A new era begins for Audi at Sebring

Audi Press Release :

• Premiere of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC
• Le Mans winning Audi R18 TDI modified for season opener
• First run for new signing Loïc Duval

The 12-hour race at Sebring (U.S. state of Florida) on March 17 is shaped by major developments. For Audi, the new FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) is ringing in a completely new era. The brand with the four rings last won a world championship title in 1984 – then in rallying. At the same time, Audi has the chance of clinching its tenth overall victory on the 60th anniversary of the classic endurance race.

Audi is starting into its most important sports car season so far. For the first time, the brand with the four rings will be battling to clinch a world champion’s title in road course racing. Audi has been successfully competing in sports car races since 1999 and has won many series, including the American Le Mans Series on nine occasions. This year, for the first time since 1992, the FIA is again awarding a world champion’s title for Le Mans prototypes, the race cars that currently feature the most sophisticated technology of all.

The technical development at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm is running at full stretch. No less than three different versions of the R18 LMP1 race car will be fielded during the course of the season. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro and Audi R18 ultra cars unveiled at the end of February are currently subjected to an extensive testing program and will be making their racing debut at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) at the beginning of May. At the world championship season opener at Sebring, Audi Sport Team Joest will rely once more on the R18 TDI that was victorious at Le Mans last year.

Effective immediately, new rules will reduce the engine output of the diesel-powered vehicles by around seven percent. To achieve this, the size of the air restrictors will be reduced from a diameter of 47.4 to 45.8 millimeters. The charging pressure drops from 3,000 to 2,800 millibar. The fuel tank capacity has been reduced as well. At a pit stop, the Audi R18 TDI can be filled with a maximum of 60 instead of the previous 65 liters of diesel fuel. In addition, it has to take 15 kilograms of ballast on board. The ballast compensates for the fact that the complex aerodynamic modifications of the fenders, which are prescribed as of 2012, have not been implemented on the R18 TDI but will only be made on the successor cars. Surprising but true: On its farewell, the R18 TDI will be experiencing a premiere as the closed-wheel sports car has never before competed in a 12-hour race at Sebring. The engineers, though, can draw on valuable historical data gathered with the Audi R18 TDI on many kilometers of testing on the famous race track in Florida. 

Acid test for “man and machine”

The challenging 12-hour classic on the old airfield complex at Sebring stands for a notorious acid test at the season opener. The bumpy track consisting of tarmac and concrete slabs is rough on the race cars and the drivers’ physical condition. Sweltering heat was often another challenge in the past. Plus, being a 12-hour race, the competition in Florida is the second-longest one on the 2012 WEC calendar. With currently 61 entries – 31 from the American Le Mans Series and 30 from the WEC – the race will demand maximum concentration. Heavy traffic on a track that is slightly less than six kilometers long harbors the risk of body contact and accidents while lapping. For Audi, the 60th running of the race marks an anniversary as well. For the tenth time since 2000 a race car emblazoned with the four rings will have the chance of clinching victory. On achieving its ninth success in 2009 with Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish, Audi set a distance record that has remained unbeaten to date. The trio covered 2,280.5 kilometers in the Audi R15 TDI back then.

Several premieres in the driver line-up

Whereas Audi Sport Team Joest fielded two cars at each of the past runs at Sebring, the squad is now putting three R18 TDI vehicles on the grid. Car number “1” is shared by Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F), with each of the three Le Mans winners from last year experiencing a Sebring premiere. Fässler has never before started from the Sebring grid in a sports prototype. André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer have never raced at Sebring before at all but know the track from tests. Car number “2” is shared by Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish (I/DK/GB). Kristensen, with five victories under his belt, is the record holder, Capello has won the endurance race four times, and McNish three times. Car number “3” will be driven by Timo Bernhard (D) and Romain Dumas (F), who jointly mounted the winners’ podium as early as in 2008. They will be sharing their R18 TDI with Audi’s new signing Loïc Duval (F). The Frenchman is bringing a fitting “inaugural gift” to the squad. He was celebrated as a winner at the 12-hour race at Sebring last year. The nine drivers combined thus boast as many as 15 individual Sebring successes. 

Topics of the weekend

- Will the diesel-powered vehicles still be competitive with the new rules?

- What will be the impact of the 15 kilograms of weight handicap on the cars with last year’s specifications like the Audi R18 TDI have to compete with at Sebring?

- Who will be Audi’s strongest challenger at Sebring?