Porsche pitted for new racing slicks and Toyota chose to be brave and try and out last the drenched track. The fastest Audi was the #9, setting a 2-minute 20.337 lap in the wet, placing it fifth place in the results. Initial models included the all-electric e-Tron and the V10 5.2 FSI along with the V10 plus. The twenty-four-hour Le Mans event was next, and Audi hoped to repeat the dominance that they exhibited last year and use the 24 hours of Le Mans to revitalize their season. The race got underway under clear conditions and during the first hour it was very close amongst Audi and its rivals Toyota and Porsche. The front two wheels had tethers attached to the monocoque and the rear wheels to the chassis structure.[25]. [18][19], Both the Ultra and e-tron Quattro made their racing débuts at the 2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as part of a four-car Audi entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Meanwhile, the #17 Porsche was up to fifth place, two laps behind the #1 Toyota in fourth place. Type 42 models were used in the Iron Man Trilogy with a V8 in Iron Man,[31] a V10 Spyder in Iron Man 2,[32] and an e-tron prototype in Iron Man 3. [26], At Spa-Francorchamps, the first practice session had the #1 leading the field, #2 in fourth place, and #3 in seventh. Snowfall plagued free practice, three and session was red-flagged and eventually was suspended. Having to be wary of the time it was losing to the #1 Toyota, the #17 Porsche team decided to send the car back out onto the track without it front axle energy storage system active, with only the exhaust energy recovery system functioning. The number #2 car's driver crew was second place, and they would need a very solid finish and the #8 car to finish last in the LMP1-H standings after the race concluded. First up, let’s remove any confusion. The #7 Audi would salvage a fifth place finish, five laps down off the lead. The win at Le Mans placed Audi in prime position to overtake Toyota in Austin, at the 6 hours of Circuit of the Americas. The race would take place under a clear sky, with the air temperature being 24 degrees Celsius (76 degrees Fahrenheit) and the track temperature being 49 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit). The #3 car would be run by Marco Bonanomi, Filipe Albuquerque, and Oliver Jarvis. [5] The fundamental construction of the R8 is based on the Audi Space Frame,[2] and uses an aluminium monocoque which is built using space frame principles. The #2 would return to the track in third position. The development and engineering of the 2014 e-tron quattro was a massive overhaul from past seasons, which in contrast to the previous two seasons, struggled for pace. The R8 road car was officially launched at the Paris Auto Show on 30 September 2006. As the race was nearing the end of the fourth hour, the #7 was overtaken by one of the rival Porsches and its sister car, the #8, after trying to gamble unsuccessfully on slicks. Their formula proved to be faster and more consistent than Audi. Both Porsche machines qualified second and third. Audi chose to run car numbers #7, #8, and #9 for the 2015 season. The car uses a high-pressure central hydraulics system to reduce weight while still actuating braking, transmission, and engine operations. The first practice session took place in overcast and cool weather. In the race, Audi would find pace, particularly with their #2 car, as Lotterer it set the best lap in the first hour at 1 minute 46.388 seconds, positioned in fourth place by the conclusion of the first hour. The first practice was held on a wet track, and #2 ended the session third and the #1 finished the session fourth. The #7 Audi would get as high as third place on the first lap. This placed the #3, #2, and #1 (in that order) toward the back of the grid taking places five through seven, with the fastest time set by Oliver Jarvis of a 3-minute and 23.271 second run. Convertible models, called the Spyder by the manufacturer, were introduced in 2008, followed by the high-performance GT model introduced in 2011. [37], Mid-engine sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Audi, This article is about the road-going sports car. Audi later opted not to race with the second Energy Retrieval System, which is known as a Motor Generator Unit-Heat [MGU-H] in F1, because it did not result in the performance gain engineers had hoped for and was therefore considered an unnecessary risk to take. The Le Mans test was dominated by Audi in the order of car #2, #3, and #1. By the end of the first hour, the #2 and #1 stood in the middle of the LMP1 fray, third and fourth respectively, with the #3 car hanging onto sixth position. [33][34] Type 4S models appeared in later Marvel Studios movies with 2016 V10 Plus models in Avengers: Age of Ultron[35] and Captain America: Civil War[36] and a Spyder model in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The #8 car would be operated by Oliver Jarvis, Lucas Di Grassi, and Loïc Duval. The third practice, however, would be dry, and that's when Audi took advantage of a faster racetrack. Eventually, by the end of the race, the #1 Audi lost a lap and soon was passed by the second of the Porsches, moving the #1 back to fifth. By the end of the second hour, both Audi cars moved back a position each, the #2 car in fourth and the #1 in fifth. The #7 was the fastest during the first practice and the #8 finished third fastest in the opening practice. [41] As the sun began to set over the track in the seventh hour, the #9 was able to pass the #17 Porsche on raw pace after a pit stop, and the #7 followed in third. The #8 Audi placed sixth. Review 15. The race was a hot one, with track temperatures at 41 degrees Celsius (about 106 degrees Fahrenheit) and 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The monocoque is 4,560 millimeters in length (which is the maximum length per the regulations). [24], Spa-Francorchamps would be the second race on the calendar. To avoid vortices and turbulent airflow, which creates a loss of energy in the airflow (an increase in air resistance), Audi created a smaller monocoque space within the chassis structure, to allow high energy air to flow with ease through the chassis of the car. By the end of the fourth hour, the rapid pace by the #2 dissolved, and now the car dropped to fourth, one lap down. A larger 4.0 L engine (producing over 540 BHP) would power the rear of the car and one MGU hybrid system (producing over 230 HP) would operate in the front axle of the car. However, a mistake by the #7 sent the car spinning at the bus stop chicane, dropping the #7 to fourth place behind the #8. The Audi cars finished the wet sessions with the #1 in second place and the #2 in fourth place. [52] The third hour began with a three-way fight for first place, and the #7 held off both of the rival Porsches until it pitted with 3 hours and 45 minutes to go. [42] By the end of hour ten, the Porsche would regain the lead over the #7 and #9 in second and third places. The second practice session would only see one of the Audis take part, that being the #7. Porsche won the race, their first of the season. Meanwhile, the #18 Porsche decreased the gap more and more. The race got underway under dry conditions and got off to a great start, and by the end of hour one, the #2 was second, followed by the #3, while the #1 sat in fifth. With the aid of lap traffic, the Audi was able to keep the lead. The start of the race was sunny with track temperatures ranging from 23 to 25 degrees Celsius (66 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit). The #2 was the only car that started inside the top three in third position, about a second off the pace of the leading Porsche. Now holding the manufacturers lead, Audi hoped to continue the success and fight it showed in Austin. By the end of the third hour, the Porsche trailing the lead Audi in hour two led the race. With the pole position at Bahrain, Porsche earned pole position spots for each for each round of the championship. For the qualifying run, the #8 qualified third behind the two Porsches with a time of 1 minute and 40.352 second average time and the #7 qualifying fifth. The race started under partly cloudy skies, with the air temperature at 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit). The car placed sixth. The first practice made for a promising start for the #1 car, as it placed third by the end of the first practice. By the end of the thirteenth hour, four cars were on the lead lap, and that included the #7 in second and #9 in third. The #2 would be run by André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, and Marcel Fässler. Fortunes would soon swing in the way of the Audi within the last hour. The fastest time for a LMP1 around the track was set in the first practice session by Porsche, setting a 1:47.231 (at the time). As the Toyotas and Porsches struggled to adjust to the rain that their lack of grip slicks gave them, Audi came out of the storm on top, with one of the Porsches trailing them. As the remaining two cars went into the afternoon to night transition, #2 sat in second and #1 in third place, trying to chase down the lead Toyota. However, the #1 car was able to recover passing the Porsche it was trailing and taking the lead when the #2 went out with its problem. [9] The aerodynamics have been heavily revised in accordance with the new rules: the width is reduced by 10 cm, the height is increased by 20 mm and there is a new set of front wings. Silverstone was the first race on the 2014 calendar, and in addition to the competition presented by Toyota and their brand new car, the TS040 Hybrid, and Audi's sister company Porsche returned to prototype racing with the 919 Hybrid prototype racer. The #8 was about seven and a half tenths off the leading Porsche's time. In 2018, the R8 received a mid-cycle refresh with mechanical and exterior changes. The #8 would lose a position to the #2 Toyota, but soon regain the position back. The car would drop in the order to seventeenth overall. Going into the last hour is where Audi began to lose its advantage of the two podium spots it claimed, as the pace of the Porsches increased, and the second of the Porsches got second place. [27][24], Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan's Fuji Speedway was host to the 6 Hours of Fuji as the season moved onto the fifth round. The prototype weighs in at 870 kg.[25]. Both the Audis had already taken three pit stops in contrast to both Porsche's two, using their slicks and drying line forming on the track to catch the Porsches, who were trying to conserve their wet tires over the race session. A flywheel capable of storing over 600 kJ of energy would be inside the car as well. Audi gained the manufacturers championship lead after this race, leading by 18 over rival Toyota. About ten minutes later, the #7 made a pit stop. During the hour, the #7 was engaged with the second of the Porsches, the #18. Despite the result, Audi would still win the manufacturer's title by sixty-four and a half points. The finale of the season concluded with the #1 car taking a podium position in third and the #2 car settle back to fifth. The first practice was run under wet conditions, and it slowed the pace of the track greatly, as the fastest time set was by the #18 Porsche of a 2-minute and 16.616 lap time. The #7 and #8 finished off the hour second and third. At the end of the fifth hour, the #8 and #7 were in third and fourth, but were down a lap off the lead Porsches. The #1 car's position was fifth place, one lap down by the end of the second hour. Porsche's 919 Hybrid prototype showed great potential to win races off of its sheer pace, however, the car struggled with reliability, hindering the car from producing favorable results. [citation needed] The R18 has an engine cooling duct above the cockpit roof as well as redesigned rear wheel arches to channel more air to the rear wing. A wet third practice had the Audis separated, on opposite end of the LMP1-H leaderboard. When the race week started with the first practice, every Audi finished in the top six, with the #8 placing in second, setting a lap of 3 minutes and 21.950 seconds. Porsche did not waste any time setting pace within the qualifying session, with both cars times being in the low 1:36 range. Porsche claimed the manufacturers' titles with the first and second place finish. The Audi R8 e-tron (2015) was an all-electric version of the second-generation R8.