After enjoying an enormous success in Europe with the R8 GT3 Audi Sport customer racing program launches in America with the R8 Grand-Am.

The car just finished all its testings and evaluation at the Daytona race track and got the greenlight to go on sale. Customers wishing to compete in the Grand Touring class of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series may now place their orders for this handsome race car. The car will be delivered to the first customers by January.

Although based on the R8 GT3, the Grand-Am is substantially different over its European sister. It features new body components to cope with the rules and regulations of the series and that means it has much lower downforce than the GT3. It makes it trickier to handle.

Grand-Am aerodynamic rules has really messed up the R8’s balance really, as the front splitter cannot be more than 38mm from the front of the car, and the rear wing is only 152 centimetres wide. That means 70 to 80 percent of the aerodynamic grip is lost.

Testing the car at Daytona was all very useful, as two R8 Grand-Ams are scheduled to take on the grueling event on January 28th and 29th. On the two test days, Frank Stippler completed about 1000 kilometres (600 miles) in the visually conspicuous test car from quattro GmbH that sports a stars-and-stripes design.