Following the Dec. 7 decision by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) and the World Motor Sport Council to adapt the FIA World GT1 World Championship to European GT3 Championship rules, the Audi R8 LMS Ultra is eligible to compete in the GT1 World Championship.
The first team to take advantage of the new rules is Audi Sport Team WRT, which won the 2011 Spa 24 Hours and Zolder 24 Hours in an R8 LMS. Team WRT will campaign a pair of R8 LMS Ultras, the updated version of the factory’s tremendously successful GT3 customer machine.
“The GT1 World Championship is a wonderful new commitment for us,” said team Director Vincent Vosse in a press release. “We’re facing a challenging new task which all of our team members are looking forward to.”
Because of the change in the rules, Team WRT will now be competing for the R8’s first World Championship title; the R8 LMS has already won a dozen lesser championships.
“We very much welcome the decision of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in favor of the GT3 cars,” stated Werner Frowein, managing director of quattro GmbH. “In the future, this vehicle class will not only stand for high caliber national and European customer sport but also for the world’s pinnacle in GT racing.
“We are delighted that Team WRT has submitted its entry for the World Championship and will be representing the colors of Audi Sport customer racing.”
The R8 LMS Ultra is a lighter, wider version of the R8 customer car, offering about 570 horsepower from its 5.2-liter V10 engine. The old model earned over a hundred victories in two seasons of racing; as more series allow the Audi to compete, that number will only climb.
In the new GT1 World Championship WRT’s Audis will face competition from the Aston Martins of Young Driver AMR, the McLarens of 2011 champions Hexis, plus a variety of BMWs, Ferraris, Ford GTs, Nissans, Corvettes, Mercedes, and Lamborghinis based on past years’ entries.
