The road to GT2

Since its unveiling at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the striking new Audi R8 LMS GT2 has not sat idle, making numerous appearances around Europe as the excitement about the coming GT2 class builds.

Just three weeks after its appearance in the hands of Tom Kristensen at Goodwood, the new Audi R8 LMS GT2 grabbed the limelight once again, this time at the home of the world’s biggest GT race – the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium. Here, the R8 LMS GT2 was both a crowd attraction and something of a race official, on display for racegoers to inspect and also leading the field on a special parade lap around the track and then right into the heart of town.

On this occasion it was another Audi Sport legend, Markus Winkelhock, who was behind the wheel of what is the most powerful model in the brand’s customer racing program.

“Following its much-noticed debut at Goodwood, Spa was the perfect second appearance for the Audi R8 LMS GT2 in front of many fans and numerous potential customers,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. 

“Other appearances at major public events in and outside of Europe such as at Concours d’Elegance in Pebble Beach (where the Audi PB18 e-tron premiered last year) are already being planned.” 

The really big news is that the official GT2 category will become a reality in 2020, under the guiding hand of the SRO Motorsport Group, opening up an attractive new field of activity exclusively for gentleman drivers. 

Speaking at the Spa race weekend, Stéphane Ratel, CEO of the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO Motorsport Group) made the announcement and confirmed the future calendars for racing across three continents. 

Describing the new class as “Not GT1…no hypercars but the most powerful of this car range,” he said “there could be some GT3 models being developed. It’s a merger between GT3 and GT4, with a lot of power.” 

So while many questions about the new class and exactly which other manufacturers will be taking part, it is confirmed that the GT Sports Club Europe for GT2 models will be racing in five European countries in 2020 while the GT2 Sports Club America in the United States encompasses five events as well. 

The GT2 Sports Club Asia completes the global platform with three events to be held in Malaysia, Japan and China. In addition to these three central fielding opportunities, Track Days and the increasingly popular events at Race Resorts provide other attractive stages for the new GT2 sports cars. Audi is among the pioneers in this category and in 2020, SRO expects up to six manufacturers to compete in the GT2 class with their high-performance sports cars.