Audi R18 TDI (above) and Aston Martin AMR-One (below right) – Click either image for high-res galleries
There’s plenty to be excited about in this year’s Le Mans racing season, and the new Audi R18 TDI arguably ranks chief among them. ’s new fixed-roof racer will make its debut at the Spa 1000km race next weekend, showing for the first time what it can do against a competitive field ahead of June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“Although we tested at Le Mans recently, we’ll learn a lot more about the new Audi R18 TDI and also how it fares against the competition at Spa,” said Audi’s double champion Allan McNish in preparation for the Belgian endurance race. “The 20-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon will be the first time when we’ll see the true performance of all of the new cars because it will be the first time when everybody is on the same playing field together at the same time.”
That may not exactly be the case, however, because while Audi’s chief rival Peugeot is sure to be mounting its own challenge, word has it that will sit this one out. The British team is also fielding a new racer in the , but rather than take the opportunity to put its new LMP through the paces in a real racing scenario as Audi will, Aston’s focus is on testing the car before the main event at La Sarthe. Follow the jump for official press releases from both teams.
Teaser reel for new web series Turn 9 – Click above to watch video
Matt Farah, longtime friend of Autoblog and host/producer of , pinged us this weekend to let us know about a new project he’s involved with: a scripted web drama called Turn 9. Basically, it’s a car-flavored variation of the Entourage formula, following the career of fictional race driver Kyle Turren and his buddies. In addition to the requisite parties, hot rides, and bikini-clad eye candy, Turn 9 is set against a backdrop of real racing series and will feature appearances by real drivers and celebrities as the story unfolds.
Farah plays lead character Turren’s crew chief (aptly named “Matt”) and is basically responsible for handling all the car-related stuff on the program. Sounds like fun, and since network TV utterly fails at car shows, we’ll be sure to check out Turn 9 when it premieres online. for a brief teaser reel, and if you don’t already, be sure to as well.
Wonders never cease. The crew from has decided to take its love of all things racing off the console and onto the track. The company just formed a genuine race team under the Need For Speedbanner, and while we’ve seen plenty of brands go racing in the past as part of their marketing scheme, for the moment, this appears to be somewhat different.
For one, the team will be competing in at least two different series. While the fans in the states will get to feast their eyes on an NFS car getting sideways in , our European counterparts will have the opportunity to see the team compete in the VLN series, an endurance racing league that shares many of the same rules you’d find on your typical 24 hours of Nurburgring run.
EA has also managed to score some pretty serious talent behind the wheel. Patrick Söderlund, Mad Mike Whiddett and Matt Powers have all agreed to man the tiller in one car or another. The company has also announced it will be filming the whole shindig, so expect a 12-part series on the whole race season to come out of the project, too.
