Audi's return to Le Mans takes shape

After a last participation in 2016, Audi is preparing to make its big comeback in Endurance. If its arrival is not planned before 2023 and the 24 Hours of Daytona in IMSA, the little sister of the R18 is currently in development on the other side of the Rhine.

« The new LMDh category fits perfectly into our new conception of motorsport, emphasizes Julius Seebach, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and Head of Motorsport at Audi.

The regulations allow us to enter fascinating racing cars in prestigious competitions around the world. Additionally, we use synergies within the Volkswagen Group with our partnership strategy ».

Expected to represent Audi at the highest level in the coming years, the successor to the R18 is currently being designed in collaboration with Porsche, belonging to the same group. “ One of the strengths of the Volkswagen Group is the collaboration with the branch responsible for the development of production cars, continues Julius Seebach.

We are now using this model in motorsport. The new prototype will be an original Audi as much as the recently launched Audi RS e-tron GT and also developed on a shared platform with Porsche ».

Highly important project

Very busy with this return to Endurance, Audi is working at the same time on its project around the 2022 Dakar. The Dakar team has more pressure at the moment given that their first participation in the event is only 8 months away, adds Andreas Roos, project manager at Audi Sport. But we also want to be perfectly ready for our return to Le Mans. It is for this same reason that the two projects in parallel and at the same degree of importance ».

This is evidenced by the decisions already taken by the people supervising the project. “ We have selected our chassis partner (Multimatic would hold the rope, according to our information) and made a decision on the engine design, specifies Andreas Roos. With Audi Design, we are defining the appearance of the car that will delight our fans ».

If he does not reveal a precise date, Andreas Roos recognizes that the objective is to see the first prototype on its wheels “ early next year » and to carry out its inaugural taxiing « in the first quarter ". A “ intense program » in 2022 with the aim of officially returning to competition at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023.

With this return to Endurance, Audi is also opening the door to customer teams, one of the great strengths of the manufacturer with the rings, thanks to the new LMDh regulations. “ With the LMDh project, we continue with the philosophy that was ours when we started in prototype, explains Andreas Roos.

The Audi R8 was not only the most successful prototype from 2000 to 2006 but it also performed brilliantly with our customers at the controls (...) Our goal is to get the car into the hands of professional customer teams from the start, in addition to our factory cars. We are currently evaluating it internally ».