WRT, Sainteloc Spearhead Audi’s Four-Car Indy 8H Bid

European outfits Team WRT and Sainteloc Racing will spearhead Audi’s four-car entry for the Indianapolis 8 Hour later this month.

The German manufacturer is providing extended factory support to three works-driven cars under the Audi Sport banner for round two of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season, alongside an independent entry from Sainteloc.

Audi Sport Team WRT will run a pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, after finishing second at the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa season-opener.

Its No. 32 car will be driven by Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup and combined champions Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, as well as Christopher Mies.

Vanthoor, Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde charged through from near the back of the grid at Spa to take second behind the winning Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

The other WRT entry for Indianapolis features Robin Frijns, Nico Mueller and Mattia Drudi.

Frijns and Mueller finished fourth at Spa driving for WRT alongside Dennis Lind.

WRT’s new arrivals, Mies and Drudi, shared an Audi Sport Team Attempto car at the previous IGTC round.

Sainteloc Racing received one Audi Sport-backed vehicle for the 24-hour race in Belgium and will maintain that status for the IGTC’s trip to the United States, which coincides with the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season finale.

Chrisopher Haase, Markus Winkelhock and Patric Niederhauser will co-drive the No. 25 Audi, as they did at Spa where they finished sixth overall.

The drivers of Sainteloc Racing’s private entry have not been confirmed. The French squad announced its plans to contest the full IGTC with Finlay Hutchison back in March.

Audi Sport’s three factory-supported cars will contest the Indianapolis 8 Hour in special ‘stars and stripes’ liveries.

It follows on from a set of unique designs for the 24 Hours of Spa where the manufacturer celebrated Belgium’s art heritage.

“With our customer teams WRT and Sainteloc Racing, we have a strong package for this year’s Indianapolis 8 Hour,” said Audi Sport’s head of customer racing Chris Reinke.

“They are ready to give it everything in order to clinch a good result. The teams will be competing with a special livery on the cars that features a ‘stars and stripes’ design as a tribute to the USA.”

Audi leads the IGTC manufacturers’ standings after the opening round, where it picked up 43 points for the results of its nominated cars.

Only one GT3 Audi took part in last year’s inaugural Indianapolis 8 Hour. Team Hardpoint, working in collaboration with WRT, finished fourth overall with Winkelhock, Mirko Bortolotti and Spencer Pumpelly sharing the wheel.

A lack of Audi customers racing in GTWC America means that the manufacturer’s entry for the second edition on Oct. 17 will comprise exclusively of European teams.

IGTC manufacturers can nominate up to four cars for Indianapolis, with a maximum of three in the Pro category.