On Thursday night, forward of the Monaco Formulation 1 Grand Prix, Audi made a shock unveiling of the Nuvolari supercar on the luxurious Cap Eden Roc resort in Antibes, within the south of France.
Named after Grand Prix legend Tazio Nuvolari, who loved nice success for Auto Union within the Nineteen Thirties, will probably be the quickest Audi of all time.
With 1,001 horsepower, a prime velocity of over 350 km/h, lively aerodynamics and a particularly aggressive design, the model with the 4 rings has developed a car within the wake of its F1 entry that’s more likely to be priced a number of tiers above the R8, its most up-to-date combustion-engine sports activities automotive.
That is additionally steered by the restricted version of simply 499 models of the supercar, which is about to be delivered as early as the primary half of 2027. However might the brand new mannequin additionally function the idea for a brand new GT3 automotive from Audi?
Similar engine because the Lamborghini Temerario
That might be fully conceivable, as a result of following the manufacturing halt for the Audi R8 in March 2024 and its GT3 by-product in November 2024, the Volkswagen subsidiary now as soon as once more has a supercar that would function a template.
And the engine could be completely suited to it as nicely. The Nuvolari, which visually combines components of the electrical sports activities automotive Idea C, the R8 and the Lamborghini Temerario, incorporates a 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine with 800hp, supported by two electrical motors on the entrance axle and one on the rear axle.
Given these efficiency figures, it’s protected to imagine the car shares the identical platform because the Lamborghini Temerario, whose 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine additionally delivers precisely 800hp at a torque of as much as 10,000 rpm.
Will former Lamborghini government now orchestrate Audi’s GT3 comeback?
Audi’s subsidiary in Sant’Agata Bolognese used the in-house developed manufacturing engine for its GT3 automotive, albeit with smaller turbochargers and a redline of solely 8,000 rpm, as a result of the Steadiness of Efficiency (BoP) limits energy output anyway.
Additional, the Temerario and its GT3 offshoot had been developed beneath the management of Lamborghini’s longtime Chief Technical Officer Rouven Mohr, who has held this place at Audi since March 1, 2026, and is taken into account a serious advocate of motorsports.
The fast growth of the brand new Audi supercar is probably going additionally linked to the truth that the model, following its entry into F1, was beneath strain to ship an absolute high-performance car for the street as nicely.
This might now profit the client racing division, which was scaled again to primary help by the top of 2023 and had truly fallen sufferer to the transfer into the premier class of motorsport. If Audi had been to truly construct a brand new GT3 automotive, finalisation earlier than 2028 could be unrealistic, even with a shared platform with Lamborghini.
Ricardo Feller, Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3
Picture by: Markus Toppmöller
“R-Subsequent”: Audi had already deliberate a possible GT3 automotive
As Motorsport.com’s sister title Motorsport-Complete.com beforehand reported, Audi had a completed idea within the works a number of years in the past with the R-Subsequent, primarily based on the Temerario platform, which additionally included a GT3 mannequin.
Nevertheless, the undertaking failed on the time resulting from inside disputes over whether or not a purely electrical sportscar or a hybrid supercar with an inside combustion engine was the best path, leading to Audi Sport GmbH not receiving approval from Audi AG.
Simply how far alongside the plan already was, nevertheless, was demonstrated by a 1:1 scale design mannequin of the R-Subsequent, which is claimed to have seemed considerably extra progressive than the Audi R8.
Will Audi’s Formulation 1 attain now assist the GT3 undertaking?
It is usually fascinating on this context that the British automotive journal Autocar reported a yr in the past that Audi CEO Gernot Dollner was pushing ahead with the undertaking for an R8 successor and that there was an inside effort to develop FIA-homologated variations of a brand new R8 to be able to reclaim a number one function in endurance racing.
With the entry into F1, the response to which is known to have considerably exceeded even Audi’s inside expectations, motorsports now has considerably extra momentum. It will likely be fascinating to see whether or not the German model can use this momentum to return to its former glory within the GT3 and sports activities automotive sectors as nicely.
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