Where to begin when evaluating Audi’s commitment and achievements over the last 18 seasons in endurance racing?
It is an unenviable task. True epochs are rare in motorsport but the span from 1999 to present day, with a short break in 2004/5 aside, Audi Sport has been a titan of one of racing’s toughest disciplines and it has a strike rate at La Sarthe which is unlikely to ever be beaten in the same time frame.
You would have to be 18 years old to remember a time when Audi was not at Le Mans. A generation of endurance racing has passed since four Audis turned up at La Sarthe at that infamous 1999 edition, when perhaps the most competitive field was ever assembled for the great race.
Six years prior to its Le Mans debut, Audi’s outlook in international racing shifted on an axis when a relatively unknown Austrian by the name of Dr Wolfgang Ullrich was tasked with heading Audi’s motorsport programme.
A masterstroke pulled by Ullrich was to hire endurance oracle Reinhold Joest and his team who had delivered four wins at La Sarthe in 1984, 1985, 1996 and 1997.
Photo: Photos D.R. ACO - Audi Sport Team Joest, 2000
The Audi R8 conquered all before it in the first year of the present century. A crushing 1-2-3 finish was only part of the story though. Audi brought visionary concepts such as the detachable rear-end section which left experienced Le Mans observers open-mouthed as the team was able to change a complete gearbox, suspension and driveshafts in mere minutes.
Audi went on to win Le Mans again in both 2001 and 2002 and the era of their domination had begun.
With a works team not entered in 2003, Le Mans was Bentley’s year when the sensational Speed 8 broke Audi’s 21st century winning streak. However, as part of the Volkswagen Group, the Bentley project had significant support from Audi in terms of using its technical capabilities and staff. Ullrich was also still masterminding support for customer R8s and saw the Japanese Team Goh International and Champion Racing score the Ingolstadt marques fourth and fifth La Sarthe wins in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Photo: ADT Champion Racing 2005
While Audi was supporting its customer teams, Ullrich and his team which included visionary engine specialist Ulrich Baretzky were working on a plan to change the image of diesel-powered cars. The sporting attraction of diesels barely existed and Audi arrived at Le Mans in 2006 with the new R10 turbodiesel to put that right. As in 2000, the new design won on its overall debut at Sebring and then again in June at Le Mans.
The end of the decade saw several epic Le Mans 24 Hours as the Audi v Peugeot bouts cranked up. It was Audi’s first serious test from a rival manufacturer since 1999 and it held on to the Le Mans trophy in 07 and 08. The latter race was a classic as first Tom Kristensen and then Allan McNish ate in to Peugeot’s lead, overtook it and then in increasingly wet conditions Kristensen was able to ward off a charging Nicolas Minassian and register the eighth of his nine La Sarthe crowns.
One of only three defeats for Audi at Le Mans came in 2009 when the new R18 was no match for the pace of the significantly developed Peugeot. It was the only time in the whole decade that a non-Audi or Audi supported car had been beaten. It would be another seven years before Audi would feel such pain again by relinquishing their grip on the famous trophy.
Part 2 to follow.
Sam Smith
