The first-generation R8 LMS (based on the Type 42 road car) was introduced in 2009, powered by a naturally-aspirated 5.2-litre FSI V10 producing approximately 570 hp in race trim. It established the R8 LMS platform immediately: the car took its first Nürburgring 24 Hours overall victory in 2012 with Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler, and Markus Winkelhock — "the first ever victory for an Audi" at the event, delivered for Team Phoenix.
The second generation (Type 4S, based on the 2015-onwards R8 road car) arrived as the R8 LMS ultra, subsequently updated to the Evo and Evo II specifications, maintaining the naturally-aspirated V10 philosophy in an era where competitors began migrating to turbocharged units. Both generations were built and sold globally by Audi Sport customer racing, with extensive dealer-based customer support infrastructure underpinning hundreds of cars sold worldwide.
Key technical features include the Audi Space Frame aluminium construction shared with the road car, a motorsport-specification sequential gearbox, and the full FIA GT3 safety cell. The car runs rear-wheel drive in GT3 trim — despite the road car's quattro heritage — to meet the standard GT3 regulations.
The R8 LMS's race record at the two most prestigious GT3 endurance events is unmatched over the period:
Nürburgring 24 Hours — four overall wins across two generations: 2012 (Basseng/Haase/Stippler/Winkelhock, Team Phoenix), 2014 (Haase/Mamerow/Rast/Winkelhock, Phoenix Racing — a distance record at the time), 2015 (Mies/Müller/Sandström/Vanthoor, Audi Sport Team WRT), and 2017 (De Phillippi/Mies/van der Linde/Winkelhock, Audi Sport Team Land).
Spa 24 Hours — four overall wins: 2011 (Scheider/Franchi/Ekström, first-ever Audi victory), 2012 (Piccini/Rast/Stippler), 2014 (Rast/Winkelhock/Vanthoor, Belgian Audi Club Team WRT), and 2017 (Gounon/Haase/Winkelhock, Audi Sport Team Saintéloc).
For the sim racing community, the R8 LMS is shorthand for a specific era of GT3 racing: naturally-aspirated V10 versus twin-turbo everything else, Markus Winkelhock's near-omnipresence on the Nürburgring podium, and the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT machine in the striking Audi Sport liveries. That combination of sonic identity and winning record gives it an outsized presence in the GT3 conversation relative to its eventual replacement by the turbocharged R8 LMS Evo II.
Audi Sport withdrew from direct GT3 programme support at the end of 2022, ending an era. The R8 LMS Evo II continued in private hands, but the factory GT3 programme chapter closed.
The Audi R8 LMS appears in [[forza-motorsport-2023|Forza Motorsport (2023)]] as a GT3-class car. Multiple LMS variants — including the [[audi-r8-lms-gt3-evo2-legacy-dlc|R8 LMS GT3 Evo II Legacy DLC]] — are tracked separately in the Atlas, reflecting the generational depth of the programme across Forza's catalogue.
[[audi-r8|Audi R8]] — the mid-engine road car underpinning both LMS generations
[[audi-r8-lms-evo|Audi R8 LMS Evo]] — the updated second-generation specification
[[audi-r8-lms-evo-ii|Audi R8 LMS Evo II]] — the final production GT3 specification
[[belgian-audi-club-team-wrt|Belgian Audi Club Team WRT]] — the headline customer team behind multiple Spa and Nürburgring victories
[[24-hours-of-spa|24 Hours of Spa]] — site of four overall victories across the LMS era
[[24-hours-of-nurburgring|24 Hours of Nürburgring]] — site of four overall victories including the 2012 Audi first-ever win
[[forza-motorsport-2023|Forza Motorsport (2023)]] — the game where the R8 LMS appears
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