2009 Audi R15 TDI

Which car design would be the fastest and most stable: one that gently and smoothly bends the air all-around it, or, the one in which the air seemingly passes right through it as though it wasn't even there? Such was the design philosophy that went into Audi's newest endeavor of dominance in endurance racing.

With the third and final season of the successful R10, Audi needed to come up with a new design. The R10's development had well and truly reached its limits. To continue to make the car competitive would almost require a whole new design, and this is the reason for the R15.

The R15 represented Audi's approach to the rather new design philosophy making its way into sports car racing design. Influenced greatly by Formula One, the basis of the R15 represents Audi's answer as to how to filter air through a car in such a way that will enable it to work with and help a car's performance, instead of worrying about it impeding it. In Formula One, the thought to design has been centered around directing the air that flows obviously through and around the car to help overall performance. Bargeboards and turning vanes, lifted noses and channels around rear tires all help to control airflow and help it smoothly meet the other air flowing around the car so there would be less disturbance, and therefore, less drag and imbalance in the car.

Back in 2006, and the introduction of Audi's diesel engine, the focus of the R10 was based almost solely around the engine. The demands on the design of the R10 were the result of building a car around the V12 diesel engine. This approach has changed for the R15. This time, both the engine and chassis departments worked closely together in order to build a truly efficient car. Therefore, with the R15, the chassis department was placing demands on the engine department in order to make an engine to fit into their design. This is the opposite of what happened with the R10.

Again, the whole theme of the R15 design was efficiency. Starting with the engine, engine-builder Ullrich Baretsky and his team was faced with the requirements of building an engine that was at least 100mm shorter than the V12 used in the R10. This proved not to be too much of a problem for Baretsky and his team. When he designed the V12 used in the R10, Baretsky found that the basics of the engine would work just fine if two cylinders were removed. The removal of the two cylinders, and other design refinements, meant the V10 produced to fit in the R15 would meet the requirements of being 100mm shorter in order to fit into the bodywork design.

Also similar to the tight bodywork designs in Formula One, the R15's rear end design meant that the exhaust pipes would exit out of the top of the bodywork within a rear deck placed ahead of the rear wing and aft of the twin roll-over pylons. Though smaller, the twin-turbo V10 is capable of producing more than 600bhp and has a max torque of over 1,000Nm.
As stated earlier, the exhaust and rear deck design was merely part of a larger overall emphasis on the aerodynamics and efficiency of the car that obviously starts at the nose and works its way back.

Therefore, looking at the front of the car, the influence of Formula One engineering and design becomes plain to see. As with its main rival, the Peugeot 908, the R15 starts with a raised nose, only much wider. The basic principal of airflow is that disturbed air creates drag, which slows down the car and upsets the car's balance. In addition, to direct air around the car, either to minimize drag or create downforce, there will be a rather high expense involved in that there is a high amount of drag that is induced. To maximize the desired results, while not having to pay too many penalties, the best method is to guide the air through the car. The raised nose helps to channel the airflow, literally, underneath and through the car. The airflow passes under the body of the nose and is directed to a splitter that separates the air where it has to flow around the car. This helps with the stability of the car by controlling the airflow and minimizing disturbances as the air passes through the car.

The raised nose meant there would be an increased volume of flowing air underneath the nose, headed to the splitter. This build-up of air, while good because of the raised nose, is also destabilizing because all of the air is unable to flow smoothly, and that there is such a large volume colliding together. Therefore to counter this, Audi engineers incorporated a vented nose. This allows some of the air to escape out of the top of the nose. This helps to further reduce buffeting caused by the increased air and not only helps stability underneath the nose of the car, but also, around the car as it helps to control the amount of airflow hitting the splitter underneath the driver's legs and directed to the side of the car. The presence of the vent brought integrity of the crash structure into question. However, Audi beefed up the strength of the nose on either side of the vent to compensate. In essence, it is as though the R15 had a double-pronged crash structure designed into its nose.

Not only is there a splitter down underneath the driver's legs to help direct the flow of air around the sides of the car, but there is the main splitter at the very front of the nose of the car which generates the majority of the downforce at the front of the car. This splitter is horizontal, whereas, the splitter under the driver's legs is vertical. The main deck splitter at the nose separates air to flow either up and over it and through the car, or, under it to the underside and out the diffuser at the rear of the car. On the R15, the deck splitter's union to the rest of the chassis has been given even more focus when it comes to disturbance of airflow. On the R15, disturbances have been reduced to a minimum, whereas the nose of the R10 had a rather significant portion that was raised up and perpendicular to the flow of air approaching the nose of the car. This meant there was a greater disturbance of airflow from the very start. This increased drag and reduced stability and overall efficiency of the car. Of course, a major focus in any racecar design is downforce. The key is to design a car that gives the maximum amount of downforce possible, making it a very stable and easy car to drive, while not penalizing speed because of the increased drag caused by the downforce. The R10, at Le Mans in 2008, was some 3+ seconds slower than the Peugeots per lap. The top-end speed was not there in the R10. So, the focus of the R15 was to increase speed in order to compete with the Peugeots. However, a balance needed to remain. There needed to remain a balance between available speed, but also, downforce, which is talking about the car's ability to take corners as fast as possible . To help with this balance, Audi have incorporated a large underwing in the now larger area underneath the nose and the false floor which leads back to the splitter. The wing has been placed further back than the one on the R10 and has a steeper angle. This means large amounts of downforce can be generated.

Audi updated the electrical systems to be used in the R15 as well. All-in-all, the R15 uses less wiring, which saves weight. In addition to less wiring, the team is using programmable boxes for such things as the lighting. The programmable boxes make it possible to do rather simple things but reduce the headache that would have been involved were standard wiring and fuse boxes used. To further save weight, and to reduce the drain on the electrical systems, the R15 uses LED lighting for applications such as low beam and tail lights.

One of the important functions that needs to be thought of and incorporated in sports car design is ease of maintenance and access. Such focus was placed on the aerodynamics of the R15 that this is one area that seems to have had to make a trade-off. The nose section fits on with some difficulty, which requires more than one person to help replace a nose. In addition to that, the location of certain mechanical devices is almost impossible to address in a short amount of time, such as in the midst of a race. Were there to be a problem, the R15 has some very small access panels which makes some procedures more an operation of feeling for and working on something rather than seeing it easily and being able to work on it.

Another key area that has been improved, but can also pose a weakness, would be the brakes. The R15 utilizes carbon brakes, which gives it the ability to operate at higher temperatures, and therefore, has greater stopping power. Holes of the disc allow cooler air to pass through and to, in essence, extract the hot air out of the material. To protect the suspension arms, bearings and other internals of the wheel from the incredible heat the carbon brakes are able to generate, shrouds are precisely positioned to trap the cool air to block out the excessive heat. The system is efficient but so integrated that were there to be a failure with even one part of the system the whole thing potentially would have to be replaced.

The design of the front wheel fairings were designed in such a way as to turn the air outward toward the side of the car. This allows small fairing pieces to be added to the side, near the wheel wells, to help add downforce to the front of the car. To further aid in producing downforce to the front of the car Audi have a couple of different louver designs that could be incorporated into the top of the front wheel fairings. These louvers, with the aid of airflow over them, help to create a suction that pulls the nose of the car down toward the track. This helps with stability at the front of the car, and thereby also, creates higher cornering speeds.

The raised nose and corresponding wing plane that attaches the nose to the wheel fairings creates huge openings on either side for the air to channel past the nose and toward the sidepods and radiator inlets. These large openings create huge channels for large volumes of air to pass through but the conjunction of the wheel fairings and the sidepods squeezes all this air until it all builds up and actually causes large amounts of drag. To overcome this, the large wing plane that connects the nose and the wheel fairings is actually a part of a series of three wing planes meant to direct air from the large openings to smoothly flow out and over the top of the car, therefore reducing the amount of air trying to flow through the radiator inlet or around the sidepods of the car.

To further help this built up air to flow smoothly, the wheel faring extends back, well behind the wheel well sweeping down along the lower portion of the sidepods. This helps bend the airflow around the sidepod but helps to keep it from building back up in the tighter space between the bargeboard like fairing and the sidepod. With it as low-cut as it is, it allows air flowing around the sidepod to escape out the sides of the car.

The cockpit remains largely unchanged from that of the R10. The R15 still employs the open cockpit design, which aids in faster driver exchanges. The exchanges have been made a little more difficult with the R15; however, in that the width of the cockpit has been reduced. Of course, the cockpit of the R15 still needed to comply with the regulations that state the car must be designed and capable of housing two seats, but it is more narrow than what was designed for the cockpit of the R10. The rest of the cockpit and the twin roll-hoop design has remained largely unchanged.

One of the other big areas of change on the R15 is the area of the sidepods. The overall shape of the sidepods has been largely inspired by Formula One designs. The upper portion is rounded off and then pulled in tighter toward the bottom. By pulling the sidepod in at the bottom there is no unnecessary bodywork hanging out in the airstream to cause even more drag and turbulence. In addition to the shaping, large shark-gill style louvers have been incorporated. These louvers serve a couple of purposes. For one thing, they help to expel heat from the radiators due to airflow over the sidepod creating a low pressure that, in essence, pulls the heat out through the louvers and toward the back of the car. The other thing the louvers do is, because of the low pressure created by the airflow over and around them, they pull built up air going into the radiator into the radiator and then out. This helps reduce turbulence and drag at the front of the radiator opening due to too much air trying to squeeze into the small area.

On the R10, once the air passed through the suspension members and reached the sidepods, with the exception of a couple of panels, or shutters, on the outside which allowed some of the air to escape, the air had to pass by the V12's air intakes and other ducting just to make it to the rear of the car. This meant there was a lot of turbulence and drag induced. As a result of this, the engineers focused almost as heavily on the rear of the car, perhaps more, than the front. Drawing from Formula One once again, the desired effect was to be able to pull the airflow back in toward the middle of the car before it exited, thereby reducing the car's wake and enhancing stability. However, to be able to pull the airflow back in some things had to move.

As stated earlier, two cylinders effectively got the boot so to shorten the engine. The increased area toward the rear allowed other components to be moved forward as well. To further aid in components being able to be moved forward, the exhaust was pulled back and the exits were lifted up. This allowed even more room. To accent the exhaust being moved back and up, the turbo's air intake, which are the two large intakes located on either of the sidepods, have also been moved forward from where they were on the R10. What all of this created was a channel between the rear wheels and the inner bodywork that houses the suspension, drivetrain and gearbox. Just forward of the rear wheel there are some shutters which help to direct airflow through this channel and out the rear of the car. The only real impedances the airflow faces through this channel are the suspension and drivetrain members.

The 'waist' area of the car, which is aft of the sidepods, is much more-tight on the R15. This allows for much less drag and better aerodynamic efficiency. To help with this efficiency, bodywork, that is parallel to the ground and located near the rear wheels, extends out to a flush line along either side of the car. This bodywork helps to direct and separate airflow as it moves aft along the car. The air flowing into the channel between the waist and the rear wheels is kept from colliding with other portions of airflow by this bodywork. Likewise, the air passing over the top of the car and heading back toward the rear is not disrupted by airflow coming up out of the channel between the rear of the car and the wheels.

All areas of car design came under examination when it came to the R15. Not to be left out, Audi looked at the rear wheel faring design. On the R10, the bodywork extended on a line from the front wheel farings and ran steadily back until it met the rear wheel fairings. On the R15, the focus has been placed upon controlling airflow. Therefore, the fairing over the rear wheels also has been updated. With the bodywork much lower, there is a much more dramatically rounded fairing, similar, to some degree, as those covering the front wheels.

Of course, while much consideration is given to the design of a car, the components and technology employed underneath the bodywork needs almost as much, if not more attention. The V10 engine is lighter than the V12 used in the R10, but so is the battery employed on the R15. The new car utilizes a lithium-ion battery to run the electrical systems. This is a first for Audi prototypes. The lithium-ion battery, though rather new to prototypes, is significantly lighter, but, produces a higher voltage.

Surprisingly, when compared to the Peugeot 908 HDi, the R15 retains the same XTrac five-speed gearbox. The Peugeot's have a six-speed gearbox. The gearbox is pneumatically actuated by paddles mounted on the back-side of the steering wheel. Another hold-over from the R10, but that is very important, is the ASR traction control system employed in the transmission for the rear-wheel drive.

Overall, between the aerodynamic improvements, which increased the top-end speed of the R15, and the changing of components inside and outside of the car, the R15 is a much more stable and balanced car than the R10. However, because of the focus on aerodynamics, each component on the R15 has to work together. Theoretically, all of the design parameters have made the R15 a more stable car. However, this increase in performance, especially in corning, has actually made the R15 more 'twitchy'.

In 2008, it took Audi, and its R10, to run the perfect race to overcome the sheer pace of the Peugeot 908 HDi. Audi realized that running the perfect race at Le Mans doesn't happen all that often. Therefore, to be able to compete without having to pray for rain or more poor pitwork by Peugeot, Audi needed to design a wholly new car capable of competing with the performance of the its Peugeot challenger. Audi places its hope in its new R15. To Audi's main competition, which is airflow, the team hopes that its new R15 will appear as an apparition. In the same way, Audi hopes that beating the new R15 will seem, to any other competitor, just as apparitional.

'ALMS: Inside the Audi R15', (http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-inside-the-audi-r15/), speedtv.com. http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-inside-the-audi-r15/. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

Wikipedia contributors, 'Audi R15 TDI', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 October 2010, 20:51 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Audi_R15_TDI&oldid=389170756 accessed 3 November 2010

'Audi R15 TDI', (http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/sportscar/398285/audi-r15-tdi.html), The International Journal of Motorsport Technology: Racecar Engineering. http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/sportscar/398285/audi-r15-tdi.html. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

By Jeremy McMullen

Perfect debut for the Audi R15 TDI

- New Audi wins 12 Hours of Sebring (ÚSA)
- Fastest Sebring race ever
- Audi also wins efficiency award
The Audi R15 TDI has defeated its competition in its debut race: Dindo Capello (Italy), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland) achieved a historic victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring (ÚS state of Florida) with the new diesel-powered sports car of AÚDI AG. The Audi drivers completed 383 laps – beating the previous distance record by an impressive 13 laps.

In the fastest ever Sebring race, Audi Sport Team Joest's pair of Audi R15 TDI prototypes ran the entire distance without technical problems despite the innovative Le Mans prototype having only completed its maiden run in December. Bad weather had hampered Audi Sport's test program and temperatures never exceeded 15 degrees during the tests in Europe.

At Sebring, the Audi crew faced ambient temperatures almost double that and worked day and night to learn more about the new diesel sports car and to adapt it to the extremely bumpy race track in the center of Florida. They were able to solve all minor teething troubles which arose just in time for race day.

In the race the new Audi R15 TDI proved fast from the very beginning: Allan McNish outpaced the pole sitting Acura/Honda at the start completing the first lap with more than five seconds advantage. Later, however, it was not the Acura/Hondas which were the cars to beat but the two Peugeot 908s. The lead swapped no fewer than twelve times among the diesel-powered prototypes from Audi and Peugeot. Over long periods of the race, the four leading prototypes were covered by just a few tenths of a second.

In the exciting final stages of the race Allan McNish was able to fully exploit the optimized weight distribution and the sophisticated aerodynamics of the new R15 TDI compared to its predecessor, the R10 TDI. He was able to open such a big lead that he was able to stop for a ‘splash-and-dash' just before the end of the race without losing the lead. He eventually crossed the finish line 22.279 seconds in front of the second placed Peugeot.

It was the ninth overall victory for the Audi brand at Sebring continuing an impressive series: After the Audi R8 (2000) and the Audi R10 TDI (2006) a new Le Mans prototype from Audi drove to victory in its debut race at Sebring for the third time. Tom Kristensen scored his fifth victory in the ÚS endurance classic becoming the most successful driver in the history of the race. Dindo Capello won at Sebring for a fourth time with Allan McNish chalking up his third victory.

The Audi success at Sebring was completed by the three Germans Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner finishing third at the wheel of the second Audi R15 TDI. Luhr and Rockenfeller had to complete almost the whole race on their own after Marco Werner had to be sidelined due to a rib injury. They kept contact with the leading sister car for a long time. Only in the final stages did they dropped back due to extreme pick-up on the front right tire which forced Lucas Luhr to pit an extra time just before the end of the race. It was the only unscheduled pit stop of the day for Audi Sport Team Joest.

The Audi R15 TDI was not only the most reliable and fastest prototype on its debut but also the most efficient: Audi celebrated a clear 1-2 victory in the so-called 'Michelin Green X Challenge' in which the fuel consumption is measured in relation to the performance.

For Audi, the 12 Hours of Sebring was a dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in which a total of three new R15 TDI prototypes will compete. An intensive test program is scheduled for Audi Sport Team Joest until the race on June 13/14.

Quotes after the race at Sebring

Dr. Wolfgang Úllrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): 'This is a great result for a brand new car which came to Sebring with less mileage under its wheels than we had planned. We've seen not only the fastest 12-hour race in Sebring history, but also one of the most exciting with so many lead changes and a very tight battle between Audi and Peugeot – and this in the 100th ALMS race since 1999. I can remember that four cars have been setting almost identical lap times at Sebring for such a long time. Little things have been decisive in the end. It's a shame that our second car, which was also running at the front for most of the race, lost some time at the end. I'm very happy with the debut of our new Audi R15 TDI and I would like to say a big thank you to everybody who made this success possible.'

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): 'It was incredibly hard work but also a great experience. To finish first and third against such strong competition and with such little time of preparation and achieving a new record distance is really remarkable. We did not only have a new car here, we also had some changes in our team including a new chief mechanic for the winning car. It was a crazy race. The Peugeots were very fast. The game of double stints and single stints and having to fight back all the time was really nerve wrecking. I'm totally exhausted. Both crews did a fantastic job. I'm proud of the whole squad.'

Dindo Capello (Audi R15 TDI #2): 'It was a fantastic race and is a fantastic victory for Audi to add to the debut wins already scored here by the R8 (2000) and with the R10 TDI (2006). I honestly did not expect to win with the R15 TDI at Sebring because the car is so new and had little testing in Europe. To go from start to finish without any problems with such a new car is almost unbelievable. It's a dream result and shows the incredible technology that Audi is able to exploit. I'm so proud to be a part of the team and thus the Audi brand, to be driving for Audi Sport and to have two great team-mates in Allan and Tom.'

Tom Kristensen (Audi R15 TDI #2): 'It's an absolutely fantastic feeling. Wow, what a race – the fastest ever race at Sebring covering a record distance. Winning with such a young car which had completed low testing miles in dry weather before we got here is amazing. I won here on the debut of the R8, then the R10 TDI and now the R15 TDI – thanks to the know how and experience of the crew. Everyone at Audi Sport, and all six drivers here at Sebring, have worked very hard to be in a position to beat Peugeot here at this very difficult track and after an extremely hard fight. I'm proud to be a part of this team – it's a cool feeling.'

Allan McNish (Audi R15 TDI #2): 'Our brand new R15 TDI was faultless throughout and allowed Audi to secure another Sebring victory. This must go down in the history books as one of the best Sebring 12 Hour races ever when you take in to account our competition, the intensity from start to finish making it a sprint race, with the final two hours especially typifying what Audi Sport is all about: grit and determination – the entire team can be proud in taking the laurels back to Germany.'

Lucas Luhr (Audi R15 TDI #1): 'This was a tough day for us. Marco (Werner) had to stop because of his injury. This meant we had to complete the race with two drivers. Of course we had preferred winning the race or completing a 1-2 for Audi. But we had strong competition. And our sister car was a little bit faster, that's why they deserved to win. We just couldn't make it. Despite the personal disappointment we can be content: Everybody at Audi Sport and Team Joest can be proud of coming through a Sebring race with two new cars without any major problems.'

Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R15 TDI #1): 'I've been in the car for three times and basically things went well every time. I could almost match the times of our sister car. Únfortunately we could not finish better than third in the end but I'm happy with my performance. The car was running well. It's a shame that Marco (Werner) was injured, but it was no real problem for us to finish the race with just two drivers. Congratulations to our sister car and Audi. Many have come to Sebring with a new car – but we can be proud of completing the distance with both cars basically without any problems and we can build on this for Le Mans.'

Marco Werner (Audi R15 TDI #1): 'This was a fantastic day for Audi. What could be better than giving a new car a victory here? Allan (McNish) once again did a fantastic job as did the entire team. It was an exciting race, one of the most incredible races I've ever seen – unfortunately I have to say ‘seen' because, with my rib injury, I was not able to continue.'

The results at Sebring

1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R15 TDI) 383 laps in 12h 00m 38.638s
2 Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais (Peugeot) + 22.279s
3 Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner (Audi R15 TDI) - 2 laps
4 Fernandez/Diaz (Acura/Honda) - 23 laps
5 Minassian/Klien/Lamy (Peugeot) - 27 laps
6 Magnussen/O'Connell/Garcia (Chevrolet) - 34 laps
7 Beretta/Gavin/Fässler (Chevrolet) - 35 laps
8 Melo/Kaffer/Salo (Ferrari) - 51 laps
9 Companc/Russo/Bruni (Ferrari) - 53 laps
10 Farnbacher/James (Panoz) - 54 laps

Source - Audi

Audi R15 TDI: first 'second' generation diesel racing sports car

- Audi launches new LMP1 racing sports car
- New TDI engine and many innovative approaches
- Race debut on March 21 at Sebring (ÚSA)
AÚDI AG is the world's first automobile manufacturer to develop a 'second' generation diesel racing sports car. Audi aims to underline its supremacy and consolidate its expertise in car technology once more at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans with the all-new Audi R15 TDI.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is particularly suited for this: Efficient and economical cars are especially required for the French endurance classic. Lightweight construction, environmentally friendly drive concepts and well-thought out aerodynamics are the focus of attention at Le Mans just as they are during the development of production cars. For this purpose the regulations intentionally give the engineers plenty of freedom.

Audi Sport fully exploited this creative freedom and put a new LMP1 race car on the track that differs significantly from all previous Le Mans sports cars. 'The R15 TDI has many detailed technical solutions never seen before on a sports prototype,' explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Úllrich. 'To a certain extent we followed entirely new routes.'

Highly efficient TDI engine

The heart of the R15 TDI is a newly developed V10 TDI engine producing more than 600 hp, with a maximum torque output in excess of 1,050 Newton meters and which reflects the latest version of the TDI Technology invented by Audi. The power unit is more compact and lighter than the twelve-cylinder engine used in the preceding R10 TDI model. The specific fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions could also be reduced. Innovations in the turbo-charging and fuel injection areas simultaneously ensure improved engine response. The R15 TDI is also equipped with a new generation of even lighter diesel particle filters.

The new sports car's aerodynamics, which play a particularly important role at Le Mans, are extremely refined. Like the DTM 2008 championship winning Audi A4, the airflow around and through the car was optimized with CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Included among the many innovative detail solutions which can be spotted at first glance are a rear wing suspended from the top and a high nose.

Innovative vehicle electrical system concept


The headlights fitted to the R15 TDI also benefit from the higher power. At Le Mans, Audi competes for the first time with a low beam unit comprised entirely of light emitting diodes, which represents the next generation of Audi LED technology for road cars.

Innovative approaches


Numerous innovative approaches are also hidden in the chassis and suspension of the diesel sports car. Due to the aerodynamic concept the front and rear suspension have been raised. Thanks to a longer wheelbase and the optimized vehicle weight the R15 TDI is significantly more agile than its predecessor.

Audi is the only automobile manufacturer to have won the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans with a diesel car. 'With the R15 TDI we have created the base to be in a position to win also in 2009,' says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Úllrich.

The Audi R15 TDI celebrates its race debut in the 12-hour race in Sebring, Florida in the ÚSA on March 21. Audi Sport Team Joest plans to field three cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 13/14.

Source - Audi

Two new Audi R15 TDI at Sebring opener

- Race debut of new diesel sports car on 21 March
- 12-hour race in Florida is stern test for Le Mans
- Audi Sport Team Joest with proven driver teams
The eagerly awaited first race of the new diesel sports car from AÚDI AG draws ever closer: Audi Sport Team Joest contests the notorious 12-hour race at Sebring, Florida on 21 March with two Audi R15 TDI. The ÚS endurance classic will act as stern test and dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 13 /14 June 2009.

The new Audi R15 TDI is packed with numerous technically innovative detail solutions and differs significantly from its predecessor model the R10 TDI which was undefeated at Le Mans. The first tests with the new LMP1 prototype have been successfully completed.

'So far the R15 TDI has performed as we expected,' explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Úllrich. 'Now it must also prove itself in race conditions. Sebring is a particularly hard race and is therefore perfectly suited to reveal even the smallest of weaknesses.'

Proven drivers sit at the wheel of the two new prototypes. One driver line-up is formed by defending Le Mans winners Dindo Capello (Italy), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland). The Germans Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner take turns at the wheel of the sister R15 TDI. Audi Sport Team Joest competed last year at Sebring in this formation.

Every new Le Mans Prototype from AÚDI AG celebrated its race debut at the race track in the heart of Florida. In Audi's first ever sports car race in 1999 Audi Sport Team Joest claimed a podium position first time out with the Audi R8R. A year later the Audi R8 triumphed on its debut at Sebring. On the premiere of the R10 TDI in 2006 Audi landed the first victory worldwide for a diesel powered sports car in an important endurance race.

The brand with the four rings has won the 12-hour race at Sebring, which also forms the opening race of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), a total of eight times, the last time in 2007.

Source - Audi