The Ultimate R8? Meet the Abt XGT

For the R8’s final send-off, German tuning company Abt Sportsline reveals the XGT, a proper R8 LMS GT2… road car. Yes, really.

Audi’s had an almost constant presence in a variety of racing disciplines since the 80s. With a lot of that presence being on the podium, at that. There’s no doubt that Audi built some of the winningest cars of the 21st century. And no road car embodies this passion quite like their halo car: the R8. Which, sad to say, will leave us at the end of the 2023 model year. Or at the very least, be bereft of its signature V10, thanks to Audi’s plan for electrification of its entire vehicle lineup. And while the 2023 Audi R8 V10 GT RWD marked the official end of the line directly from Audi, Abt Sportsline has other plans. Because the just announced the closest thing you can get to a streetable R8 LMS for the road: the Abt XGT.

Strassenversion

Germany’s not exactly shy about producing specials like this. Cast your eyes back to 1996, with the debut of the Porsche 911 GT1, for example. The street version of that car was little more than the racecar with compliant exhaust and license plate brackets. It might not wear the livery of its racing counterpart. But one look inside and there was no question: this was a pure, undiluted racing machine. Somehow with a registration and plates. And it’s this exact spirit which lives on with the Abt XGT.

Abt Sportsline made some concessions with the roadgoing version, however. For one, they were kind enough to give us air conditioning and a traditional indicator stalk. It also uses the road R8’s 7-speed DCT, so you don’t hear the whine of the straight-cut racing gearbox. It’s got a bit more ground clearance, too, plus a rearview camera and electric mirrors. And… well, that’s about it. Quite literally everything else, inside and out, is as pure of a racecar as is allowed on European roads. The aerodynamics, the 640-horsepower powerplant, the utterly eye-watering €598,000 price tag (roughly $655,000 USD). And the exclusivity, with only 99 seeing the light of day. But for that price, you get a carbon-fiber-bodied trackday monster with a screaming V10. The very last such car Audi’s likely ever going to produce.

Racing into History

Abt Sportsline is a tuning firm, not a full-blown manufacturer. Which works out well because it means that each of these 99 cars is likely to be tailored to fit their customers. Their online configurator allows for custom color schemes, for one. And at that price point, we wouldn’t be surprised to see other personalizations as well. From custom-molded seats to dashboard setups. Just like the real thing, of course. As mentioned before, they’re not playing when they say the XGT is a proper racecar for the road. They claim more DTM podiums than any tuning firm and have worked with Audis for decades. If anyone’s going to produce the apex of R8s, it’s Abt. We say they succeeded, and can’t wait to see what this beast has in store once it hits the streets. Or, more likely, the circuit.

Every car has a beginning and end to its production cycle. Some supercars simply fade away, going out with a whimper instead of a bang. Well, thanks to the passion and dedication of Abt Sportsline, the R8’s most certainly not meeting with that fate. The XGT’s a spiritual successor to the likes of the Porsche 911 GT1, a one-off showcase of the absolute pinnacle of what the platform can do. And we are absolutely here for it.

Images: Abt Sportsline

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M.C. Cuccio

I've been an automotive aficionado since I had baby teeth. My path was set when I first leaned on my grandfather's classic Porsche as I learned how to walk. One of my first memories was my mother sitting me behind the wheel of her Pontiac and talking me through the instrumentation and controls. Even though I was a mere three or four years old, I was instantly sold, and filled notebooks with technical drawings, sketches, and collections of manuals of all sorts of cars. I've actively tracked developments in automotive and motorsport technology for well over 20 years, and pride myself on being intimately familiar with the functions and history of a wide range of vehicles.

My primary goal as a writer and enthusiast is to equally learn and share what I've learned in a constructive and interesting way. I maintain connections with people from around the world and can read technical manuals in Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, granting me access to a wide array of resources. My primary focuses are deep-dives into historical topics, motorsport discussion, and learning about the complex mechanical elements of such vehicles. As such, my research is never perfect; as anyone into cars will attest, the more you learn about cars, the more you realize how little you actually know. Therefore, I always welcome fresh knowledge and corrections to help me better my work in the future.

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