Audi Sport Giving “Full Support” to GTX World Tour

Photo: Audi

Audi Sport could become one of the founding manufacturers of SRO Motorsports Group’s GTX World Tour, with the German brand currently giving its “full support” to the electric vehicle competition according to customer racing boss Chris Reinke.

Set to launch next year with a pilot event, GTX is being billed as a multi-disciplinary road tour, featuring hillclimbs, circuit races and other competitions built into a city-to-city festival-like atmosphere.

Audi is one of four manufacturers understood to be working with SRO to help define the sporting and technical regulations for the new discipline of racing.

“If we like it or not, it will be a challenge for the future to have an answer to the transformation [to electric racing]. I would love to be part of it,” Reinke said.

“Therefore we have been already excited about it and we’re still a big supporter of it.”

Reinke said they would look to modify its road-going Audi RS e-tron GT, with the 440 kW (590 horsepower) four-door performance EV being the most suitable model in its current lineup.

While initially targeted for concept EVs, SRO founder and CEO Stephane Ratel said they’ve evolved the competition to primarily be focused on existing production-based machinery.

Audi could be prepared to roll out a race-prepped version of the e-tron GT by as early as next year according to Reinke.

“It’s a model that has four doors but at least from the silhouette and the positioning in the market from the Audi brand, it’s the vehicle we would utilize for it,” he said.

“It would be very close to a road car. For me it would be similar as we define our current GT4 from the R8 which is pretty close on the drivetrain, electronics and so-forth to the road car.

“The closest to describe it — the GTX car — would be based on the e-tron GT in a similar way to the GT4 car.”

Reinke is hopeful that GTX will utilize the FIA-driven, SRO-supported N-EGT set of technical regulations that could open the door for the car’s use in other future EV racing series.

Few details have yet to emerge on N-EGT, which differs from the proposed FIA Electric GT Championship that was initially targeted to launch next year with GT3-based EVs.

“They run in parallel at the moment with SRO and the FIA,” Reinke said of the N-EGT regulations and GTX.

“We try to support both because once again, from an OEM point of view, we need to have an answer how we have a vision or possibility to transform.

“If we do it 100 percent, that’s a completely different question.

“For me to have a secondary pillar [in Audi Sport customer racing’s motorsport participation] is important and therefore we need to find our way into electrification.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John