Audi R18 TDI Testing at Sebring from QuattroWorld.com on Vimeo.

While all eyes were at Sebring last weekend for the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race to mark the opening of the 2011 ALMS season, German automaker, Audi->ke14, went largely unnoticed as it completed a couple of testing runs for its new LMP1 racer, the R18.

The R18's debut is still a month away at the 6-hour Spa-Francorchamps endurance race on May 7, 2011, but with precious time remaining before its debut, the engineers over at Audi worked double hard last weekend to ensure that the car's aerodynamics and reliability were up to par with its predecessor, the R15->ke3384.

Fortunately, Audi was kind of enough to post a couple of videos of the Sebring testing, complete with action shots of their LMP1 racer run roughshod on the race track. On top of the two-minute R18 action-fest, there's also another video featuring no less than Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, the brand's motorsport head, giving us the low-down behind the car, including the decision to go for an all-new 3.7-liter V6 diesel engine with the R18.

Check out the video of Dr. Ullrich's interview after the jump.

In depth interview with Head of Audi Motorsport and team about the Audi R18 TDI from QuattroWorld.com on Vimeo.