Audi LMP1 cars technical and cutaway drawings by PAN_NULLO

By Johan Laubscher

There are many technical based websites focusing on sports car racing. One such website is Antonio Pannullo’s blog, also known as PAN_NULLO. 

 PAN_NULLO Le Mans Prototypes Blog link

He is an extremely talented individual who produces these drawings and also has a great technical understanding for these types of race cars. His blog is filled with updated articles showing all the latest news in sports car racing regarding the cars. He makes brilliant side by side drawings of the different versions of the cars as they are developed, showing all the small detail changes during their development. He documents the evolution of LMP car designs. 

These cutaway drawings are just a small taste of what his blog has in store:

Audi R10 TDI cutaway drawing

Audi R15 TDI plus cutaway drawing

Audi R18 TDI cutaway drawing

Here are a few links to Audi related articles on his blog:

Link: Audi R18 e-tron quattro vs Audi R18 ultra

Link: 2012 Sebring Hybrid Testing

Link: Audi R10 TDI

Link: Audi R15 TDI

Link: Audi R15 TDI plus 

If you scroll through his blog you will find much more fascinating and detailed Audi content along with equally brilliant content and information about the other LMP cars and manufacturers. Antonio Pannullo’s blog really does make for a great read. 

Truth in 24 II - First Trailer

By Johan Laubscher

The first trailer of the new Truth in 24 II film is online at the Audi USA website. It seems that they are busy setting up the Truth in 24 II section on their website. The various links relating to the film are in place, including a link to download the film from iTunes. Don’t get too excited yet, the links are dead links at the moment, giving 404 cannot find errors. However the fact that the website is being prepared is good news, it means the launch of the film cannot be too far away.

Technicalities aside, we do have a trailer to watch and it gives us enough of a taste to just be even more excited and anticipate the launch of the film much more.

Enjoy the trailer, and good luck with the wait for the the film, I know that I certainly cannot wait for the launch of the film…

Watch the Trailer HERE

Audi 1-2 Victory: 12 Hours of Sebring 2012 Race Highlights

By Tarek Ramchani

Audi got a nice 1-2 victory at the 60th edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring. That was the 10th overall win for the Audi brand in Florida's classic. The #2 Audi R18 TDI crossing the finish line victorious with drivers Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen. In second the sister #2 and drivers Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Loic Duval. Highlights of Sebring event, the first race ever of the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship.

Audi Wins the 12 Hours of Sebring 2012

By Tarek Ramchani

Audi has just clinched its tenth outright victory at Sebring. A great 1-2 win for Audi Sport Team Joest at the 60th edition of the Florida classic. 

The winning car is the #2 Audi R18 TDI with drivers Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen. In a strong second place was the sister #3 Audi driven by Loic Duval, Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard. Bad luck for the #1 Audi which faced problems earlier in the race while it leading outright. The car finished in 6th place in LMP1 class and was shared by 2011 Le Mans winners Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.

Audi Sport Team Joest entered the Sebring event with last year’s specification Audi R18 TDI and the cars raced with an extra +15kgs weight penalty. Audi faced a very big field with a +60 car grid from both WEC regulars and ALMS teams. The race saw too many crashes and full course cautions, making it very hard for the Audis in the traffic. Opposition only came from the privateer HPD Honda teams. Despite the opposition the Audi cars were dominant during the whole race. The #2 Audi R18 and the sister #3 car switched positions for the overall lead during every pit stop. In the end it was the #2 car crossing the finish line victorious, and the #3 car in second with 4 laps down. The # 44 HPD ARX-03b of team Starworks Motorsport got third overall winning the LMP2 class.

This is the sixth outright victory for Mr. Le Mans Tom Kristensen, the fifth for Dindo Capello and the fourth for Allan McNish. The "Old Warriors" have already won the 12 Hours of Sebring together twice before, in 2006 with the Audi R10 TDI and in 2009 with the Audi R15 TDI.

This Sebring victory is the first for Audi Sport Team Joest since the year 2009. A historical victory as well, being the first ever race of the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship. The next round of the WEC will be the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, where the brand new Audi e-tron quattro will debut.

12 Hours of Sebring 2012 podium : Audi Sport Team Joest 1-2 victory

Start of the 12 Hours of Sebring 2012

#3 Audi R18 TDI into the night at Sebring

Audi R18 e-tron quattro : Audi brings the quattro back to the race track

Ingolstadt/Munich, 2012-02-29

• World premiere in Munich: the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro
• Four-wheel driven diesel hybrid for the 24 Hours of Le Mans
• Audi ultra lightweight as base for the application of hybrid technology

Motor sport is used yet again by AUDI AG to pioneer new technology: the brand with the four ring’s new Le Mans race car is the world’s first LMP1 car to combine a highly-efficient TDI with a hybrid system. quattro drive also celebrates its comeback to the race track with the prototype – in a entirely new form.


Audi R18 e-tron quattro is the name of the new Le Mans prototype that makes its race debut on May 5 in the 6-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) and fights for overall victory at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans (France) on June 16/17. Audi unites two technologies in a fascinating way to create a new type of drive, which is also already being tested for future use in production cars: e-tron quattro.

Hiding behind this description is the next generation four-wheel drive with which Audi combines the advantages of the proven quattro drive with the potential of electromobility. To this end one vehicle axle is powered conventionally, the second by electric motors.


“Audi has always consciously selected championships and categories in racing that have a close relationship to production and therefore have technical relevance for the Audi customers,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who personally drove the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro onto the stage on Wednesday evening during its world premiere in the Audi Training Center at Munich airport – electrically and almost silent. “quattro, TFSI and TDI are three excellent examples of how motorsport has stimulated production development. A similar tendency is apparent with the e-tron quattro: we test a completely new technology on the race track before it’s introduced to the Audi production line.”


On the Audi R18 e-tron quattro kinetic energy is recovered on the front axle during the braking phase. It is fed as electric into a flywheel accumulator before being retrieved under acceleration again above a speed of 120 km/h. During this procedure only the front axle is integrated. The V6 TDI power plant producing 375 kW (510 hp) continues to transmit its power to the rear wheels. Both systems complement each other to create the new drive principle e-tron quattro.

Project began in February 2010

The project e-tron quattro for motorsport started in February 2010. Only 18 months passed from the initial conceptual ideas to the first test. “This is a relatively short cycle for a technology that has never been tested in motorsport and which still doesn’t even exist in production,” stresses Dr. Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Technology at Audi Sport. “The challenge is correspondingly big.”

Audi Sport developed the Audi R18 ultra in parallel to the Audi R18 e-tron quattro – because Audi takes a two-pronged approach this year in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the newly created FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) – the 2012 model year Audi R18 is built with and without hybrid drive. The trick: the base of both cars is completely identical, which is why the additional logistical effort is kept limited for Audi Sport and the race team.

“The TDI engine invented by Audi is still the most efficient drive in the world,” says Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We are convinced that the TDI has even more potential. This is why Audi not only supports the hybrid in motorsport as it does in production, but in parallel also the further development of the conventional drive.”

Innovation in transmission area

The R18 e-tron quattro’s twin brother more than lives up to its model name ‘R18 ultra’: it is the lightest Le Mans prototype that Audi Sport has ever built. To compensate for the additional weight of the hybrid system the subject of lightweight design and construction was the focus throughout development of the 2011 Le Mans race winning R18 TDI. In addition to the many detail optimizations there is also a genuine innovation in the transmission area: a new gearbox with a carbon-fiber composite housing was developed for the R18 – a premiere for endurance racing.

“The new R18 ultra is a distinct evolution of last year’s Le Mans race winning car,” summarizes Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “Our drivers’ impressions were very positive from the first moment. Without the weight optimized R18 ultra we would have not been capable of realizing the R18 e-tron quattro which is absolutely identical with the exception of the hybrid system.”

Audi Press Release

Audi with three R18 TDI at the 12 Hours of Sebring

By Tarek Ramchani

The 12 Hours of Sebring are fast approaching. The season opener for the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship. Sebring will kick off the American Le Mans Series season as well and Audi will be there with no less than three R18 TDI cars.


2012 will mark the 60th edition of the world famous 12 Hours of Sebring. Audi has already won Florida's big classic nine times overall between the years 2000 and 2009. It’s been three years now since the last victory, 2009 with the Audi R15 TDI. This year Audi is fielding three cars at Sebring, all of them TDI powered R18 cars. The brand new Audi R18 using hybrid technology will only have its race debut at the 6 Hours of Spa (round 2 of FIA WEC). All the cars will be under Audi Sport Team Joest banner. This will mark the first time since 2000 that Audi is racing three full factory cars at Sebring. Eleven of the twelve drivers for the 12 hours enduro have been confirmed.

#1 Audi R18 TDI, will be shared by the 2011 Le Mans winners Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Trelueyr. The trio have never raced at Sebring for Audi.

#2 Audi R18 TDI for the old warriors: Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen. Mr. Le Mans Tom Kristensen could be named Mr. Sebring as well as he holds the record of 5 overall wins in this big race. While Dindo Capello has won it four times outright.

#3 Audi R18 TDI has only got two drivers confirmed for now. 2010 Le Mans winners with Audi: Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. The two drivers aren't strangers to Sebring, they won overall in 2008 with a less powerful Porsche RS Spyder of team Penske Racing against the top cars from the LMP1 class. The third driver will be announced soon.

Audi has been chasing a win at Sebring for three years now. A three cars assault in Florida is the perfect way to do that, while anticipating the Toyota's debut at Spa-Francorchamps. The opposition will come from three privateers HPD cars, two Lola Coupes/Toyota from Rebellion Racing, and the French teams of Pescarolo Team and OAK Racing. The ACO are aiming to have more balanced races this year. We are expecting to see less powerful R18 TDIs at Sebring. However Audi is clearly the big favourite for race win.

The very experienced Audi Sport Team Joest will hunt for a tenth overall win for Ingolstadt. The race is set for March 17th. A new era for sports car racing with the debut of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Germany vs Japan Battle of Hybrid at Le Mans

By Tarek Ramchani :

The ACO has released the official entry list for the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours which now becomes the stellar event of the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship. Strong rumors have been circulating the last couple of months regarding the Audi projects for 2012. Much talk surrounded the possibility of Hybrid power for the Audi R18 during the off season. It is now official, following the release of the 2012 entry list, Audi will indeed be using hybrid power at Le Mans.

For Le Mans, Audi will field no less than 4 cars. Two R18 "TDI"s, the winning car in 2011 and two brand new R18 "Hybrid"s. The four car squad will all be run by Joest Racing. The numbers of the cars have also changed following Peugeot Sport's departure. The #1, #2 and #3 will be used as Audi Sport Team Joest. The #4 machine will be under Audi Sport North America banner. Andre Lotterer the 2011 winner, Allan McNish, Timo Bernhard and Oliver Jarvis are the first nominated drivers that have been announced. Oliver Jarvis, an Audi works driver since 2008 in the DTM will have his first attempt with the official Audi Sport Le Mans program. In 2010 he drove for the privateer Team Kolles with the Audi R10 TDI. The other works drivers for both Le Mans and WEC will be unveiled later on.

Audi Sport's plan of fielding four cars comprising of two different technologies was originally set to face the strong French rivals from Peugeot Sport, and the fresh new comers from Toyota Motorsport. The TDI power proved to be very strong, dominating at La Sarthe for years and taking five wins from six attempts. The timing was perfect for Audi to introduce the Hybrid technology for its R18 LMP1 racer. In recent years, as the titanic battles between Audi and Peugeot proved, Le Mans is no longer an endurance event. It has changed and radically metamorphosed into a true 24 Hour "Sprint" challenge. You have to have a very fast pace and not a single mistake can be tolerated if you want to win. Four cars means Audi has more chances to do exactly that. The Hybrids will debut and hopefully immediately challenge for the overall battle and win. The TDI cars will provide a safe back up with its very proven strong and reliable Turbo Diesel Injection power with zero engine failures at Le Mans since the Audi R10 TDI era. The first race of the season will be the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida. The twelve hour classic will open both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series seasons. Audi Sport Team Joest will field there three Audi R18 TDI cars. The new Hybrid version will have its race debut at the WEC's round two, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Audi is aiming for an 11th outright Le Mans win. Even with and Peugeot out, it still won't be easy and there is serious competition ahead. In 2011 Toyota supplied petrol power engines to the privateer Rebellion Racing team for their Lola Coupes LMP1 cars, winning both teams and manufactures titles in the European based Le Mans Series. Many saw that as a first step for a full factory and imminent return to Le Mans. At the end of 2011 that become fully official, Toyota is back with a works team and Hybrid technology. However Hybrid isn't new for Toyota Motorsport, in 2007 a Toyota Supra HV-R Hybrid won overall at the Tokachi 24 Hours race. Last time Toyota was at La Sarthe was in 1999, entering the very fast but unlucky Toyota GT-One. For their return, the Japanese are using the brand new Toyota TS030 Hybrid, a closed cockpit prototype. The car is built by Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Germany (ex Toyota Team Europe). The Hybrid engine comes directly from Japan. Toyota is taking its Le Mans challenge very seriously; it contracted French Le Mans specialists Team ORECA, one of the finest teams in endurance racing as their technical partners. Two cars will enter the big French classic this coming June. The #7 and #8 cars will race under Toyota Racing banner. And along with the R18 Hybrid the TS030 will debut at the 6 Hours of Spa.

We all hoped for a three way battle at Le Mans, Audi vs Peugeot vs Toyota. Unfortunately the French challenge is gone, but we are still looking forward to an epic fight. Fifteen cars are entering the top LMP1 class. It is however still quite obvious that it will be a Germany vs Japan battle of Hybrid machines.

Audi R18 TDI at Le Mans 24 Hours 2011

Toyota TS030 Hybrid testing at Paul Ricard 2012

Audi Sport "R" Number History For Racing Cars

By Johan Laubscher:

At Audi Sport each factory built racing car carries its own internal "R" code name. It all started with the "R1", the Audi quattro rallye in 1980. Since then many more Audi race cars were introduced. Many of these cars have gone onto win numourous championship titles and become legends in their own right. Here is a list representing the full details of the “R” numbers, from the "R1" rally car all the way to the brand new Audi R18 e-tron quattro and the R18 ultra.