Four new Audi GT3s for Spa and 'Ring 24s

Audi will field four of its new second-generation R8 LMS GT3 contenders in both the 24-hour classics at the Nurburgring and Spa. The new car, which was unveiled at the Geneva motor show earlier this month, will undertake the big enduros as part of a development program ahead of its release to customers for 2016.

Longtime Audi regulars Phoenix and WRT have been chosen to race the R8 LMS this season and will each field two cars at the 'Ring in May and at Spa, the most prestigious round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the end of July. The two teams will also give the car its race debut in the opening round of the VLN long-distance championship on the Nurburgring-Nordschleife this weekend.

Drivers for Phoenix include 2013 DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller, who will race at both the Nurburgring and Spa. His first outing in the Belgian enduro since 2011 will give him another chance to become the first driver to win each of the 24-hour classics at Le Mans, Daytona, Spa and the Nurburgring. Rockenfeller will be joined in both races by three-time Le Mans winner Marcel Fassler.

WRT will reunite its 2014 Spa-winning crew of Rene Rast, Laurens Vanthoor and Markus Winkelhock in one of the new cars in Belgium. Audi DTM driver Nico Muller also will be part WRT's line-up in both races.

It appears likely that WRT, which is defending the BES title it won with Vanthoor last year, will run at least one new R8 in some early-season rounds of the championship.

Series rules state that a new car arriving for Spa must compete in at least two races beforehand.

AUDI LINEUPS AT SPA AND THE NURBURGRING

Rene Rast/Laurens Vanthoor/Markus Winkelhock
Nico Muller/Stephane Ortelli/Frank Stippler

Phoenix
Marcel Fassler/Christian Mamerow/Mike Rockenfeller

Christopher Haase/Christopher Mies/Nicki Thiim

Originally on Autosport.com