As we all know, Audi has been hugely successful in the world of LMP racing since the turn of the century. 13 victories at Le Mans since 2000 proves that. But it's gone largely unnoticed just how well the
R8 LMS
has also done in the lower ranks of sportscar racing since its 2009 introduction.
R8 has made a name for itself in GT racing
With the 200th car now completed at Neckarsulm, Audi is keen to stress just what has been achieved in the past seven years. Between the first and current generation cars, the R8 LMS has won 28 championship titles worldwide, on top of 34 class titles, nine 24-hour victories and another four in 12-hour races. That's quite some record, especially in such a fiercely competitive GT arena.
But more than that, it's an Audi racing car that's proved popular with fans again. Be honest, has the highlight of any recent Le Mans trip been the Audi LMP1 car? With the R8 however, V10 wailing away and with tangible links back to the road car, we've had an Audi sportscar to really fire the imagination. Watching these race against AMG GTs, Bentley Continentals, Ferrari 488s and more is something you must do if you haven't already.
Now Audi, about this road car...
The 200 split is in favour of the old car predictably (136 to 64), so expect the current R8 LMS to continue in production for a while yet. Stephan Winkelmann - yes, don't forget he's
at Audi now
- said "The demand shows that both our product and our services are focused on the customer and absolutely competitive." It probably won't have escaped Winkelmann's attention that Audi is doing rather better in GT racing than Lamborghini at present either.
An idea, finally. Audi is rightly very proud of how much the motorsport R8 shares with the road car, so why not celebrate the fact more strongly? An R8 GT3 (or whichever moniker Porsche will allow) could address those concerns that the road car is a bit joyless, and create a link to track success that many probably aren't aware of. And no, the 24-hour edition doesn't count. Bentley has made it happen recently, as has Mercedes-AMG, so why not Audi too?