Audi's forgotten winner that still holds a Le Mans record

In 2010, a 39-year distance record was finally beaten at the Le Mans 24 Hours as Audi claimed its ninth win at the event. It achieved both with a car that's largely forgotten, the 'ugly duckling' R15-plus TDI.

Gary Watkins Jun 14, 2020, 9:05 AM

Upd: Jun 14, 2020, 11:31 AM

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It's the - almost - forgotten Audi in the German manufacturer's line of LMP machinery straddling nearly 20 years, and the ugly duckling of the pack. Yet the R15-plus TDI didn't just add to the marque's tally of Le Mans 24 Hours victories in 2010, it did so at a record speed. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller broke the long-standing distance record set by Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep in 1971 and hold it to this day.

There was, however, a massive element of good fortune to the ninth of Audi's 13 wins at Le Mans in the battle of the turbodiesels 10 years ago. The final incarnation of the V12-powered Peugeot 908 HDi outgunned the revised version of the R15, which had endured a disastrous debut at the Circuit de la Sarthe 12 months before. But what looked like certain victory for the French manufacturer was lost with a major engine issue on Sunday morning.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 32nd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 75 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Autoweek, Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.