Germany's secret weapon: the Audi R18.
It started back in 2000 when the first Audi prototype showed up at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At a race where sports car manufacturer Porsche has won 16 times and Ferrari nine times, the upstarts from Ingolstadt came with a serious race car, the turbocharged gasoline-engined R8, and took first, second and third the first time out.
In the years since, the Audi R8, R10, the R15 diesel and now the new R18 diesel have won the race nine more times. They took a year off in 2003 when, at the suggestion of management, the Audi race car was reconfigured into a Bentley coupe, and the Bentley took first and second using Audi engines.
In 2004, the R8 returned and took first, second, third and fifth. The following year, the updated and heavily restricted R8 won again, with Danish driver Tom Kristensen winning his seventh Le Mans in a row.
The world of sports car racing changed forever in 2006 when Audi showed up with its new R10 race cars, powered by 5.5-liter turbocharged diesel engines. Diesels? At Le Mans? Yes. Using specially distilled diesel race fuel, the Audis qualified first and second and beat the closest gasoline-powered car by four LAPS, owing to the diesel’s reliability, huge torque off the corners, and far fewer stops for fuel. The winning Audi diesel covered 3164 miles in 24 hours, at an average speed of 131 mph.
The Audi R18 #2 car takes a quick pit stop.
The organizers, the Automobile Club de L’Ouest, had to do something to bring the fast, reliable, economical Audis down a notch and the gasoline sports cars closer, so they enforced smaller fuel tanks for all diesels. At the same time, French manufacturer Peugeot (holder of the absolute speed record at Le Mans, 253 mph) decided that if diesels were good for Audi, they would return to Le Mans with their own diesels, in the form of the beautiful, aerodynamically better 908 HDi FAP coupes, running against the updated Audi V-12 turbodiesel roadsters. Brought-in fuel was disallowed. Audi won again, with the Peugeot diesels behind them by ten laps.
The following year, biodiesel fuels were allowed, and Audi and Peugeot responded, with Audis and Peugeots taking the top six sports with their diesels, and Audi winning again, with the second-place Peugeot on the same lap at the end. Close!!!
The tables finally turned in 2009, with the new Audi R15 race car and its redesigned V-10 turbodiesel engine taking a back seat to the Peugeot 908, finishing in third place, six laps behind the French rocket ships.
Victory. The Audi #2 team on the Le Mans podium.
Audi roared back in 2010 with modified R15 turbodiesels and swept 1-2-3 again, all three cars covering more distance during the 24 hours than any team since 1971, 3362 miles, or 397 laps of the 8.5-mile circuit (in 1971, the famous Mulsanne Straight was indeed straight, but the 2010 track has been reconfigured wit chicanes, to slow the cars down, making the 2010 distance all the more remarkable). All three of the factory Peugeot 908s failed to finish, making the 2010 sweep even more sweet for Audi and its racing team, run for years by endurance genius Reinhold Joest and his gang of experts.
This year, of course, the Audi team suffered the total loss of two of its three brand-new million-dollar R18 coupes in horrific crashes that caused almost four hours of running under the yellow caution flag while the track was repaired. Audi’s first coupes built for Le Mans, the R18 were using downsized V-6 engines that produce more power, more torque, and greater fuel economy than the V12 and V-10 engines used previously, and the surviving car bested the Peugeot by less than 14 seconds after 24 hours of racing. The #2 Audi was pressing so hard to stay ahead that driver Andre Lotterer set the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap, a feat that hasn’t been duplicated since 1969. Close!!
To look at the huge Le Mans complex today, you would think that Audi had bought it from the group that owns it. There are half a dozen Audi hospitality suites and separate sites on the grounds, slathered with signage, logos, and the four rings, including the Audi Racing Club, reachable with the right credentials by a five-story elevator. Fun, food, games and driving simulators abound.
The beautifully decorated ARC complex stretches out for about half the front straightaway, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls affording a great view of the action and of the three contiguous Audi R18 pits across the way. There are dozens of high-def TV screens mounted to the ceiling, showing live shots from inside the race cars, timing and scoring, and the world live view of the race simultaneously.
Preparations for the hungry guests at one of Audi's many Le Mans hospitality centers.
On the back wall, there is a giant screen showing live telemetry (speed, revs, throttle, brake, lap, lap time, total time and distance) and GPS track locations from all three cars. Everywhere, there are video screens explaining things like turbocharging, direct fuel injection, lightweight construction and diesel engines for racing. The white, grey, silver and red walls are festooned with driver portraits and photos of the new R18. Seating goes from good to better to best, with beanbag chairs for the lucky few who arrive early and camp out on the floor. Once the club opens on race day, the food and drink never stops. It’s the same at the other six facilities arrayed around the Le Mans paddock. Audi is everywhere.
Audi has, over the years, learned how to use the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it has won so many races, to master motorsports marketing, and produce the most elaborate, complete hospitality available in all of racing for thousands of its customers and friends. Yes, Peugeot is there, along with French tire giant Michelin, Swiss watchmaker Rolex, the French gasoline retailer Total, and German rival BMW, but at this point, Audi simply owns the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on and off the racing surface.
24 Hours of Le Mans Pit Notes
One of the Ferrari 458 Italias racing at Le Mans was co-piloted by none other than NASCAR star Michael Waltrip, his sport’s tallest driver, in the AF Corse team car, which was involved in the incident that took out the Audi R18 of Allan McNish, but not when Waltrip was driving it. The car didn’t finish and was scored as 38th overall.
Apparently, Le Mans gets in your blood. Second-generation drivers are showing up now, like Nicolas Prost, son of Formula One great Alain Prost, who finished sixth overall and first in the gasoline-powered ranks in the Swiss Rebellion Racing Lola/Toyota. Also at Le Mans in 2011 was Vanina Ickx, the daughter of Belgian Le Mans racer and six-time winner Jacky Ickx. Vanina finished just behind Prost, seventh overall, in the Kronos Racing Lola with Aston Martin V-12 power. Ickx was the highest-placing female driver at Le Mans, with Andrea Robertson finishing third in the GTE Amateur class in her Ford GT and becoming only the second woman in race history to score a podium finish.
And, speaking of females at Le Mans, the race engineer for the winning #2 Audi R18, which started from the pole and set the fastest race lap, was 35-year-old British engineer Leena Gade. It was the first time in the 79-year history of the race that a female engineer ran the winning car.
The odds for Yankee racers at Le Mans are getting better. In 2011, there were five American teams on the ground, including Level 5, Corvette Racing, Krohn Racing, Flying Lizard Motorsports and Robertson Racing. Some 15 American drivers participated, with only the Lizards and Robertson fielding all-American teams, and only Robertson Racing fielding an American car with all American drivers.
There were rumors around the pits and paddock that Mazda might join current engine suppliers Honda, Nissan and Toyota at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, using a four-rotor rotary engine like the one that won the race for the Hiroshima company in 1991 in the beautiful 787B chassis, the only time a non-reciprocating engine has ever won the race.