Audi announces the return of the Audi R8 GRAND-AM at this weekend’s 6 Hours at Watkins Glen race as part of the endurance championship. Audi to field two cars that will contest the endurance championship within the GRAND-AM schedule – a quattro GmbH factory team and new customer-racing team, Fall-Line Motorsports.
Two Audi R8 GRAND-AM race cars will be taking to the grid this weekend at Watkins Glen in an effort to win the endurance championship as part of the overall GRAND-AM schedule. This weekend’s race at the 6 Hours at Watkins Glen marks the return of the winning Audi R8 GRAND-AM that won the Daytona 24 Hours earlier this year as well as several of the winning drivers. Felipe Albuquerque (Portugal) – who took the checkered flag at Daytona, Eduardo Mortara (France/Italy) and Dion von Moltke (South Afraica) will pilot the number 24 car. Watkins Glen will present the drivers and the car with many challenges as the track is relatively unknown to the number 24 drivers except von Moltke who has raced there before.
Fall-Line Motorsports will make its debut at Watkins Glen in the number 46 R8 GRAND-AM in the B+ (Be Positive) livery. “We are very pleased to have Fall-Line Motorsports join our R8 customer-racing program and are optimistic about the future of customer-racing in the U.S. Fall-Line brings a lot of great experience with them and we look forward to jointly seeking a spot on the podium as we go forward,“ said Brad Kettler, Director of Operations, Audi customer-racing, Audi of America.
“The Audi sports car legacy and its knowledgeable and experienced support staff are an obvious choice for us to help further evolve our team and we’re proud to represent the ‘four rings’ synonymous with sports car and endurance racing,” said Mark Boden , Fall-Line Motorsports Team Principal.
Piloting the car at Watkins Glen will be current Fall-Line drivers Al Carter, Charles Espenlaub, and Charlie Putman, all of whom drive currently in the Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge Series for the team. The successful Fall-Line trio has worked together for several years and has won many races including Fall-Line’s team and drivers’ 2010 Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge Series championship with Espenlaub and Putman. The #46 will be carrying sponsorship from the beloved charity that Al Carter and all of
Fall-Line have supported over the years with B+ Racing featured prominently on the car.The R8 GRAND-AM shares approximately 50 percent of its parts with the R8 production car. The 5.2 Liter V10 naturally aspirated engine fitted to the R8 GRAND-AM is tested for maximum durability on the track, requiring its first rebuild interval at approximately 12,000 miles driven at race speeds. Other competitor race engines require rebuilds at approximately 5,000 miles. Every production car developed by the Audi performance division, quattro GmbH, is driven 4,700 miles at high speeds around the Nuerburgring by factory race car drivers and engineers that work in unison to ensure engine, transmission, steering and suspension characteristics are optimized.
The new 2014 R8 production car has been further improved upon and now offers a new V10 Plus model with 550 horsepower that can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds using the new in-house developed 7-speed double clutch S tronic transmission that is exclusively used in the R8. The 6-speed manual gated shifting transmission remains available on all models as well as new full-LED lighting design. New cross-stitched leather seats and door inserts round out the improvements on the interior of the 2014 R8 production car.
Audi hopes to build upon its racing success in GRAND-AM at Daytona and in endurance racing having just won the Le Mans 24 Hours with the R18 e-tron quattro.
