Le Mans special edition Audi planned

Audi has announced a special edition of its R8 V8 vehicle, set to be available later this year.

The Audi R8 V8 Limited Edition will be available in coupé form only, the luxury automaker said June 29, and has been created in honor of the brand's tenth victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race which took place June 11-12.

Drivers André Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoît Treluyer took Audi to victory with an R8 at the gruelling endurance race, edging in ahead of a Peugeot 908.

It's the second year that Audi has beaten Peugeot to first place in the race, although the French automaker managed to take third, fourth and fifth places.

The new model, reserved solely for British fans of the Audi brand, will have a limited-edition run of just 100 models and will be priced from £93,935 (€104,840), with performance specification unchanged from the R8 V8, which offers 0-100 km/h in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 300 km/h.

It will be easily distinguishable on the road thanks to GT-inspired 19-inch alloy wheels, featuring red brake callipers reminiscent again of the Le Mans-winning model.

It will be available in a Titanium Metallic paint finish exclusive to the model, Audi has said, while interiors have been finished by crimson red accents to the nappa leather seats, along with a leather-functioned steering wheel and red leather knee pads and passenger door handles.

The Limited Edition model includes several equipment upgrades, including a satellite navigation, integrated seatbelt microphones with Bluetooth interface for making mobile phone calls and a Bang & Olufsen sound system.

Order books will open in July, with the first models expected to hit the roads in October 2011.

http://www.audi.co.uk