Audi Sport started celebrating its 40th anniversary this year at the Nurburgring 24 Hours — where four Audi R8 LMS racecars decked in iconic liveries paying homage to specific eras in Audi’s successes in motorsports competed for overall victory. Founded on October 10, 1983, Audi Sport (formerly known as quattro GmbH) has been developing and producing all the high-performance models of Audi, and runs the brand’s motorsports campaigns.
In the last 10 years alone, Audi Sport has produced more than 250,000 vehicles and clinched over 400 racing titles. While honoring its past, Audi Sport is also looking toward the future. The wholly owned Audi AG subsidiary’s 16-model portfolio includes the 100-percent electric Audi RS e-tron GT. With this model, Audi Sport leads the field in electric mobility. Last year, 10,042, or around a quarter of the vehicles delivered by Audi Sport, were RS e-tron GT models.
The Nurburgring and Audi Sport share a close relationship. Every new Audi R and RS model completes several thousand kilometers of development work on the circuit located in Germany’s Eifel region. The Nurburgring is also called the “Green Hell” because of its demanding and unforgiving layout.
Audi Sport has been an official partner to the track’s 24-hour race since 2002, and provides the official cars to the event. Since 2009, the Audi R8 LMS has been competing in the endurance race classic. With six overall victories and three additional GT3 class wins to date, Audi is the most successful manufacturer in the GT3 era of the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
“The Nurburgring is the world’s toughest race track. It is a magical place for us and that’s why it is perfectly suited to start our 40th company birthday at the 24-hour race,” said Rolf Michl, Managing Director of Audi Sport and Head of Motorsport at Audi. “The Nurburgring is considered as a mecca for motorsport fans. But it is also essential for the development of our production cars. All our models are tested there under extreme conditions and brought to production readiness.”
Various models from Audi Sport’s history were displayed at Nurburgring during the anniversary celebration. Included are the original Audi R8 and RS 4 Avant, the current R8 GT, the RS 4 Avant in competition package, and the 100% electric Audi S1 Hoonitron which the late Ken Block drove on the streets of Las Vegas in the “Electrikhana” video.