing and then once again with Phoenix.

The 34-year-old was also part of the new R8 LMS GT3’s breakthrough victory at the 2015 N24, teaming with Nico Mueller, Laurens Vanthoor and Edward Sandstrom to win with Team WRT.

A second N24 win followed two years later, this time with Land Motorsport alongside Kelvin van der Linde, Markus Winkelhock and Connor De Phillippi.

Mies and De Phillippi, who has since gone on to become a BMW factory driver, also won the ADAC GT Masters title together in 2016.

“Mostly nothing is forever and today marks the day I will go into my last weekend as an Audi Sport driver,” Mies wrote on social media.

“Inside of me, I still have some dreams I want to achieve. You might all think of the success we had together was everything I ever dreamed of and you’re right.

“All of it has been a dream. But I still feel like I’m not done yet, I still feel the hunger and I still have some certain goals. Therefore I’ve decided to take on a new challenge and fulfill those goals.

“To end the career with Audi Sport in the country I immediately fell in love with once I touched ground and Audi sent me as a young kid to win the Bathurst 12H twice and the Australian GT Championship is a dream for me.”