Race evolution

Audi Sport customer racing has revealed the latest in its hugely successful stable of race cars, with the unveiling overnight of the evolution R8 LMS GT3. The Paris Motor Show was the venue for Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH, Michael-Julius Renz, and Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing to present the new car to press and VIP guests.

The new car will write the next chapter in what has been a tremendously successful model for Audi Sport and one of the most successful GT3 cars of all time. 

“In developing the evolution of the car, we’ve put even greater focus on our customers and their needs,” says Chris Reinke. “The predesign stage for the second evolution of our current model generation centered on many discussions with our teams.”

The R8 LMS has recorded wins globally since its debut, claiming sprint and endurances and titles in Bathurst, Daytona, Dubai, Laguna Seca, Nürburgring, Sepang and Spa to name just some of the famous tracks it has dominated. Both professional race teams, privateers and amateur campaigners have enjoyed success with the R8 LMS, and this evolution model is expected to build significantly on the model’s success.

The evolution R8 LMS is the fourth new model from Audi Sport in as many years, with the second-generation Audi R8 LMS released in 2015, followed by the RS 3 LMS TCR touring car in 2016 and the Audi R8 LMS GT4 last year.

With this new car, Audi Sport has concentrated on providing customers with an even better technical base than before, while optimisation of the aerodynamics and cooling give greater consistency under various dynamic driving conditions. Durability of the power transmission elements is another focal area with longer service intervals for the clutch and transmission adding an additional benefit. The evolution kit is also available for retrofitting to existing race cars.

Following the world debut in Paris, the first customer racecars will be available in Australia this year and an evolution kit for retrofitting older models will also be available. Once FIA homologation is complete, the evolution R8 LMS GT3 will begin to make its presence felt on race tracks around the world from January next year.