Supersonic skydiver Felix Baumgartner to race Audi R8 in Nurburgring 24 Hours

Following his famous stratosphere jump in 2012, extreme skydiver Felix Baumgartner is preparing for his next big challenge on the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife race track. The Austrian, who is known best for his leap from a balloon capsule, 24 miles above the Earth, is now set to become a race car driver with the Audi race experience team on the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

The Audi race experience allows Audi customers with sporting ambitions to enter racing. The program has been in the running since the year 2010. All the participants including Baumgartner will first need to obtain a racing license, following it up with months of training. The actual 24-hour race spanning the weekend starting June 21 will see the 44-year old racing an R8 LMS ultra GT3 race car with around 570bhp.

Baumgartner will be seen sharing the cockpit with five-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela, three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner as well as the GT and sports car pro Pierre Kaffer .