Audi to Challenge Peugeot, Acura, at Petit Le Mans

Dindo Capello pilots the race-winning Audi into the dusk at the Twelve Hours of Sebring. (ALMS)

Audi Sport Team Joest has announced that the Audi R15 TDI will return to America to take on Acura and Peugeot at Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta’s thousand-mile endurance classis, on September 26.

Audi will bring two diesel-powered R15 sports racing cars, all driven by Le Mans veterans. Dindo Capello and Allan McNish, who won Sebring in 2006 and Petit Le Mans in 2007 and 2008, will drive one car; Lucas Luhr, and Marco Werner, the other. Petit Le Mans

“The race at Road Atlanta already marks the first part of our preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010,” said Head of Audi Motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich in an official Audi press release. “We want to use it as an opportunity for our engineers to learn even more about the new Audi R15 TDI in direct competition with strong rivals. A lot of things can be simulated on test rigs and in track tests. But nothing can replace the experience gathered in actual racing events.” 

Petit Le Mans will be only the third competition outing for the new Audis. Many people believe Audi’s 2009 Le Mans loss was the result of insufficient race experience.

The Audis have not raced in the U.S. since winning the Mobil 1 Sebring Twelve Hours in February. At Sebring, the more reliable Audis beat the faster Peugeots by only 22 seconds after twelve hours of racing. The lone LMP1 Acura entry of Patrón Highcroft dropped out with mechanical problems after qualifying fastest. 

Audi faced off against Peugeot at Le Mans, losing the race for only the second time this decade. The usually perfect Audi operation missed the setup, leaving the Audis down on speed. One car was retired after an accident; another spent so much time in the pits it was never in the running. The lone surviving Audi finished third, six laps behind the leader.

“We’re convinced that we weren’t able to fully exploit the potential of the R15 TDI at Le Mans,” Dr. Ullrich said. “At Road Atlanta, we’ll have the opportunity to test on Sunday before the race so that we should be in a better position than we were at Le Mans. Despite the strong competition by Acura/Honda, Peugeot, Mazda, Oreca and other prototype teams. we figure on having good chances of fighting for victory, as we did over the past few years.”

The R15’s predecessor, the R10 TDI, was the first Audi—indeed, the first sports racing prototype—to use a turbocharged diesel engine. The R10 was incredibly successful, winning its debut at Sebring in 2006, and winning Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series championship three years’ running. The R10 won 18 races in the ALMS, including winning Petit Le Mans from 2006–2008. 

Audi obviously hopes to achieve the same domination in 2010 with the R15.

Besides avenging its on-track defeat, Audi is returning to America to promote its turbo-diesel road cars. The Audi Q7 TDI 3.0 has been available in the USA since the beginning of the year, and the Audi A3 TDI 2.0 will arrive at U.S. dealerships in fall.

Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6 caps a four-day, twelve-race motorsports weekend at Road Atlanta. Please visit the Road Atlanta Web site for more information.