The first rear-drive GT3 racing version of Audi’s R8 has been delivered to Audi Sport Italia – one of six customer teams lining up to campaign the car this year.
Twelve R8 GT3 will be delivered before racing starts next month, and Audi says the cars will appear in five European GT3 championships as well as the Nurburgring 24hrs for which a special endurance version has been developed.
The R8 GT3 was conceived as race-ready customer car, and costs roughly €250,000 or €500,000 with a factory support team.
GT3 regulations prohibit four-wheel-drive hence the need for a newly developed rear-drive powertrain with six-speed sequential gearbox.
However Audi claims the racer’s suspension is almost completely standard, and that the bulk of modifications to the road car design have focused on stripping weight and upgrading the aerodynamics. Apparently the racer tips the scales at 1300kgs, which is a good 300kgs less than the production R8.
The racer will be built under the auspices of quattro GmbH at a facility dedicated to Audi’s customer sport program in Germany.
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