Unknown Audi R8 race car set for Paris Motor Show reveal ~ station of gear

Steve Walker 2018-10-01 19:00

It’s not the R8 facelift but Audi Sport seems to have a track-focused R8 up its selve for Paris 2018

Audi has a facelifted R8 in the works but we won’t be seeing that at the 2018 Paris Motor Show. Fans of Audi’s mid-engined supercar won’t be left completely hanging, however, because Audi Sport has teased a mysterious car that is set to appear at this years show.

Hidden beneath a dust sheet, in the dark, the car in the teaser image and video is hard to discern but the telltale R8 lighting signature and bonnet mounted R8 badge give the game away to an extent. This is an R8 but the 'Audi Sport' lettering visible above the windscreen suggests it’s an updated version of the R8 race car and not a production model.

There are three new air-intakes between the headlights along the lines of those already seen on the new Audi A1 and, a little further back into the annals of Audi history, on the 1984 Sport Quattro. Whether these are exclusive to the racing version of a new design element that will translate onto the facelift R8, we’ll have to wait and see.

The revised R8 has already been spotted undergoing development testing and we can glean from the photographs that a redesigned front bumper and a new rear bumper incorporating an aerodynamic diffuser are key design changes. Oval exhaust tips also seem to have been added in place of the existing rectangular ones leading to a debate over possible changes in the engine bay.

We understand that the charismatic V10 engine will remain but it has been suggested that a new twin-turbo V6 might take over duties as the entry-level choice in the range. There’s no official word on whether this is the case and a V10-only R8 range still seems most likely but maybe we’ll learn more when the covers come off the racing version at the 2018 Paris Motor Show.

Get all the latest from the 2018 Paris Motor Show here...

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