Audi Knows 24 Hour Endurance Racing

Audi has won a record 11 times at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in France. This past weekend they won the Rolex 24 At Daytona in its second year contesting the race. For racing enthusiasts, most everyone knows that Audi has won a record 11 times at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in France with the original R8, the R10, the R15 TDI and last year with the R18 e-tron quattro – the first hybrid victory in Le Mans history. Each of the races technologies developed for the track are tested at their limits for 24 hours showing exceptional durability and balanced performance.

This past weekend, the R8 GRAND-AM won the Rolex 24 At Daytona in its second year contesting the race. The win by Alex Job Racing in the R8 GRAND-AM represented another epic win which saw 6 other cars finishing on the same lap as the leader including the No. 52 APR R8 GRAND-AM which took second place. Four R8s started the race and four finished without any technical issues after 24 hours of racing.

The win at Daytona adds to the Audi endurance wins with the R8 around the world having won the 24 hour races at the Nuerburgring, Spa, Zolder in Europe and Bathurst down under in Australia. While the cars at Le Mans focused on utilizing new technologies on the track that made their way into production (direct fuel injection, TDI, lightweight design to name a few), the R8 is exactly the opposite. It was developed as a street car that later went racing in the GT class. With 50% of the production car used in the R8 GRAND-AM, it is a true testament to the engineering customers are buying both on the road and on the track.

The V10 naturally aspirated engine and ASF all-aluminum frame are identical to the production car and are manufactured on the same production line as the road car.

With Audi introducing the updated 2014 MY R8 in the Spring and a full-line of clean diesel TDI engines in the fall, the technologies on the track continue to make their way into the product line.

It was great to see several manufacturers in the hunt for the win this past weekend at the Rolex 24. Judging by the performance of Audi both in Daytona, at other tracks and the increased number you see on the road, it looks like the brand will continue to bring its technologies to the track and to the road.