Autoblog

Notes from Day One of the 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Jonathon Ramsey — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:45:00 EST

The 61st edition of The 12 Hours of Sebring is on, and Autoblog has come to central Florida with Audi to feast on jumbo boiled peanuts, pickled eggs and the final race for the LMP1 class at the oldest road course in North America. As Audi has been doing for more than a decade now, it's brought its latest endurance race car, the 2013-spec R18 etron quattro, to Sebring to begin testing for Le Mans.

Why the commitment to Sebring? Audi Sport executives have repeatedly called Sebring "punishing," "extremely demanding" and "one of the toughest tracks in the world." It is a 3.47-mile circuit that, in places, feels like it was made from the leftover bits of other circuits. Doing the 12-hour distance in Florida is thought to be a good start on lasting the 24-hour distance in France, and we can't think it a coincidence that Audi has won ten times here in the last 13 years and 11 times in Gaul.

Where there's rhyme - and victory - there is reason. We think we found a few of them on our first day where preparation, technology, fastidious attention to detail and sweat fit right in with swamp cabbage...

Continue reading Notes from Day One of the 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Notes from Day One of the 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audi mulling range-topping diesel hybrid R10 supercar

Jonathon Ramsey — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:35:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Audi, Diesel, Luxury

Who ever thought we'd hear this said about a sports car: "If we made this a diesel hybrid it could be a hot-seller." Yeah. Never. Nevertheless, that's what Audi R&D chief Wolfgang Durheimer told Auto Express about a his idea for a supercar to sit above the R8 and bang carbon-fiber fenders with the McLaren P1, Ferrari F70 and Porsche 918.

Durheimer's quest, in his double life as not just R&D director but also Volkswagen's head of motorsport, is to create a more obvious and lucrative connection between an Audi road car and the automaker's 24 Hours of Le Mans victories with diesel-powered racers. It's pure speculation after that, but Auto Express distills particulars down to at least 700 horsepower and 737 foot-pounds of torque, terminal velocity beyond 200 mph, and construction using either a bespoke carbon fiber tub or the coming MSB platform planned for all mid- and rear-engined VW-Group models. Figure a 2017 due date at the earliest.

Durheimer said his team will soon to decide the top three priorities for the future. If this diesel hybrid supercar gets the nod, it would be the antipodean twin of another possible Audi that Durheimer spoke of to Autocar, a 235-mpg city car based on the A1.

Audi mulling range-topping diesel hybrid R10 supercar originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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24 Hours of Le Mans delivers something old, something new [SPOILERS]

Jonathon Ramsey — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Audi, Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota, Racing

If you don't want to know who finished where in the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, then you should head to another post this instant...

With Peugeot's withdrawal from the world's greatest endurance race, everyone was looking to the rookie Toyota team and its two petrol-hybrid TS030 race cars to provide some kind of worthy competition for the two diesel-hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattros and two Audi diesel R18 Ultras. And they did. Five hours from the drop of the green flag, Nicolas Lapierre in the No. 7 Toyota passed Benoit Treluyer in the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro on track to take the lead.

At almost the same time, Anthony Davidson in the No. 8 Toyota was getting launched into the air when a GT Pro-class Ferrari turned into him heading into Mulsanne Corner. Both drivers had massive impacts with the tire barrier, ending their races, and Davidson is now lying in the hospital with two fractured vertebra. Worse yet, the second Toyota had fallen to second due to a pit stop during the safety car period, and on the restart it crashed into the Nissan DeltaWing. That DeltaWing's race was ended after a solid run in its experimental class - its biggest issue appeared to be that other drivers couldn't see it. The Toyota returned to the pits for repairs and got back on track, but retired with engine failure about 12 hours in.

That left the four Audis to box for the victory, and they took the boxing seriously, making contact with tire walls, with other cars and with each other before the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by last year's winners Treluyer, Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler took the win, the first Le Mans win by a hybrid-powered car. Second was the No. 2 R18 e-tron quattro of "Mr. Le Mans" Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Dindo Capello, then the two diesel-powered R18 ultras in third and fifth. Nicolas Prost, son of four-time F1 champion Alain Prost, took fourth in a Lola Toyota, breaking up the Audi family.

The LMP2 class win was snagged by Ryan Dalziel in an HPD-Honda, pursued heavily by the Oreca-Nissan team. Giancarlo Fisichella took the AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia to victory in the GT Pro class after having crashed the car so badly on Wednesday that the team had to start the race at the back of the pack; the GT Am Corvettes were beset by mechanical trouble and on-track incidents. Redemption for the home team came from Pedro Lamy in the Labre Corvette C6.R, who claimed GT Am honors ahead of the Imsa Porsche team.

24 Hours of Le Mans delivers something old, something new [SPOILERS] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Le Mans starting grid set, Audi hybrid takes pole but Toyotas break up the pack

John Neff — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:58:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Hybrid, Audi, Nissan, Toyota, Diesel

There were times during the past two days of qualifying when it looked like Audi might own the first two rows of the starting grid for this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The R18 e-tron quattro hybrid cars were running the quickest lap times, with the two diesel R18 Ultras following close behind. The two Toyota TS 030 hybrid cars were also quick, but it seemed they were always nipping at the heels of an Audi's lap time, much like the Audis used to trail the faster Peugeots during qualifying for Le Mans races of the recent past. And we all know how that usually ended for Peugeot.

So when the third and final qualifying session ended last evening, we were surprised to learn the starting grid had ended up as anything but expected. An Audi will have pole position, and a hybrid car at that, which marks the first time such a powertrain has earned the honor. The No. 1 R18 e-tron quattro beat all comers with a fastest lap of 3:23.787, nearly two seconds quicker than last year's pole.

Next to the first R18 e-tron quattro will be another R18, but not a hybrid. The No. 3 R18 Ultra will be starting second, followed by the No. 8 Toyota TS030 hybrid starting third, the other R18 e-tron quattro starting fourth, the No. 7 Toyota TS030 hybrid starting fifth and the final R18 Ultra starting sixth. So not a single car of the quickest six will start next to its twin, which suggests that none of the three powertrain technologies has a lock on leading the race.

In LMP2, the No. 25 Oreca Nissan led the field with a fastest lap of 3:38.181, followed closely by the No. 24 Oak Racing Morgan Judd and then four more Oreca Nissans. The Nissan DeltaWing, racing in an experimental class of its own, wound up near the back of the LMP2 field with a fastest lap of 3:42.612 set on the first day of qualifying.

The GTE Pro class promises to be as exciting as ever this year, with the pole being led by the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, which recorded a particularly quick lap of 3:56.484 during the final qualifying session. The Ferrari will be followed by Aston Martin Racing's No. 97 Vantage V8 and the first of two Corvette Racing C6 ZR1s.

Lastly, the GTE Am class will be lead by the No. 79 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 RSR with a leading lap time of 3:57.594, followed by another 911 from Prospeed Competition and the No. 99 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage.

Click here to find out the best place, time and way to experience this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Le Mans starting grid set, Audi hybrid takes pole but Toyotas break up the pack originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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