Category: Motorsports

Audi clinched an historic ninth Le Mans victory yesterday. They now join Ferrari at second position on the list of all-time Le Mans winners. Porsche tops the list with 16 wins.

Amazingly, Audi’s tally of nine wins have all come since the year 2000. In fact, since their first victory, Audi have won Le Mans every year with the exception of 2003 (Bentley) and 2009 (Peugeot). For Audi drivers Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller this win marks their first Le Mans title.

Audi’s success this year was built on reliability. For most of the weekend they were chasing the tails of the Peugeot 908 machines. Indeed, the four 908s in the field all qualified ahead of the R15s from Audi and for much of the race a back-to-back Peugeot victory seemed a formality. But one by one the factory Peugeots succumbed to mechanical issues.

In contrast the Audi Sport Team Joest cars ran like clockwork and were able to make the most of their opponents short comings by making a clean sweep of the podium. The only minor blip came on Saturday when Tom Kristensen was at the wheel of the #7 R15. He got caught up in an incident with the troubled BMW Art Car and was forced into the pits for repair work. The #7 car lost three laps in pitlane and such was the consistency of the winning #9 and second place #8 Audis that the lead #7 machine had no chance of gaining back lost time.

The winning #9 car covered 397 laps which equates to a total distance covered of 5,410 kilometers. This is a new mark and breaks the previous distance record set by the winning Porsche 917 back in 1971.

After the break you can see a full press release from Audi, including driver quotes. Also available is a picture gallery with over 40 images for you to enjoy. A full race report is available at Autosport.

Success at Le Mans demands efficiency and Audi have revised their R15 TDI prototype to improve its economy and maintain its power levels, despite new regulations. With eight wins in the last 10 years Audi would have come away from La Sarthe disappointed last year with just a third place finish.

This will be thelast outing for the R15 at Le Mans with new regulations forcing smaller more efficient engines from 2011 onwards. Proving there is no such thing as a rest in motorsport Audi have already begun work on their new R18 racer.

There’s still the small matter of the 2010 race to go first and Tom Kristensen, the most successful driver ever at Le Mans, is very happy with his new R15 plus machine, “Audi has made an important step from the R15 to the R15 plus. The ‘plus’ says that the R15 TDI has been updated in all areas in terms of efficiency and performance. Take the headlights for example. That may sound trivial but in a 24-hour race they’re extremely important.

“And obviously there’s the efficiency of the engine, which has become more powerful but uses less fuel now. Aerodynamics has been improved to generate enough downforce in the turns but without too much aerodynamic drag on the straights.

“The interaction between the suspension and the Michelin tires has been optimized too. Simply everything has been scrutinized and optimized so that the ‘plus’ will help us achieve our big aim at Le Mans.”

An extensive press release follows along with 25 images of the Audi Sport team in preparation. To close out the article there’s a new release from Audi where the drivers talk about various sections of the famous La Sarthe circuit.