Test session: the Audi R8 LMP900, Sarthe pantheon

The queen of endurance racing in the early 2000s, the German car won five of Audi's thirteen victories at Le Mans, and boasts an impressive record of 63 wins in 79 race starts. Nearly twenty-five years after its first triumph at Le Mans, JMB Classic gave us the privilege of taking the wheel on the Paul Ricard circuit.

While Audi is "only" the second most successful manufacturer at Le Mans after Porsche, this magnificent record, boasting thirteen victories, was built in just eighteen years on the grid of the world's most famous endurance race. This exceptional dominance, over such a short period, began in 1999 when the Ingolstadt-based firm entered four cars representing two distinct concepts. Torn between closed-bodied sports prototypes and open-top sports cars, Audi was faced with a choice: two closed-cockpit R8Cs were therefore entered that year, alongside two open-top R8Rs. It was the latter that proved the most successful, with the No. 8, driven by Franck Biela, Didier Theys, and Emanuele Pirro, finishing third.