Race Ready

While the long awaited appearance of the new Audi RS 3 Sedan was manner from heaven for performance enthusiasts, those with a secret (or not so secret desire) to go racing were left salivating at the appearance of a race version of the sports sedan.

With this exciting new race versions of the RS 3 Sedan, Audi Sport customer racing will significantly broaden its offering in customer sport from the 2017 season.

“Audi has been active in motorsport on the highest level for generations,” says Stephan Winkelmann, Managing Director at Audi Sport with responsibility for the Audi R and RS models which  are sold under the ‘Audi Sport’ brand. 

“With the Audi R8 LMS, Audi Sport customer racing, in a very short time, managed to build a successful customer sport program alongside the factory commitments in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the German touring Car Masters (DTM). The Audi R8 LMS has since become the market leader in its segment. We have the same plans for the Audi RS 3 LMS, which offers customers an attractive opportunity to get started in fascinating Audi racing.” 

The Audi RS 3 LMS is being developed by Audi Sport customer racing for the TCR category which is still relatively new. In addition to an international TCR series, with some of its races being held as part of the FIA Formula One World Championship supporting program, more and more national racing series for TCR touring cars are being founded. Even major endurance events such as the 24 Hours of Nürburgring are now including TCR classes. 

“The TCR market has even larger potential than that of the GT3 category,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “In 2016, there were 10 TCR series with races in 18 countries, and more and more series are being added. With the TCR version of the RS 3 we’re also reaching countries where no GT3 races are held. The costs for a TCR race car are very low. As a result, we’re going to win new customers for Audi Sport as well. In terms of support and parts supply, they’ll benefit from the experiences we’ve been gathering with the Audi R8 LMS since 2009, which our GT3 customers have come to appreciate.” 

Although obviously born of the same model, the RS 3 Sedan and the race version are different animals. The Audi RS 3 LMS accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in about 4.5 seconds and achieves a top speed of about 240 km/h. In TCR trim, it runs the proven four-cylinder 2.0-TFSI engine 243kW as opposed to the 2.5-litre, five-cylinder powerplant of its road going sibling. 

Given its race applications, it features an extensive safety package that includes an FIA-sanctioned safety fuel tank, a racing safety cell, the PS3 safety seat, FIA safety nets on both sides of the seat and a rescue hatch in the roof like the one used in the Audi R8 LMS. 

Audi Sport customer racing will begin delivering the first Audi RS 3 LMS cars to customers this December.