Audi Sport in GT4 racing: Audi Sport customer racing headed for growth

Audi Sport GmbH’s customer racing program has been experiencing rapid growth. Following Audi Sport’s launch of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 race car in 2009, the presentation of the second generation of this success model in 2015, and the RS 3 LMS for the TCR category in 2016, the portfolio of models Audi offers to customers has been extended once again in 2017. The Audi R8 LMS will be unveiled in its GT4 variant before the New York International Auto Show on April 11, 2017. In racing, the production-based GT sports car will make its public debut in the Nürburgring 24 Hours from May 25 to 28. With that, the brand will be filling another growing category in international motor racing. The GT4 class, which originated in Europe, will be intensively marketed on an international scale starting in 2017, with fielding opportunities available in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

GT racing fascinates an increasingly large fan community. Alongside the popular GT3 category the GT4 class is extending its presence on a global scale starting in 2017. Audi Sporthas developed a new customer racing model for this promising category – the R8 LMS GT4. The GT3 model’s “little brother” reflects an even closer orientation to the Audi R8 Coupé *, shares more than 60 percent of its assemblies with the road-approved sports car, and is produced at the Böllinger Höfe site in Germany, as well. As a result, Audi creates synergies from which the customers of the new race car will benefit in terms of purchasing cost and cost of ownership.

Audi is developing the GT 4 model, which can deliver up to 364 kW (495 HP) of rating-dependent power output, in the course of the 2017 season before achieving a final homologation state and requesting approval for racing. During the second half of the year, the team of Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing, will be preparing the production of the race car so that the new Audi R8 LMS GT4 can start to be handed over to customers by the end of the year.

For the R8 LMS GT4, Audi Sportdraws on an extensive global network of services, spare parts logistics and professional support. Audi Sport customer racing has established this infrastructure for the GT3 project on four continents and will be using this proven network for the GT4 model range as well.