Audi racing for customers

A GT racing version of the pocket rocket TTRS
will be the first junior family member to join the Bathurst-winning R8 LMS in Audi’s customer racing program.

The turbocharged, five-cylinder, all-wheel drive coupe is in the middle of an intensive development program with Audi’s quattro GMbH racing car division to give its burgeoning racing business a cheaper, less daunting entry car.

And the TTRS may just be the start of something bigger, with sources claiming quattro is also planning RS3 and RS5 racing models and may even bring an A1-based racing car into its customer program.

After proving its reliability at the Nürburgring 24 hour races in 2009 and 2010 (pictured) and its speed with a 1-2 finish at this year’s Bathurst 12 hour enduro, the R8 LMS has now found 35 customers from as far afield as China, Brazil and Japan as well as Europe. However, quattro GmbH customer racing head, Romolo Liebchen, admits there has been demand for a racing production Audi that was cheaper than the R8 LMS, which sells in Germany for between €260,000 and €300,000.

“The R8 LMS concept will expanded in the near future with a modular customer racing program with a model line-up including new vehicles, beginning in 2012,” Liebchen said at a presentation at quattro’s Heilbronn-Biberach race factory in Germany this week.

“We will be significantly expanding the classes and types of races Audi customer race cars can enter and that will start with the TTRS next year.”

The most-powerful model in the TT range, the racing version of the TTRS made its debut at the Nürburgring last year as part of quattro’s test program to prepare the car for customer racing.

The 1100kg TTRS racer will produce between 29-44kW more than the standard 250kW road car’s engine at 6000rpm and will have a crunching 530Nm of torque arriving in a flat line between 2500 and 4000rpm. Audi will mate this engine with a six-speed sequential racing gearbox and mechanical differentials instead of the road car’s Haldex IV system.

“GT3 racing is interesting because no other racing has such variety of different models and powertrains and affordability,” Liebchen claimed.

“Our idea is to make it easier for gentleman drivers to enjoy their racing under extreme conditions without being too concerned about detailed preparation. The idea from us is that all the cars that leave here start in the races with the same performance levels.”

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