16/04/2010

New Home For The Audi R8 LMS

The Audi customer sport programme launched in 2008 has entered a new phase with the inauguration of a dedicated customer sport centre in the direct vicinity of Audi Sport.

The new customer sport centre on Roderstraße in Ingolstadt has officially opened its doors in time for the highlight of the GT3 sports car season - the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring on May 15.

"The customer sport program with the R8 LMS is Audi Sport’s third pillar in addition to the DTM and Le Mans, and is becoming increasingly important," said Audi’s Head of Technical Development (TE) Michael Dick, who officially opened the centre together with Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich.

"By creating the customer sport centre, we have found a way to do justice to the ever-increasing number of R8 LMS customers," Mr Dick added.

Last year, it was predominantly teams affiliated with Audi that competed in the fascinating GT3 sports car. Now for the first time in the 2010 season, the cars are entirely in the hands of private teams, with Audi Sport giving them technical support.

"There is huge demand for the R8 LMS," said Dr Ullrich.

"We were unable to manufacture enough vehicles for 2010 to satisfy potential sales, so we initially focused on the European market. The new customer sport centre clearly shows how important customer sport is to Audi."

Audi Sport will deliver around 20 R8 LMS vehicles to customers in 2010. Ten have already been in use since last year and have since been upgraded to the very latest technical standards with an update kit.

The new customer sport centre serves as an efficient and modern service point that enables Audi Sport to offer owners of an R8 LMS perfect service.

(PR/GK)

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