Is Audi making an RS version of the R8?

This Audi R8 was recently photographed at a service station near the Nürburgring in Germany. It’s a bit of an odd one. Are those red markings on the body work part disguise, or part bad taste? Is that lower front splitter an aftermarket add-on, or a work in progress? Are they really new exhaust exits up high, coming straight from the engine bay? Speaking of which, could there be an even more powerful V10 underneath that plastic engine cover?

But, a bigger question remains; is there really scope for yet another, driver focused, iteration of the R8 given Audi has already give us the R8 GT? Maybe this could be a rear-wheel drive only beast to take it up to the Porsche GT2 RS.

So, we have a lot of questions about this car, let’s hope Audi has some answers for us soon.

[Source: Auto Express | Pics: autoscoop.biz]

UPDATE: Word on the tweet says this car may simply be an MTM development prototype, rather than Audi being up to any new tricks. I thought there were too many unanswered questions on this one.