Dutchman Niels Langeveld will be promoted to racing in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in 2019 when he joins Gordon Shedden, Jean-Karl Vernay and Frédéric Vervisch as part of Audi’s quartet of drivers.
Langeveld will be the second driver to move up from the ADAC TCR Germany series, where he raced between 2017 and 2018 in Audi RS3 machinery with the Racing One team.
In the German TCR series Langeveld was a regular front-runner, winning four times and finishing the 2018 season third overall in the drivers’ standings, having been in the hunt for the title until the very end of the year.
The 30-year-old joins Audi’s drivers in WTCR, partnering Vervisch at the Belgian outfit Comtoyou Team Audi Sport.
“We’ve decided to include a successful driver from our customer racing program in the Audi Sport squad,” explained Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “Niels Langeveld has performed consistently well in the ADAC TCR Germany over the last two years and he has impressed us.”
Shedden and Vernay will continue to race for the WRT-run Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport.
“With Gordon, JK and Frédéric proven winners in WTCR / OSCARO, Niels is in a good position to learn and progress in his rookie season,” said François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events.
“He’ll face tough opposition on the #WTCR2019SUPERGRID, but he’s impressed Audi Sport customer racing and it’s good to see they are giving a customer driver such a good opportunity to make his name.”