Audi’s foray into the GT3-class has officially been forged in the form of the Audi R8 GT3 racecar. Internally referred to as ‘R16’, the R8 GT3 will be available for customers to buy in the fall of 2009, with the first races planned for later the same year.

According to Audi, the GT3 version of the R8 will pump out 500 horsepower, all of which will be sent through a sequential sport six-speed gearbox, exclusively to the rear wheels (GT3 regulations prohibit the use of four-wheel drive).
Other changes include a revised front fascia, racing-spec wheels and tires and a large rear wing to help keep the R8 GT3 glued to the tarmac. The R8 GT3 will use the majority of the R8’s stock suspension pieces.
The R8 GT3 will be build alongside the standard R8 by Audi Sport and the quattro GmbH.

Audi develops race version of the R8

Customer sport programme with the mid-engine sportscar

First races planned for 2009 season

Factory driver Frank Biela completes roll-out

For the first time, Audi Sport will offer a racing sports car specifically developed for customer use in the form of the powerful 500 hp plus GT3 version of the Audi R8 which will be available from autumn 2009. The logistics and factory space required for the AUDI AG customer programme will be created over the next few months in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Gyr.

"The R8 is the first production Audi bearing the name and genes of a successful racing sportscar and is therefore an excellent base from which to build up our first big customer sport programme, explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "Ever since the R8 was unveiled weve been inundated with enquiries about a race version. With the Audi R8 we will offer customers a racing sportscar equipped with high-calibre technology and the typical Audi qualities, but which is nevertheless easy to handle.

The Audi R8 conforms to the production-based GT3 regulations allowing the car to be fielded in numerous national and international race series.

Because the GT3 regulations prohibit the use of four-wheel drive the Audi R8 comes with the typical GT rear-wheel drive. The power is transmitted via a newly developed six-speed sequential sports gearbox. The suspension uses almost exclusively components from the production line. A comprehensive list of safety equipment guarantees the highest-level of passive safety. A modified front end and a large rear-wing generate the required downforce for the race track.

The Audi R8, which bears the project name "R16 within Audi Sport, was developed under the direction of Audi Sport. Mid August, the first prototype successfully completed a roll-out in the hands of Audi factory driver Frank Biela.

The first test races in various European racing series are scheduled for the 2009 season. Delivery to the customers is planned from the autumn of this coming year.

The customer cars are manufactured together by Audi Sport and the quattro GmbH, which is also responsible for production of the Audi R8 street version, and Audi Hungaria Motor Kft. (Gyr).

Caught testing at the Nürburgring, the Audi R8 GT3 is Audi's entry ticket into GT3 racing. Conducting what must be a highly daunting task, ABT Sportsline is testing the GT3, which was first introduced in August 2008. ABT are also responsible for the Audi DTM racecar. Doing the driving was Frank Biela, the Audi factory driver who has won 24 hour race at Le Mans a good five times.

The R8 GT3 is a 500-plus bhp machine using a V10 engine and a 6-speed sequential gearbox. This is in line with other competitors in the formula. However, 4WD, that is, quattro in this case, is not allowed in any of the cars in the championship, and so the R8 GT3 is 100 percent rear-wheel-driven.

Audi will enter the GT3 in 2009 for competition, but hopes are high that depending on its success, GT3 will spawn a road-going version, albeit possibly in limited numbers.

Audi Motorsport's plan for 2009 is on track to produce a new LMP1 called R15 TDI for the Le Mans 24 Hours, an A4 for DTM and the new R8 LMS. Of interest here is the LMS customer programme, recently spied at the ‘Ring a while ago. It's essentially a race car that will be seen trying to prove its mettle at Formula GT3 from 2009. As a customer-focused project, it's customers who will be racing these cars; up to eight of them competing in various European series as well. The factory itself will not enter a GT3 car in any race.

"We know just how important motorsport is for the success of the brand," said Michael Dick, Chairman of the Board for Technical Development and the man in charge of AUDI AG motorsport programme. "Therefore it goes without saying that Audi must also be present on the race track in economically hard times. It is all the more important for us to enter a motorsport category in which the cost-benefit calculation is positive."

The LMS car develops 500hp/ 373kW-plus V10 that takes ordinary Audi customers and turns them into Christian Abts of the world. Speaking of which, Abt is very much involved in the development of R8 LMS, as are Frank Biela and Frank Stippler, all very experienced racing drivers. A 6-speed sequential gearbox works in tandem with the engine to drive only rear wheels on the ground.

Interested buyers will have to fork out a proposed €262,000 (VAT included) for the privilege.

The first Audi R8 LMS has been delivered and the customer is a racing team very close to the Ingolstadt-based automaker - Audi Sport Italia.

The R8 LMS is a 10-cylinder 500 hp GT3 racer and, as part of its new customer sport program, Audi will be delivering 12 of them to 6 racing teams for the 2009 season. On Tuesday, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who heads Audi Sport, handed over the first model with the chassis number 101 to Emilio Radaelli, team manager of Audi Sport Italia, at the Audi Forum in Neckarsulm.

Besides Audi Sport Italia, the R8 LMS GT3 will also be fielded by racing teams Abt Sportsline, Argo Racing, ORECA, Phoenix Racing and Team Rosberg. Those teams will be competing in 5 European GT3 championships series and Phoenix Racing will also be taking the R8 to the 24-hour race at Nürburgring, for which Audi has developed a special endurance version of the car.

The R8 LMS will make its debut on Easter weekend in the first races of both the ADAC GT Masters circuit, held in Oschersleben, Germany, and the French GT Championship (ORECA) which takes place in Nogaro, France.

* GT3 sports car competes in Nürburgring 24-hour race
* Teams ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing with two cars each
* High-calibre driver line-ups featuring four DTM Champions

Ingolstadt - In the course of the further development of the Audi R8 LMS, an ultimate endurance test is on the agenda for the new GT3 sports car of AUDI AG at the end of May: On May 23/24, Teams ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing, with "factory" support by Audi, will field a total of four vehicles in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.

"The 24 Hours is not only one of the biggest motorsport events in Germany," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "The Nürburgring-Nordschleife is considered one of the world's toughest and most demanding race tracks. Similar to Sebring for the sports prototypes, it is superbly suited for revealing the final improvement potential of any new race car. This is exactly what we're planning to do at the 24-hour race before delivering the R8 LMS to customers, starting this fall."

The Audi R8 LMS delivering some 500 hp has so far completed two "test" races as part of the BFGoodrich Endurance Championship on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife and already clinched a podium result in the process. Another "test" race is planned for May 2. On that day, the 14 drivers scheduled to contest the 24-hour race will be at the wheel of the four vehicles.

Teams ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing managed to form high-calibre driver squads consisting of five current Audi "factory" drivers, four DTM Champions, four Le Mans winners and five drivers who have won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring at least once. All 14 drivers are regarded as outstanding endurance racers who are intimately familiar with the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

They include the reigning DTM Champion Timo Scheider, who - together with his DTM teammate Mattias Ekström and three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner - will compete for Team ABT Sportsline. On the occasion of the Audi brand's 100th anniversary, their Audi R8 LMS will contest the event as car number 100. The second ABT Sportsline R8 will be driven by Christian Abt, Jean-François Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer and Lucas Luhr.

Marc Basseng, Mike Rockenfeller and Frank Stippler will drive one of the two cars of Team Phoenix Racing. With the multiple Le Mans winners Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Hans-Joachim Stuck as well as Marcel Fässler at the wheel, the second R8 LMS fielded by Phoenix Racing has a particularly prominent cockpit crew.

With three overall victories under his belt so far, Hans-Joachim Stuck, who has been the Motorsport Representative of the Volkswagen Group since January 2008, is one of most successful drivers of the 24-hour race. Lucas Luhr, Emanuele Pirro, Timo Scheider and Mike Rockenfeller have entered their names on the winners' list of the endurance classic as well.

Also Team Phoenix Racing has already won the Nürburgring 24 hours. It triumphed at its home race in the Eifel region in 2003. The best result (second place) achieved by ABT Sportsline so far dates back to 2003 as well.

The 37th edition of the ADAC Zurich 24-Hour Race will start on Saturday, May 23, at 4 p.m. (local time). Practice sessions will be held on Thursday and Friday. The sports channel DSF will air extensive live coverage from the Nürburgring.

The Audi teams at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring:

Audi R8 LMS #97 (ABT Sportsline)
Christian Abt (D)
Jean-François Hemroulle (B)
Pierre Kaffer (D)
Lucas Luhr (D)

Audi R8 LMS #98 (Phoenix Racing)
Marc Basseng (D)
Frank Stippler (D)
Mike Rockenfeller (D)

Audi R8 LMS #99 (Phoenix Racing)
Frank Biela (D)
Marcel Fässler (CH)
Emanuele Pirro (I)
Hans-Joachim Stuck (A)

Audi R8 LMS #100 (ABT Sportsline)
Mattias Ekström (S)
Timo Scheider (D)
Marco Werner (D)

• GT3 race sports car has undergone further technical development
• Delivery to customer teams has started
• Annual production for 2010 is already sold out

Ingolstadt, March 8, 2010 – With the delivery of the first customer cars, Audi AG’S GT3 customer sport program has reached the next phase. By mid-April, 20 Audi R8 LMS vehicles will have been handed over to the teams that are planning to run the GT3 race sports car in various national and international racing series and in the two 24-hour races at the Nürburging and at Spa-Francorchamps in the 2010 season.

After its successful 2009 debut year in which Audi Sport partners clinched three champions titles and 23 victories in 76 racing commitments the Audi R8 LMS will now be handed over to customers for its second season, as planned. Last week United Autosport from Great Britain was the first team to receive its two R8 LMS cars.

To offer customer teams a perfect a race car as possible, Audi Sport is making use of the opportunity offered by the GT3 regulations and will obtain FIA homologation of an evolution-version of the R8 LMS which features numerous technical improvements compared with last year’s model. The previous vehicles will be brought up to the current level by an update kit and teams can thus continue to run them.

"During our evolution project we primarily focused on service life and maintenance-friendliness,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "All the experience we gathered last season with the help of our partners has been fed into the evolution-version. We’re convinced that we’re handing over a reliable and easy to handle vehicle to our customers that embodies the high quality standards of the Audi brand.”

Certain details of the chassis and suspension have been revised. The capacity of the engine’s cooling system has been improved even further so that the R8 LMS can also be used in extreme ambient temperatures without any problems. The complex electronics as well as the exhaust system have been optimized for use in racing. The newly developed six-speed racing transmission is particularly maintenance-friendly. It allows wearing parts to be inspected through an opening in the housing. The transmission does not have to be dismantled for this purpose.

Over the past few months the evolution-version of the Audi R8 LMS was extensively tested on various race tracks and rigs and its durability proved in several endurance tests.

The final version of the Audi R8 LMS is available at a price of 298,000 euros plus VAT. The annual production for 2010 is already sold out. The delivery of vehicles for the 2011 season will start at the end of this year.

In 2012, the Audi R8 LMS ultra will succeed the successful R8 LMS GT3 sports car with which R8 LMS customers have won 115 races and 12 national and international titles in the space of just three years.

Improving a totally successful vehicle yet again: This was the challenging task specified for the engineers of quattro GmbH. Audi’s wholly owned subsidiary that has been responsible for the customer sport program as of this season pursued a clear aim for this project. "Our customer teams provided us with valuable suggestions and stated their wishes for the various fields in which the car is used,” says Werner Frowein, Managing Director of quattro GmbH. "We have close ties to our customers and analyzed their suggestions and wishes worldwide, and subjected the R8 LMS to further development in many details. In the R8 LMS ultra we consistently implemented all the performance measures which ensure that we’ll be able to continue to offer an intercontinentally competitive and attractive race car in the future.”

Romolo Liebchen, Head of Customer Sport at quattro GmbH, and his development team focused on several central areas. New doors made of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) in combination with high-energy absorbing new crash foams not only help reduce the race car’s weight even further but also result in another increase in passive safety. The new PS1 safety seat developed by Audi, which is now part of the standard equipment, serves this purpose as well. It offers perfect protection and clearly surpasses the mandatory minimum requirements under extreme loads.

An updated transmission provides additional reserves on long-distance runs. In the past season, the Audi R8 LMS had already made its mark as an excellent long-distance expert and achieved overall victories at the Bathurst (Australia) 12 Hours, the Spa and Zolder 24 Hours and GT3 class victory plus third place overall at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

A new exhaust system equipped with race catalytic converters helps improve the engine’s characteristics. The V10 mid-engine can draw on even higher torque at lower engine speeds. The 5.2-liter unit delivers a power output of up to 419 kW (570 HP), depending on restrictor regulations. It is still based on the production engine produced at Audi’s plant in Györ, Hungary. Mileages of up to 20,000 kilometers were certainly typical in customer operations before and continue to be easily achieved.

The optimized cooling system of the race car successfully combines several objectives. In addition to a larger engine oil cooler and transmission fluid cooler, an oil cooler for the steering hydraulics that used to be installed at the front is now located in the vehicle’s mid-section. The characteristic side blades of the Audi R8 enable enlarged air vents for the cooling system in the new R8 LMS ultra for improved thermal management. At the same time, air supply to the radiator at the front of the vehicle has been improved, as has the interior ventilation.

The chassis of the Audi R8 LMS ultra was updated in several steps. At the front 12-inch, instead of 11-inch, wheels are now used. As of the next season, development partner Michelin will be offering wider – 30-65/18 – tires, which allow more consistent lap times to be achieved. Optimized brake cooling at the front wheels improves the durability of the braking system. Instead of the previous silent rubber mounts the transverse control arm mounts now feature uniball joints. Weight-reduced compression and rebound-adjustable gas dampers with optimized characteristics from partner Bilstein complete the chassis package and represent the latest state of development.

Aerodynamic improvements complement the changes for 2012. The wider front hood has been optionally provided with louvers, subject to permission by the homologation rules for the various racing series. The new rear wing has been widened and now features larger end plates. Work in the Audi wind tunnel has led to a yet more efficient position of the wing for maximum downforce and minimized aerodynamic drag. The improved air flow and larger effective area increase downforce on the rear axle. A new front plate with optimized diffusion under the front end guarantees perfect aerodynamic balance.

As of 2012, all new vehicles will be equipped with the evolution stage described above. For the existing vehicles, quattro GmbH offers conversions to the 2012 evolution stage.

In addition, Audi is pursuing a subsequent homologation for individual aerodynamic improvements to include the 2011-generation vehicles. This ensures that the current model continues to be competitive with slight modifications.

"We’re convinced that the Audi R8 LMS ultra will continue the successes of its predecessor,” stresses Romolo Liebchen. "With over 40 customer sport vehicles delivered, the first generation of the R8 LMS was already a sporting and commercial success.”