From the pitch to the track: Footballers of FC Barcelona drive Audi

Audi factory driver and winner of the 24 Hours of Nurburgring Nico Muller chauffeured the footballers from the international top-flight club in the Audi R8 LMS sports car across the circuit north of Barcelona. Other players experienced a ride alongside local hero Jordi Gene in the Audi RS3 LMS.

The fast laps in the race cars were the highlight of the car handover to the Spanish football club. Guided by instructors, the stars had previously obtained a first-hand impression of the performance and technology of the sportiest models of the brand with the four rings.

The RS models from Audi Sport have a tradition of being highly regarded by the footballers. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique selected the Audi RS6 Avant as their personal company cars.

Another popular model from the RS family is the new Audi RS3 Sportback favoured by a total of five players including Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto and Samuel Umtiti.

Sergio Busquets opted for the Audi R8 Coupe V10 Plus which, delivering 610bhp, is the most powerful Audi model in the team.

The handover of the new company cars was also attended by Guillermo Fadda, Head of Audi Spain, and the Vice President of FC Barcelona, Jordi Cardoner. The cooperation between Audi and the five-time Champions League winner has existed since as far back as 2006.