History of Audi at Macau

By Johan Laubscher

Macau 2011

The streets of Macau are famous for hosting the prestigious Grand Prix of Macau. The Audi R8 LMS ultra will debut at Macau this year looking to defend the GT Cup title. Edoardo Mortara was victorious at the 2011 Macau GT Cup in his #66 Audi R8 LMS from Absolute Racing. The victory marked the third event victory at Macau for an Audi. Various Audis have entered events at Macau in the last two decades. We have included a brief history of the four rings at Macau below.

Macau 1993

The famous Macau Guia Race (touring car event) was the scene for the first four Audi appearances. The first Audi to take to the streets at Macau was an Audi V8 DTM entered by a Belgian team in 1993, driven by Bernard Winderickx. 

Macau 1996

Following the debut in 1993 there were entries of Audi A4 STW teams at Macau in 1996, 1998 and 1999. 1996 saw Frank Biela take the overall victory ahead of Brad Jones from Australia for an Audi 1-2 overall finish. 

Macau 1998

After missing the 1997 event, Audis returned to the streets in 1998 with the Australian Audi team consisting of Brad Jones and Frank Biela. Jones achieved a third place overall finish. 

Macau 1999

The 1999 Macau Guia race had the most Audis ever entered. A total of four Audis were entered by Phoenix Racing and Mayer Motorsport. It was a dominant display as Michael Bartels stormed to the second Audi victory at Macau.

Macau 2010

After the 1999 victory the Audi brand would not be seen at Macau for over a decade. The drought finally came to an end with the introduction of the Audi R8 LMS in 2009. At the end of 2010 the FIA GT3 specification racer from Audi made its Macau debut with United Autosports and Absolute Racing. The cars were competing in the Macau GT Cup. It was a successful debut with two podium places.

Macau 2011

In 2011 the victory was the clear goal, and Mr Macau, Edoardo Mortara, did not disappoint. Absolute Racing and Mortara were untouchable on their way to victory. Along with the victorious #66 Audi R8 LMS two more Audi entries came from United Autosports and Hitotsuyama Racing.

Macau 2012

The entry list for the 2012 Macau GT Cup includes the GT Asia competitors. There will be three Audis on the grid. Two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars from the Audi R8 LMS Cup team have been entered, which includes Edoardo Mortara. The third Audi R8 LMS ultra is the Team Hong Kong Racing entry of Phillip Ma. The 59th running of the Macau Grand Prix is set for 18 November 2012.

Below are videos from all the above mentioned Macau events where Audis have been entered. 

 1993 1996 1998 1999 20102011

Images: Audi R8 LMS images from the Absolute Racing FB page (LINK), touring car images are screenshots from the included videos.