R18 (Germany, 2011)

The Audi R18 is the winning car of the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours. Audi unveiled the challenger to race for the brand’s tenth victory at the endurance race.

Specifically developed for the most famous 24 hour race in the world, the R18 marked a new chapter in the history of success of Audi at Le Mans. Since 1999 the German brand had won the race nine times with three different cars: the R8Audi R8Germany, 2005 > present3 photos
, R10 TDIAudi R10 TDIGermany, 2006 > present4 photos
and R15 TDIAudi R15 TDIGermany, 2010 > present9 photos
.

In 2011 Audi was contesting for the first time since 1999 with a closed coupe. The R18 is powered by a 3.7-liter V6 TDI unit, in line with the diesel concept that had its first victory in 2006. New engine regulations requested a reduction of the size of the powertain, in order to achieve a substantial reduction of engine power.

While developing the new R18, engineers at Audi Sport used the experience gathered from the 1999 R8CAudi R8CGermany, 1999 > present, the 20...