IMSA: Audi preparing for busy 2016 with new R8

Audi Sport Customer Racing North America is preparing to support two new teams with three cars, and could add a fourth to open the season. Although Audi Sport's Brad Kettler would not confirm the customer teams set use the manufacturer's latest R8 LMS in IMSA's GT Daytona class, new relationships with Magnus Racing and Stevenson Motorsports should be formalized this month.

"Wait until teams get ahold of this bullet," Kettler told RACER. "It's a really cool car, and there's a lot of anticipation for what it can do. It's been dynamite in testing so far and I have to give credit to the teams who are coming in to race the car. Both have done a lot of homework before choosing Audi, and I think there's a lot of strength in both teams that will make people sit up and take notice next year."

Kettler took receipt of Audi's 2016 R8 LMS test car and has been leading private testing efforts in recent months. The car will be present next week at IMSA's performance evaluation test in Daytona where Audi's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams will get to sample the car prior to receiving models of their own to prepare for full-season campaigns.

"I know the teams we're working with have been involved in programs where they've worked closely with manufacturers before, and we intend to slot right in and give the same kind of support, if not more, than they've had in the past," Kettler continued. "We've certainly done more engineering and development with the new R8 than we were able to do when the first R8s came over to the U.S., and I think you'll see that will only increase once teams get their own cars and we bring all of our knowledge and resources together. Having multiple cars in GTD will be a big help for us as we take on the other manufacturers."

A fourth Audi R8 could join the three committed to Magnus and Stevenson, although Kettler says the final decision will likely come from his Audi Sport Customer Racing colleagues in Germany.

"There's still a definite possibility of a wildcard happening late in the game; I think we could see a fourth car happen, and we've spoken about it back and forth with Germany, but there's no action on it at the moment," he added. "It would be great if it happens, but either way, I'm really confident in who we're going to the dance with next year."