Victories for the customer
Sporting, progressive technology and emotional design are the primary components for the success of the Audi marque. The genes for this originate from 25 victorious years in motorsport. If the legendary days of the Auto Union Grand Prix car of the 1930s are excluded, the AUDI AG motorsport history began in 1981 with the Audi quattro, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2005. The dominant victories with the “original quattro” in the World Rally Championship, during the 1980s, were an important factor in the market success of quattro drive and clearly demonstrated that the company slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik” should be taken at face value.
Grand Prix era: The Auto Union racing cars
The Audi motorsport history of the modern age begins with the quattro. However, the roots stretch a long way back: Even in the 1930s, motorsport is of paramount importance within Auto Union, as it was known at that time. The unforgotten Auto Union “Silver Arrows” caused a sensation in Grand Prix sport between 1934 and 1939. In 83 races, no less than 42 victories were won. Tazio Nuvolari, Hans Stuck and Bernd Rosemeyer are the stars before the Second World War abruptly ended all motorsport activities.
Rally Sport: The Audi quattro
At the beginning of the 1980s, Audi revolutionises the World Rally Championship with four-wheel drive. In 1981, Audi won three World Rally Championship rounds straight out of the blocks with the “original quattro”. Michèle Mouton causes a sensation at the San Remo Rally: She is the first and, to this date, the only woman to win a World Rally Championship round. In the following years, Audi wins the Manufacturers World Championship twice with the quattro; Hannu Mikkola is Rally World Champion in 1983 and Stig Blomqvist in 1984.
Pikes Peak: In record time up the mountain
The Audi quattro is not only successful in rally sport: Audi wins the prestigious hill climb up the legendary 4301 metre high Pikes Peak in the US State of Colorado three times in succession. Michèle Mouton triumphs in 1985, the American motorsport legend Bobby Unser wins in 1986 and Walter Röhrl in 1987. The powerful Audi Sport quattro S1, with almost 600 hp, storms up the peak in record time.
TransAm/IMSA: revolution quattro Drive
Following their successes in rally sport, Audi dominates on track at the end of the 1980s with quattro drive. Hurley Haywood secures the title in the fiercely competitive American TransAm Championship with the Audi quattro 200 in 1988. Audi won a total of eight races. One year later in the USA, Hans-Joachim Stuck celebrates seven IMSA-GTO victories with the Audi 90 quattro.
DTM: The Audi V8 quattro dominates
Audi returns to Europe with the Audi V8 quattro. quattro drive also overcame the opposition in the popular German Touring Car Championship (DTM): In 1990, against the toughest of competition, Hans-Joachim Stuck takes championship honours at the first time of asking, one year later Audi successfully defends, as first ever manufacturer in the DTM, the championship. This time Frank Biela clinches the championship. The DTM victories are the beginning of a success series in touring car sport lasting almost a decade.
Super Touring Cars: Class master Audi A4
Audi writes a further successful chapter in motorsport history with the Audi A4 quattro: The production based Super Touring Car is the master of its class and starts a unique worldwide triumphant procession. Frank Biela wins the 1995 Touring Car World Cup. 1996 is the year of years: Seven championships from Australia to South Africa is the upshot. The Audi A4 quattro also keeps winning in private hands: Christian Abt wins the German Super Touring Car Championship (STW) in 1999.
Le Mans & ALMS: “Vorsprung durch Technik”
The Audi R8 made its race debut at the 12-hour race in Sebring in March 2000. It was the start of a unique success story. The R8 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five-times, and all three titles in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) six times in succession. In 77 races to date, the Audi sportscar celebrated 61 wins. An R8 started 49 times from pole position, the most successful Le Mans-Prototype ever is credited with 59 fastest laps. In 2005, its sixth and final full season of competition, the R8 won nine of its 15 races.
DTM, Diesel power and farewell to the R8AUDI AG positions itself as the sportiest manufacturer in the premium-class segment, underlining this in the 2006 season with a particularly extensive and ambitious motorsport commitment: A total of ten Audi A4 DTM cars are set to contest the DTM, one of the most popular racing series alongside Formula 1. Parallel to this involvement, Audi is the first automotive manufacturer to aim for overall victory in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans with a diesel engine.
“For Audi, the DTM is equally important as competing with the new Audi R10 TDI cars in the sports prototype category,” comments Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich on the ‘double bill.’ “From the platforms of both of these commitments we reach different target audiences: The 24 Hours of Le Mans and all the racing series that have come into being in the wake of Le Mans have won international acclaim – and particularly in Japan and the United States. The DTM is very popular in Germany and has been gaining increasing importance in Europe.”
Both programmes complement each other perfectly: The R10 TDI, which is powered by a V12 TDI engine delivering roughly 650 hp, allows Audi to demonstrate its engineering competence at the highest level. In the DTM, the spotlight is on the drivers, the teams and one of Audi’s most important products: the A4, which continues to be Audi’s top-selling model.
In the 2006 DTM season, Audi will be competing with another evolution of the A4 DTM developed during the winter months, bearing the internal project name, “R12 plus,” at Audi Sport. In addition to modifications made to aerodynamics and the chassis, the A4 DTM has been fitted with a largely new V8 engine.
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, which missed clinching the title last year by merely a very small margin, will be supported by two new Audi factory teams in 2006: Audi Sport Team Phoenix and Audi Sport Team Rosberg are each going to enter two 2005-spec cars. As before, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline will be competing with four vehicles. In addition, the field will consist of two 2004-spec A4 DTM cars teams entered by the new customer team of Dr Colin Kolles.
Audi Sport Team Joest, which contested the DTM for Audi in the past two years, is going to fully concentrate on the new Audi R10 sportscar project in the 2006 season. “The goal of being the first automobile manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a diesel engine is very ambitious,” says Dr Ullrich. “Up to Le Mans we are going to be conducting such an intensive testing and development programme that there is no room for a parallel DTM commitment.“
At Le Mans, on 17/18 June – as in the “test run” at Sebring in March – Audi will be competing with two R10 cars, which afterwards will also be entered in the American Le Mans-Serie (ALMS). Audi Sport North America, supported by Champion Racing, the world’s biggest Audi dealer, will be contesting the last six ALMS races of the year, starting with the Grand Prix of Utah on July 15th.
For the ALMS races between Sebring and Salt Lake City, the Audi Sport North America team will again be using the proven Audi R8, which celebrated as many as 61 victories in 77 events. The R8’s 80th and absolutely final race will be at Lime Rock (USA) on 1 July. There it will be time to say the ‘last goodbye’ to the most successful Le Mans prototype of all times.
Apart from the factory commitments in the DTM and the R10 TDI project, Audi Sport continues its traditional practice of supporting the motorsport activities of Audi importers in the 2006 season. Contesting the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) will be three, instead of the previous two, Audi A4 cars with front-wheel drive. The Belgian Touring Car Series (BTCS) will again see the spectacular Audi A4 Silhouette competing. Audi Sport Italia will be returning to touring car racing after a longer break to compete in the Italian Superstars Series with two new Audi RS4 cars.
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