2010 Audi R8 LMS GT3 - Ex-works / Audi Team Joest - Bathurst 12hr winner and overall GT Sprint championship winner

Built in 2010 by Audi Sport, chassis ‘274’ was run for the Audi factory by their works race team, Joest Racing, who has taken the German manufacturer to an incredible 8x overall Le Mans wins. As a team they have an unmatched 15x overall Le Mans 24hrs wins. Whilst ‘Audi works’ themselves could not enter cars into International GT3 racing due to manufacturer teams not being permitted, the factories circumvented this ruling by having ‘works teams’ enter the cars, often staffed up and piloted by works engineers and drivers.

Chassis ‘274’ is perfect example of this – run by the team that took Audi works to 8 overall Le Mans victories. ‘274’ is one of the most important of all R8 LMS in existence as it holds the record as the chassis that claimed the first ever International long-distance race win for the Audi Audi R8 LMS. At the 2011 Bathurst 12hr, ‘274’ claimed overall victory with works drivers Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and Darryl O'Young. The Bathurst 12hr is one of the major international pure-GT races globally (Nürburgring 24hr, Spa 24hr & Bathurst 12hr being the major GT3 crowns). In 2010-11, the car also competed as a works/Joest car in iconic races such as the Nürburgring 24hr, with drivers including 3- time Audi Le Mans winner Marco Werner. As well as its works racing history, it was also tested by many other works drivers and was invited to run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2010, as part of the factory Audi line-up on the hill.

Subsequently the car was run by the Audi-affiliated MTM Team in Germany where it went onto claim overall victory in the 2013 International GT Sprint Championship, with drivers including Laurens Vanthoor, Felipe Albuquerque and Oliver Jarvis – thus making it both a 12hr winner and championship winner – possibly unique amongst Audi R8s.

A perfect entry for "GT3 Endurance Legends"

Three-time Audi works Le Mans winner, Marco Werner pedalling '274' in the wet on the Nürburgring Nordschleife: