The Audi R15 TDI is the German automaker’s endurance racing answer to the Peugeot 908 HDi, and while the R15 was victorious in its debut at the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring, the Audi team lost the crucial 24 Hour race at Le Mans. Powered by a turbo diesel 5.5 Liter V10 making 597 HP and 774 lb-ft of torque mated to a five speed gearbox due to the Audi’s broad torque curve. The result is a 2000 lb carbon fiber Le Mans prototype race car that can do 205 MPH.
The German automaker Audi has just released this promotional video of their second-generation turbo diesel Le Mans prototype competitor, the R15 TDI. The racecar features cues from the current road cars like LED headlamps. The Audi R15 is powered by a turbocharged V10 running on the alternative fuel to develop a maximum output of 600 HP and typical for a diesel, 1,050 Nm of torque. Expect to see Audi drivers on the podium very soon.
Audi loves its oil burner racers and for a good reason. The diesel powered R10 car has given Audi three consecutive wins at Le Mans. Now we’re starting to get information on the R10 replacement, the R15.
Audi didn’t just lobb off a few cylinders from its passenger cars, but also from its racers. The R10 used a turbo V12, and the R15 has a turbo V10 that makes "more than 600 hp." Audi says the real benefit of the engine is that its more compact and lighter than its predecessor.
We could bore you with all the aerodynamic details, and all the small tweaks the super-brain engineers over at Audi used to make the R15 a competitor, but it’s a lot to digest. We’ll wait and see how the car competes at Sebring on March 21 and Le Mans in June before we get all tech heavy on this car. Those who want to know all the details now can read the press release after the jump.
When Audi announced the its new R15 TDI race car we didn’t get much detail. All Audi gave up was that it had "numerous technically innovative detail solutions" and released a extreme close-up pic. From this we thought we may have to wait until the official unveiling on March 21st to know more about Audi’s next Le Mans racer, but now we got this pic of the car performing a few test laps.
The first race test of the car will come at the 12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida at the end of March. The big prize will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in June, where Audi will see if it can continue to dominate the LMP1 class.
