Bortolotti to Depart Audi

Photo: Audi

Mirko Bortolotti will depart Audi Sport at the end of the year, it has been revealed, with the Italian driver set to make a switch to another manufacturer for 2021.

The 2017 GT World Challenge Europe champion announced his departure from the German brand following Saturday’s Kyalami 9 Hour, where he claimed a second place finish in the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season finale.

Bortolotti joined Audi from sister brand Lamborghini at the beginning of this year.

“Second place, for me personally, I’m quite happy with this result,” he said. “It was the last race for me with Audi Sport as I will race for another brand next year.

“I want to take the chance to say thank you to everyone at Audi Sport and WRT for the great year we had together.

“I will not continue with them but I will continue to have a lot of respect for everyone.

“We shared a really good year and I will have really good memories from this season, even though it’s been a really tough one for other reasons.

“Still on track it was great to be here.”

Sportscar365 understands that Bortolotti could be returning to Lamborghini although nothing has been confirmed.

The No. 32 WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo he shared with Charles Weerts and Frederic Vervisch appeared to be on track for victory in Kyalami until a bizarre sequence of events in the final hour that was run largely under Full Course Yellow conditions due to heavy rain and lightning.

Walkenhorst Motorsport secured the win and IGTC drivers’ title for drivers Nicky Catsburg and Augusto Farfus.

“I think we can be happy with the result in the end of the day,” Bortolotti said. “A few meters made the difference between win and a second place today.

“We had to go through the pit lane to reset the drive time with Fred. Otherwise we would have gotten a penalty.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John