Audi lifts the veil on the livery of its R18s

Audi Sport has unveiled the new liveries of its R18s (see the gallery). The new weapon from Ingolstadt will make its first public appearance on Sunday during the Test day of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

All three cars give pride of place to carbon, which is omnipresent in the design of the car, as Dr Ullrich recalls. “Carbon fiber is ideal for designing and building a lightweight car. We wanted to integrate this material and this ultra-light technology into the R18. All the knowledge gained during the development of the R18 TDI will be available to our customers in the future, whether in the form of lower fuel consumption or reduced CO2 emissions. »

Weight was the major concern of Audi engineers in the development of the car. “With the R18 TDI, each component has been optimized in terms of weight, specifies Dr. Ullrich. Same goes for the chassis, bodywork, gearbox and engine. Everything has been raked to remove every superfluous gram. » Details which allow Audi to save, among other things, 40 kg between the first and second versions. Even the LED headlights help reduce overall weight. »

As a reminder, n°1 (black) will be entrusted to Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller, n°2 (red) to Marcel Fässler, Benoit Tréluyer and André Lotterer, and n°3 (yellow) to Tom Kristensen , Allan McNish and Dindo Capello.