Audi is about to take the GT3 name from its race cars to the road. It's not a unique epithet, granted, but it's a nonetheless intoxicating one.

The R8 V10 GT3 may well be called the R8 V10 Clubsport, mind, but whatever it's called it will transfer technology from the GT3 racecar that trumped all in its wake at last year's European GT Championship.

That car was rear-wheel drive, making a quattro-less, road-going R8 a possibility. It would save weight, and make for a 'purer' driving experience in keeping with the Porsche 911 GT3. As it happens, you can already buy a rear-wheel drive R8, courtesy of tuner MTM (see it here).

The car these spy pictures feature, taken at the Nürburgring, has a fixed rear wing and a matte black wrap over the paintwork. It otherwise looks like a stock R8 V10. But it isn't.

It sits on shorter, stiffer springs than the standard car, and it's rumoured to feature a proportion of carbon bodywork in addition to its aluminium panels, boosting the all-important power-to-weight ratio.

Audi won't be allowed to tread on fellow VW Group company Lamborghini's raging hooves by upping the power to Gallardo levels. It may get a small hike above the standard 518bhp, however.

The GT3 hasn't been given the thumbs up yet (unless you count the physical ones from packed lunch brandishing car spotters dotted around the 'Ring), but it's likely to see showrooms next year.

That's because Audi plans a couple more R8 variants at least, before the next one rocks up in about 2013. It's difficult to believe it's already a four-year-old car, such is the freshness of its form, but Audi needs to maintain interest by unveiling new models sporadically. You won't hear anyone complaining about that. Nobody worth listening to, anyway.

Photography by Tony Dewhurst of www.pistonspy.com