Indian GT driver Aditya Patel will be hitting the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia this weekend for Round 3 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup Asia. The German automaker's one-make championship will see the 28-year-old race for the second time time at Sepang. While Patel was leading the championship last year when entering Malaysia, this year has been rather unfortunate for the driver right from the start.
Speaking ahead of Round 3 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup, Aditya Patel said, "It hasn't been an ideal start to the season. Last year I came into Malaysia in the lead of the championship but this year things haven't gone our way. Unfortunately the lack of time between Thailand and Malaysia means we haven't been able to test the car to sort our the minor issue we have. Anyway, we hope to sort it out during practice and have a better run this weekend!"
Aditya Patel was leading the Audi R8 LMS championship during Sepang last year
Driving the Audi R8 LMS race spec car, Aditya Patel had a rough start this season after encountering some issues with his car at Round two in Buriram in Thailand. The Chennai based driver still managed to put up a tough fight and qualified for the super pole finishing seventh in Race one, thereby scoring some crucial points. However, Race two at Buriram circuit ended up prematurely after being hit by his teammate.
The Audi R8 LMS Cup is part of the Audi Sport Customer Racing Asia programme and is the brand's first one-make championship globally. The cup uses the Audi R8 LMS, which is the GT3 race car with more than 2000 international victories. The LMS car has been developed alongside the production version and is powered by a V10 engine and comes with a lightweight, aluminium Audi Space Frame construction. Interestingly, the race car shares around 50 per cent of its technical base with the road going model.
Currently in its fifth season, the Audi R8 LMS Cup has seen a growing interest from enthusiasts this year along with new drivers joining the cup as well with the most recent being DTM race winner Edoardo Mortara. After the race results in Buriram, Thailand, the LMS Cup is led by Alessio Picariello (MGT Team by Absolute), followed by Alex Yoong (Audi Teda Racing Team) and Martin Rump (Champion Racing Team).
