Allan McNish on driving the R18 e-tron quattro

The Audi R18 e-tron quattro has just entered the history books as the first hybrid powered car to claim pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. By carrying the term “quattro” in its title we know this car is all-wheel drive, but it’s not really like any quattro system we’ve seen before.

Rather than developing this car from the ground up Audi has, from outside, appeared to add the hybrid drivetrain to last year’s race winning R18 ultra, which was powered by a 3.5 litre turbo diesel V6.

For the R18 e-tron quattro the V6 diesel remains and powers the rear wheels only. A flywheel accumulator, similar to the system used in the Porsche GT3 R Hybrid, captures power under braking and offers up that power to the front wheels at speeds over 120km/h. In a way, it’s like the car is powered by two separate drivetrains.

So what’s it like to drive? Thankfully, two-time Le Mans winner with Audi, Allan McNish, is on hand to give us a brief explanation in the video below…