Bates Rues Missed Opportunity in Audi R8 LMS Cup Opener

Tony Bates is ruing a lost chance of adding to his win tally at the Adelaide street circuit, spinning out of a podium position in the Audi R8 LMS Cup opening race on the streets of Adelaide today.

After being relegated back to fourth due to some aggressive driving from his rivals on the opening lap, the Moveitnet/C-Tech Laser Audi racer pushed on, setting the fastest lap of the race and moving back into the top three, only to spin into retirement at Turn 5.

While disappointed with the result, Bates was pleased with his overall pace.

“The start was less than ideal but we were fighting back strongly – in the first half of the race I was clearly faster than Theo Koundouris, but it was hard to follow him closely enough to be able to overtake, due to the aerodynamic turbulence through Turn 8,” Bates said.

“Heading into Turn 5, I caught both the accelerator and the brake pedal at the same time, which caused me to spin.

“I accept it was an error on my part but the good news is I get to start on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s second race, so I’ll definitely be looking to make amends,” Bates concluded.

The second Audi R8 LMS Cup race will again be held over 20 laps, starting at 10:55am tomorrow (11:25am east coast time).