2012 Audi R18 e-tron quattro

Audi reigned supreme at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for many years. The German team's dominance deterred any other manufacturer from stepping up, leaving privateer teams like Pescarolo Sport as Audi's only challengers. All this changed when Peugeot joined the fray in 2007 with the 908 HDI Fap. Its very efficient design proved hard to beat, pushing the German engineers to new extremes with mixed results. Strong team work and great driving nevertheless turned the tables in Audi's favour three times in the last four years.

In those four attempts Audi fielded three distinctly different cars against the 908 HDI Fap and due to extensive rule changes for, the German manufacturer has been forced to develop its third new car in as many years. The most significant of these changes is a cut in maximum displacement of a third for the diesel engines favoured by both Audi and Peugeot. With considerably less power available, efficiency became the key word during the development of the new R18. This inspired the Audi engineers to think outside of the box and create a machine that is both a visual and mechanical departure from its predecessors.