The first of the gang

It has been 20 years since Audi first won the Le Mans 24 Hours with its now iconic R8, but the development phase of the car was anything but easy

- ANDREW COTTON

Audi’s R8 Le Mans Prototype set a new standard in endurance racing. The car won for the first time at Sebring in 2000, and that year went on to record the first of five wins at Le Mans. The legend grew with every race. Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela won Le Mans three times together between 2000 and 2002, Audi drivers won the American Le Mans Series every year from 2000 to 2005 for Audi Sport North America, Team Joest and Champion Racing, and the European Le Mans Series for Apex Motorsport. The car looked unbeatable.

The R8 firmly established Audi in endurance racing at a time when the sport needed the stability. From 1999, when six manufacturers competed, just three continued in 2000 including Cadillac, Chrysler through its Mopar brand and Audi. BMW continued in private hands, but it was a shock to the system after the drama and excitement of 1999.

Audi had contested the 1999 race and was relieved to come out of it with a podium on its first visit to Le Mans. The brand had arrived in endurance racing to great fanfare in December 1998 with a presentation of a prototype in Berlin that bore more resemblance to its future production cars than the cars that actually raced.

The R8 was Audi’s first ever attempt at a fully fledged prototype, having previously only ever developed racecars from production ’shells and the 3.6-litre V8 was the manufacturer’s first dedicated race engine since the 1930s.

As it was all new, there was a steep learning curve for the Ingolstadt team of designers and engineers before the start of one of the most successful Sportscar racing programmes ever.