Last weekend the Audi R8 LMS racer designed for GT3 competition was circulating at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a 4 hour VLN race. The drivers? None other than Hans-Joachim Stuck, Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela.

The talented and experienced trio were competing for Team Phoenix Racing. Hans-Joachim Stuck set the third fastest time in qualifying for the GT3 class (ninth outright, from 171 cars).

During the race all three drivers set promising lap times, but a fuel supply problem saw the team use the day for test and development purposes.

Putting a few pieces together, one doesn’t need to be Einstein to draw the conclusion that this driver line up will be taking part in the 2009 Nürburgring 24 hour race.

Audi’s pre-race press release and a great selection of images can be seen after the jump. All images can be viewed at the wallpaper firendly size of 2000x1320px by simply clicking on the image you like.

[Source: Audi Motorsport & VLN]

Audi “legends” to compete at the Nürburgring

• First test race of new Audi R8 LMS
• Biela, Pirro and Stuck at VLN opener
• Kick-off for Audi customer sport program

Ingolstadt/Nürburg  2009/04/01 – Three drivers, who have made a major contribution to AUDI AG’s successful motorsport history, will be honored in a special way next weekend: in the new Audi R8 LMS’s first test race, the former Audi “factory” drivers Frank Biela (Germany), Emanuele Pirro (Italy) and Hans-Joachim Stuck (Austria) will take the wheel of the GT3 sports car powered by more than 500 hp.

Biela, Pirro and Stuck will contest the “ADAC Westfalenfahrt,” the season opener of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring (VLN) on the legendary Nürburgring-Nordschleife on Saturday, April 4, for Team Phoenix Racing.

Frank Biela (44) was an Audi factory driver from 1991 to 2008. In his first year with Audi, the German clinched the title in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) in the Audi V8 quattro straight away and celebrated numerous other successes with Audi over the past 18 years, including five victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Emanuele Pirro (47) drove for Audi from 1994 to 2008. The Italian won several touring car titles and, together with Frank Biela, also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times. Pirro clinched a total of nine podium positions at Le Mans.

Hans-Joachim Stuck (58) competed for Audi from 1988 to 1995. His biggest exploit in the service of the brand with the four rings was winning the 1990 German Touring Car Championship in the Audi V8 quattro. Since January 2008, Stuck has been the Volkswagen Group’s Representative for Motorsport.

The first test run in racing conditions marks the beginning of the next stage of the new Audi R8 LMS’s development. “Our three legends have a lot of experience and will provide us with important feedback for the continuing development of our new GT3 vehicle for the customer sport program,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We want to learn as much as possible. Therefore, the outcome of the race tends to be of lesser importance.”

The race starts on Saturday at 12 (noon) and covers a distance of four hours.