Four Audi R8 LMS’ To Race At Nurburgring 24 Hour

German manufacturer Audi has announced it will take part in the famed 24 Hours of Nurburgring endurance race to be held next month, fielding four R8 LMS race cars.

The race is held on the Nurburgring’s 22.81 kilometre Nordschleife circuit, renowned internationally as a true test of driver ability and a car’s ultimate performance.

Audi will not be preparing the vehicles for the race, however, handing responsibility of the R8s over to the ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing teams, who will field two cars each. Data compiled from the race will be used by the company to make final engineering adjustments before the new race car is made available to customers.

Audi’s Head of Motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich said: "The Nürburgring-Nordschleife is considered one of the world's toughest and most demanding race tracks.

“Similar to Sebring for the sports prototypes, it is superbly suited for revealing the final improvement potential of any new race car. This is exactly what we're planning to do at the 24-hour race before delivering the R8 LMS to customers, starting this fall."

Featuring a mid-mounted 373kw (500hp), 5.2 litre FSI V10 engine, paired with a recently developed six speed sequential sports gearbox, the R8 LMS is Audi’s first ever car developed solely for customer use.

While the road going R8 features the quattro four-wheel-drive system, the race-spec LMS runs a rear-wheel-drive, so as to comply with GT3 regulations.

It can be all yours for the miserly sum of approximately $AU478,000.