GRAND-AM: APR Eyeing Expanded Audi R8 Effort

Second Audi R8 GRAND-AM possible later in Rolex Sports Car Series season; team also looking at programs for additional series...




While APR Motorsport has yet to embark on its first race with the new Audi R8 GRAND-AM, the Alabama-based squad already has a close eye on a possible expanded program with the mid-engined sports car.

APR President and CEO Stephen Hooks has revealed to SPEED.com that a second car could be in the works later in the Rolex Sports Car Series season, while also not ruling out possible programs in other series as well.

“We're really happy with GRAND-AM,” Hooks said. “This is our fifth year [in GRAND-AM]. We're running the whole season, but there are other series that are opening up their doors [to the car].

“We'll certainly take a look at that and even possibly taking the car overseas for some rounds. Maybe not this year, but next year for sure. We're excited about a lot of the opportunities of taking this car to a lot of places.”

Despite being new to the U.S. market, the R8 has been the most successful GT3-spec car ever produced, earning more than 100 wins in worldwide competition since its debut in 2009. More than 40 have been solid to customers, including APR, which became the first U.S. customer.

While the GRAND-AM variant has some noticeable differences to the FIA GT3 version, notably a thicker roll cage and lack of ABS and traction control, Audi has all of the parts necessary to easily convert the car into different specifications.

“The scalability is very good, that's the beauty of this car,” Hooks said. “If you're looking to run a GT3-spec or ALMS-spec, you're talking about well under three or four days of work converting back and forth. It's not difficult.

“Some of the other cars like Porsches, you really can't without very expensive modifications. The beauty of this package that it really speaks to the engineering that went into it. It wouldn't be a big deal for us, or for other teams down the road to do that.”

Hooks would not confirm any plans to run in the American Le Mans Series, should IMSA, through the support of the ACO, homologate the R8 for GT-class competition, but has no doubt kept a close eye on the latest developments unfolding in all series worldwide.

Emanuele Pirro, Dion von Moltke, Dr. Jim Norman, Ian Baas and Nelson Canache will lead the team’s single-car Rolex 24 effort, with von Moltke and Norman staying on for the entire 13-round championship.

John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at askdagys@gmail.com