Audi Enters 2011 Bathurst Race

The current year is almost over, and manufacturers across the world are already planning big for the upcoming motorsports season. After earlier today Daimler announced it was entering three vehicles in the Dubai 24-hour race, Audi stepped in and announced it would attend next year's edition of the Bathurst race in Australia.

The carmaker will field two Audi R8 LMS cars at the 24-hour race on February 6, with Team Joest to operate the vehicles. The event will mark the first time when the customer sport program presents itself in a new form.

Starting the 2011 season, quattro GmbH will handle all the operations of the program, including development of the Audi R8 LMS, sales and marketing of the cars and the technical support for customers and importer teams.

In the first race to be held under the new ownership, the two cars will be driven by Mark Eddy, Craig Lowdnes and Warren Luff and Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and Darryl O’Young, respectively.

“The race track at Bathurst is a real classic,” said Romolo Liebchen, head of Customer Sport of quattro GmbH. “For our restructured customer sport program Bathurst is certainly a perfect way to start the season.”

“To see the Audi R8 LMS in action there will certainly be a real experience for the fans,” added Ralf Jüttner, team director of Audi race experience Team Joest.

Bathurst, a 6.213 kilometer long Mount Panorama Circuit, is the best known in Australia. For Audi, the race will be the season opener for what is expected to be a long and fruitful 2011.