“Born on the track, built for the road.” This intrinsic Audi Sport philosophy rings particularly true in the case of the new R8, which is set to take to the road in early 2019 featuring a raft of changes, but also two important constants – retention of the much loved naturally aspirated V10 petrol engine, and suffusion with a sizeable dose of racing DNA achieved by sharing 50 per cent of components with the R8 LMS GT3 competition car revealed recently at the Paris Motor Show. Highlights of the latest R8 range include more power, torque and performance, including a first foray beyond the 200mph mark for several versions, and even greater handling precision thanks to suspension and steering revisions.
The power of the naturally aspirated V10 engine at the heart of the R8 is now uprated to 570PS in the ‘standard’ R8 Coupé and Spyder V10 quattro. The top V10 plus versions in each body style will in future carry the name ‘V10 performance’, aligning them with the most powerful models elsewhere in the Audi Sport range, and have also benefited from a power upgrade to 620PS. The four versions will go on sale in Europe in early 2019.
“The R8 occupies a unique position for Audi in every respect,” says Michael-Julius Renz, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH. “It’s now even more powerful and faster.” adds Oliver Hoffmann, Technical Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH: “Motorsport is part of our DNA. With around 50 percent shared parts with the R8 LMS GT3, no other automobile is so close to motor racing as the R8.”
