http://www.youtube.com/v/qlEV-jH0dnA
Next weekend sees the opening round of the 2012 FIA World GT1 Championship at Nogaro in the south of France, which will be the opening shots of a barrage of GT events coming our way. Team WRT burst onto the GT racing scene in 2010 with a trio of Audi R8 LMS – during their first year they were never off the podium in the Belcar series races they contested, and then in 2011 a full season in FIA GT3 netted three wins and second place in the hard-fought Drivers’ Championship.
The team is led by Vincent Vosse, a noted GT driver in his own right, and this year WRT have a fleet of new Audis tackling events around the globe: in World GT1, the Blancpain Endurance Series (which includes the Spa 24 Hours), the French GT Championship and both the Nurburgring and Zolder 24 Hour events.
Their new R8 LMS Ultra contender is lower, wider, lighter… faster. And it will need to be to take on the hardcore opposition in GT1 this year: nine manufacturers will be battling this year, with more promised. The thumping, flaming last-gen monsters might have gone, but the GT3-based cars for 2012 will rapidly mutate over the coming years to become just as impressive as their forebears.
WRT recently ran out their new 2012 GT1 weapons at Zolder in Belgium, which will host the second round of the championship. This video shows some awesome shots of the cars firing around this fast, narrow track: it really accentuates the speed of the R8. They’ll already be needing new splitters after the pounding from the track’s vicious bumps and kerbs… And the sound! The rasping roar of the 5.2-litre 90° V10 reverberates around the forest track: these smaller circuits are where the championship will really shine.
As you can see from the big stickers on the car, Speedhunters have a personal interest in the WRT Audis this year: we’ll be following the team’s progress across their various championships, kicking off with an in-depth look at the team at the Blancpain Endurance Series race at Monza in two weeks time. There we’ll be getting the inside line on the race with new WRT Audi signing and Speedhunters driver Edward Sandstrom.
Jonathan Moore
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Speedhunters!!!!!
wooooooo!
EPIC! Nice to see you guys have hooked up with a great team and a great pair of cars!!
Such a shame that none of these cars are actually GT1 cars, just slightly more powerful GT3 cars. Nothing can ever replace the C6.R in GT1.
GREAT VIDEO!
looking forward to seeing the real livery.... I assume this is just a testing one. Andy do your stuff
How bout the Schubert BMW Z4? will NFS/Speedhunters still be sponsoring that car? Will we still get Edward Sandstrom writeups? =(
I've got to be honest--I didn't really enjoy that vid. I've seen the car before, heard it with better sound, and it was full of lots of boring Germans lol... Sorry this feels like a Jeremy Clarkson response to the video but I think they could've done a better job. Compare this to the BRZ GT300 video.
This Audi R8 LMS raced last weekend at Circuit de Catalunya V de V meeting. Here you can see it in action: http://www.flickr.com/photos/circuitcat/7035447655/in/set-72157629350186044
oh how the standards on here have fallen.
Posting any old crappy video, Where is Mr Roegge. Hope you guys are still sponsoring the Schubert Z4. Looked amazing. Whats up with this R8?
This was an exciting race it seems. Instead of competition, both were attributed with performance levels. I am impressed with the Audi as always.