Audi Sport is bringing a new R8 race car to the Paris Auto Show and has just provided us all with a glimpse of it before its October 2 launch.
The vehicle is tipped to be the 2019 specification R8, which Audi will produce in LMS, GT3, and GT4 guises for various racing series around the world. While it won’t be dramatically different than the current model, it might as well offer us a preview of the facelifted R8 due to hit the roads next year.
Despite the dark teaser video, we can see that the new R8 racer will retain the same angular headlights as the current model but feature three air intakes directly above the front grille. This design is a throwback to the Audi Sport Quattro and was re-introduced earlier this year with the 2019 Audi S1.
As the revamped race car will premiere before the facelifted road car, it will probably debut some minor tweaks that will also be present on the revamped street-legal model. These changes could include the aforementioned hood air intakes, as well as slightly-altered headlights and taillights.
Certain details about the road car remain unclear, but we do know that it will still be powered by a naturally-aspirated 5.2-liter V10. Currently, the base version has 533 hp (540 PS) and the R8 V10 Plus delivers 602 hp (610 PS), but the 2019 R8 might get a slight bump in power, while the range-topping R8 GT could use the same 630 hp (640 PS) unit as the Lamborghini Huracan Performante.