Motorsports ranking amateurs

Alex Au raced radio-controlled cars as a teenager. Dino Crescentini visits his local go-kart track for kicks. When they are not busy with their high-powered day jobs, they like to get behind the wheel of a racing car and pit their skills against the professionals.

Amateur racers with a stash of cash and a need for speed are increasingly finding opportunities to get an adrenaline fix, with the launch this year of the Audi R8 LMS Cup.

Au, who works in finance, took part in his first races last year when he joined the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific and Scirocco Cup China. Prior to that he took lessons and earned his motorsport competition licence.

"I always thought it would be fun to get into motorsport, but I thought getting involved was difficult," Au says. "You have to be talented at it, and go to a lot of driving schools, pass exams and get the licence, and so on, so I never got round to exploring it before."

His new hobby is already paying dividends. At the Shanghai International Circuit this month, where drivers hit speeds of about 270km/h on the straight, Au took second podium place in the amateurs' category of the Audi R8 LMS Cup series, the carmaker's first one-make racing venture. It was the finale of a season that spanned six weekends in China at the Shanghai track, and in Zhuhai and Ordos in Inner Mongolia. The amateurs' trophy went to Jeffrey Lee of Taiwan, while local singer-actor Aaron Kwok Fu-shing came third.

The Audi series is the latest opportunity on offer to owners in a pursuit also available to customers of carmakers such as Porsche and Ferrari. The manufacturer is building on not only more than 30 years of motorsport experience but also its position as China's top-selling premium car maker. It sold more than 313,000 cars in Hong Kong and the mainland last year. A small number of mainland drivers also took part in the series, including the only female racer, Zhang Ran.