Audi sports car racing

2001 June 17: Audi R8s finished first and second in the Le Mans 24-hour race. A Bentley Exp Speed 8 was third. The Audis used V8 twin turbo-charged engines with petrol direct injection.

2001 June: Car #1 (right) set the fastest time at the first qualifying session for the 2001 Le Mans 24-hour race.

2001 April 25: Michele Alboreto was killed testing an Audi R8 on the Lausitzring Germany in preparations for the Le Mans 24-hour race. He was a Formula One driver from 1982 to 1994, and had competed in eight Le Mans 24-hour races, winning in 1997.

2001: Audi's Le Mans car is now called the ``Infineon Audi R8''. The layout of the car and its 3.6-litre twin turbo-charged engine remain the same but with many refinements to the power train, chassis and aerodynamics.

The rules do not allow the six-speed sequential gearbox to use electronic control systems so the change is operated pneumatically.

Right: Johnny Herbert at Le Mans.

The open LM-P Audi's will have the company of closed LM-GT Bentley siblings in 2001.

2000: Audis finished 1-2-3, a remarkable achievement, even allowing for the absence of Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Toyota, and the Porsche prototype(s).

Biela/Kristensen/Pirro (Audi R8) 368 laps
Aiello/McNish/Ortelli (Audi R8) -1 lap
Abt/Alboreto/Capello (Audi R8) -3 laps
Bourdais/Grouillard/Clerico (Courage) -24 laps
Katoh/O'Connell/Raphanel (Panoz) -26 laps
Suzuki/Kageyama/Kageyama (Panoz) -28 laps

1999: Audi entered the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race for sports cars for the first time in 1999, running two closed coupes and two open cars with the Reinhold Joest's team. M. Alboreto qualified his car seventh fastest. One of the Audis finished 3rd, another 4th.

The Audi R8 is powered by a V8 turbo-charged engine.

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