10 Jan, 2002 - Champion's 2002 ALMS challenger - a 2001-spec  Audi R8 - has arrived at our race shops from Audi Sport in Germany. The new car still features the silver and yellow bodywork it raced with late in the 2001 ALMS season, and will test in this livery next week at Sebring during the annual Michelin tests. This is because Champion do not formally take possession of this car until after the Sebring tests, in case anything should happen to the car during the tests.

This particular car was put together from new and spare factory parts on R8 tub #505, which is at full new specification - hence the
black roll bar. Champion Technical Director Brad Kettler along with technicians Greg "Wires" Laird and Siggy Hausberger built the car up from scratch at Audi's Ingolstadt headquarters in the weeks before Christmas, with the assistance of Audi Sport technicians.

This is the same process used to construct our previous R8 and also the R8 we raced at Le Mans in 2001. Shortly, a truckload of spare bodywork and mechanicals will arrive to complete the package. Audi factory driver Tom Kristensen will pilot "our" R8 at the Sebring tests, although we also hope to get Andy Wallace some seat time in the new car.

For those in the south Florida area who may not have had a closeup look at our previous "stars and stripes" R8, the car is currently on display in Champion Audi's new car showroom in Pompano Beach.