Two Audi R8 GRAND-AM race cars to contest at world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Herndon, VA – Audi announces that two Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars will race this tonight at 7:30pm EST at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the third and final race of the North American Endurance Championships. Both a quattro GmbH factory team and the new customer-racing team, Fall-Line Motorsports, will race in the three-hour Brickyard Grand Prix, the eighth round of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series.

The Audi R8 GRAND-AM that won the Daytona 24 Hours earlier this year will race this Friday at the Indianapolis Motors Speedway in an effort to win the North American Endurance Championship. Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal) – who took the checkered flag at Daytona – and Edoardo Mortara (France/Italy) will pilot the number 24 car.

A full factory effort under the name of Audi Sport customer racing, the number 24 car will be directly supervised by quattro GmbH and Kettler Motor Werks. Audi Sport customer racing is currently third in the team’s standings of the North American Endurance Championship with 22 points. Albuquerque and Mortata – both racing in the DTM with Audi Sport Team Rosberg – are fourth overall in the driver’s standings with 22 points.

Fall-Line Motorsports, which debuted at 6 Hours at Watkins Glen last month, will also race in the Brickyard Grand Prix. The number 46 R8 GRAND-AM will be piloted by current Fall-Line drivers Al Carter, Charles Espenlaub, and Charlie Putman. The three drivers finished in fourteenth within the GT class at Watkins Glen.

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.

The race will be televised on Speed TV tonight – Friday, July 26th at 7:30 pm EDT. Live timing and scoring is also available at www.GRAND-AM.COM.