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Seven Audi R8 LMS Will Compete in the Nurburgring 24 Hours

This weekend, more than 200 cars will take on the Nurburgring 24 Hours race, including seven Audi R8 LMS cars entered by the Audi customer teams ABT Sportsline, Black Falcon and Phoenix Racing.

More than 200,000 spectators are expected to turn out for the 38th edition of the endurance classic around the notorious Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

Last year, when the new GT3 sports car made its debut in the 24-hour race with support from Audi Sport, Team ABT Sportsline with Christian Abt, Jean-François Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer and Lucas Luhr clinched victory in the strong field of the SP9 class and finished as the overall runner-up.

For the Audi R8 LMS this race was a final test in extreme conditions on the world’s longest race track,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We were able to show that our new GT3 sports car is absolutely competitive for customer sport. The experience gained on the Nordschleife last year was fed into the final version of the R8 LMS which has been delivered to our customers since this spring,” Ulrich added. 14 teams have received their customer vehicles since the deliveries started.

Like in 2009, Team ABT Sportsline is fielding two R8 LMS cars driven by the Audi “factory” drivers Mattias Ekström, Oliver Jarvis, Lucas Luhr and Timo Scheider, among others. Team Phoenix Racing, which is entering a total of three R8 LMS cars, has reinforced its line-up by two “factory” drivers as well. Mike Rockenfeller and Markus Winkelhock will compete for the Eifel-based squad.

In addition, two of the most successful former Audi “factory” drivers – Frank Biela and Hans-Joachim Stuck – are contesting the event for Phoenix Racing. Marcel Fässler, who will run in the Le Mans 24 Hours for Audi in 2010, is also part of the line-up of the team from Meuspath that has won the endurance classic in the Eifel for as many as two times.
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