Audi at Le Mans

Audi has seen many successes in motorsport over the years, from rallying in the Group B era, to touring car racing in the 1990s. However, Audi made the decision to further develop their technologies by taking on one of the most challenging, oldest races of them all… The 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Audi joined the series way back in 1999, around the same time their icon TT was launched. It all began with a model known as the R8R which made its debut in the 1999 12 Hours of Sebring. It then went onto shake the world of Le Mans by finishing in the top-three positions on its very first outing. At this time, Audi were trialling two concepts to further develop, the R8R and R8C – the R8C project was scrapped after numerous breakdowns and lack of pace during the race.

Audi returned in 2000 for another attempt. This time, with a new development to the R8, now known as the R8 LMP. This was the car that changed the face of the sport forever, winning the race in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. The R8 LMP didn’t get a clean sweep thanks to Bentley, another Volkswagen brand taking victory in 2003. The sweetest win from this era was the first, claiming a 1-2-3 finish. By 2005, the R8 LMP was beginning to show its age and a replacement was announced.

In 2006, a new chapter in Audi’s success story at Le Mans began with the all-new R10. What made this racer so different to anything that had been seen before was one fundamental difference. It ran on diesel. Now, running a diesel race car is not a first for Audi, but it was definitely not a common move. Again, for 2006, 2007 and 2008, Audi dominated Le Mans. So much so, that the organisers imposed restrictions on the car to make the racing more competitive. 2009 and 2010 saw the final years of the R10, with poor results compared to their successes over the previous 8 years.

For the 2009 and 2010 seasons, the R10 was ran by a private team, whilst Audi moved onto launch the R15. Again, it ran on diesel and it was hoped that the car would continue the success story for the company, whilst combatting some of the restrictions the previous cars had. However, a new challenger had come along with their own diesel racer – Peugeot with the 908 HDI FAP. After a string of failures at the 2010 Le Mans, Audi once again took a 1-2-3 finish, but this is the last time the R15 would ever take a victory before it’s retirement in 2011 thanks to a change in regulations.

2011 saw the launch of the R18, a closed-top car that was designed to meet the new regulations. How did it do on it’s debut in Le Mans? You guessed it, the R18 won. Only one made it to the finish though after the other two cars were crashed earlier in the race. They continued to take wins at Le Mans up until 2014, but it was becoming clear that Audi was loosing their touch.

In 2016, it was announced that Audi would withdraw from the Le Mans programme and WEC (World Endurance Championship) to pursue a new and upcoming sport, Formula E. They left the sport with outstanding figures, though. 13 wins at Le Mans, making them the second most successful manufacturer after Porsche, which had 18 wins to their name.