Audi's greatest sportscar moments

Next year, for the first time since 1998, the sportscar world will prepare for a season in which Audi will not come into the Le Mans 24 Hours equation. The German manufacturer's axing of its LMP1 project means the French enduro, and the World Endurance Championship, loses one of its biggest assets.

Audi's departure from the upper echelon of endurance racing is a blow after a baker's dozen Le Mans wins and a host of other memorable moments in the sportscar arena.

Rather than dwell on the loss, sportscar doyen GARY WATKINS prefers to remember the good moments - here are 10 of Audi's finest.

THE FIRST LE MANS
2000 Le Mans 24 Hours

The first is always the sweetest. So says Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich when looking back on the marque's sportscar successes and its impressive run of 13 victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

"My favourite will always be the first because winning Le Mans was the big goal when we started the project," he says. "We could never have thought that we could win Le Mans 13 times, because there was a time before 2000 when we didn't know how to win it once."

Audi, of course, dominated Le Mans on its second attempt on the French enduro. Its trio of R8s claimed a one-two-three finish, led home by Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela, and its nearest rival was more than 20 laps back at the finish. But Audi Sport Team Joest didn't pitch up at the Circuit de la Sarthe believing it was a shoo-in for victory.

"It's not that I didn't believe in our preparation, it was more that I had a lot of respect for the race," says Pirro. "We'd never completed a 30-hour test without any problems, so I didn't dare think we could win."

MOSPORT MAGIC
2000 American Le Mans Series

A tenth and a half was all that separated Audi driver Rinaldo Capello and Jorg Muller's BMW V12 LMR after nearly three hours of racing in the Mosport American Le Mans Series round in August 2000. The Italian and team-mate Allan McNish looked on course to win easily until a late rain storm and the wrong call on tyres.

Muller, who shared the Schnitzer-run BMW with JJ Lehto, had opted to change to slicks on a drying track with 20 minutes to go. And it looked like the tactic was going to work as he closed down the wet-shod Audi R8.

Muller took seven seconds out of Capello on the penultimate lap and, as he started the final tour four seconds down, it looked like he'd done enough.

"I thought I had no chance," remembers Capello. "The car was all over the place, but Muller didn't catch me until Turn 9 on the final lap. I drove those last two corners as though I was on slicks."

HERBERT'S MONZA MANOEUVRE
2004 Le Mans Endurance Series opener

There was little to choose between the two Veloqx Audis in the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series opener at Monza. It was nip and tuck all the way, the outcome being decided by an opportunist manoeuvre during which Johnny Herbert took to the grass on the exit of the Ascari Chicane.

Herbert, who shared his R8 with Jamie Davies, was trailing Pierre Kaffer in the car started by Allan McNish three and a half hours into the race. The Briton knew he was quicker, but just had to find an opportunity to pass. He saw it coming when he spied a Ferrari GT1 car 200 yards up the road as they exited the second Lesmo.

"I knew he was going to catch the Ferrari on the exit of the chicane and I needed to keep my momentum so I could get the run down to the Parabolica," recalls Herbert. "It was more or less planned and I thought that I'd have to put a couple of wheels on the grass as I went around the outside of the Ferrari."

Kaffer had to jink inside the GT car, but the Ferrari didn't move left quite as much as Herbert was expecting.

"I knew the grass was flat and no drop from the kerb, so I changed up early to avoid spinning up the wheels, just kept my foot in and put all four off the track," continues Herbert. "The grass, as I'd hoped, was like a bowling green and my momentum allowed me to pass."

But the race wasn't over. A late rain storm gave McNish the chance to come back at Herbert. He caught the leader, despite two offs at the first chicane, to finish a scant six tenths behind.

TWO TITANS GO TO WAR
2005 Sebring 12 Hours

This was an entirely internecine Audi affair, but the battle fought out between the two greatest sportscar drivers of their generation made it a classic. And for many it is the greatest Sebring 12 Hours.

There was little to choose between the two Champion Racing Audi R8s with driver line-ups led by Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish at Sebring in 2005. It was a thriller that could have gone either way, but it ultimately turned on a tactical masterstroke on the part of Brad Kettler and Mike Peters in the pit of the winning #1 car Kristensen shared with Marco Werner and JJ Lehto.

Werner had a 12-second lead over McNish when he handed over to Kristensen, who was on course to lose the lead at the next round of stops because he would need a new set of tyres and his pursuer wouldn't. But Champion opted to short-fuel the leading car. Somewhere between seven and nine seconds were saved, which - combined with a delay for McNish caused by an errant camera crew - resulted in Kristensen coming out with a couple of seconds in hand.

Kristensen pushed hard on cold tyres to stay ahead and then used the advantage of his new set of Michelins to build a gap. "Whoever was on new tyres was absolutely flying in the cool conditions," remembers the Dane. The advantage was reversed at the next stop and McNish came back at the leader on fresh rubber, but the damage had been done and he fell short by a shade over six seconds.

DIESEL DOUBTERS DISMISSED
2006 Le Mans 24 Hours

Audi's decision to return to Le Mans as a factory with turbodiesel technology was a step in the dark. No-one had built a bespoke diesel racing engine before and many - some of the manufacturer's suppliers included - didn't believe it was possible. Audi proved the doubters wrong with the R10 TDI, but it wasn't as easy as the 2006 results might suggest.

The new R10 carried a serious glitch with the fuel injection electronics through pre-Le Mans testing into race week. So much so that Audi Sport engine boss Ulrich Baretzky was in constant contact with supplier Bosch during race week.

"Every morning out in the car park we were having a conference call to Bosch in Stuttgart," he recalls. "We knew what the problem was, but we didn't know how to fix it."

So pessimistic was Audi that it opted to stick with a pair of engines that seemed to have the least problems. It took the unprecedented step, according to its own practices at the time, of running one engine per car through the two qualifying days and into the race. It was a case of better the devil you know.

Fuel injection problems did rear their head in the race, delaying the car shared by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello. But the sister car came through to take a four-lap victory in the hands of Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner.

THE GREAT LE MANS ROBBERY
2008 Le Mans 24 Hours

Was this the biggest heist in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours? Possibly, because Audi really did steal victory from Peugeot.

Peugeot's 908 HDi was the faster car, at least in the dry, but Audi's forecast said rain was coming. It knew its chance might come on a wet track; it just needed to stay in contention until then.

"We gambled everything from the start," recalls McNish. "We were on the limit in every way to try to hang on to the Peugeots. We were even going onto the safety car fuel map from Karting [now Chevrolet Curve] to make sure we went a lap longer than we should have."

Audi was still in touch when the rain came, but McNish and his team-mates were never quite in control of the race.

"I remember looking at the strategies of the two cars on the computer and the two lines were basically on top of each other after 24 hours," explains McNish. "Tom was in the car at the end and I have never been so nervous."

McNISH'S BLUSHES SPARED
2008 Petit Le Mans

Victory for Audi, at least the R10 TDI shared by Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello and Emanuele Pirro, looked unlikely half an hour or so before the start of the Petit Le Mans 1000-mile race at Road Atlanta in 2008. The #1 Audi R10 TDI was in the paddock for repairs after McNish looped it into the wall on his reconnaissance lap. Yet it came back to beat Peugeot in a thriller.

The car started the race two laps late after the repairs. It was quickly up onto the lead lap, only to fall back in the middle of the race. McNish was still a lap down on the solo Peugeot 908 HDi of Nicolas Minassian, Stephane Sarrazin and Christian Klien when he got back in the car for the final time.

The race turned during the penultimate safety car. Audi brought McNish into the pits twice, once for fuel and once for rubber, a tactic that clawed back the lead deficit.

"I remember I could see the leader for the first time," recalls McNish. "That was when I actually started to think about winning the race. For whatever reason, the car was understeering like a pig - probably because I'd clouted the wall, and it was definitely a bit better on the soft tyre."

McNish had to pass two LMP2 cars and team-mate Marco Werner before beginning the chase of Klien. McNish made it past after getting the better run out of Turn 5 and then used the traffic and the full width of his R10 to stay ahead.

THE BLACK SHEEP
2009 Sebring 12 Hours

The R15 TDI and its derivatives are the forgotten Audi prototypes. They weren't the most successful, but the debut of the car at the 2009 Sebring 12 Hours suggested a bright future for the ugly duckling of the German manufacturer's line of LMP machinery.

Yet the R15 didn't look as though it was going to notch up a debut victory in the American Le Mans Series opener that year. The Peugeot 908 HDi looked to be in control of the race. That is until night fell and with it the temperatures.

The Peugeots, which went two stints on a set of Michelins right through the race, had the edge on the single-stinting Audis during the daylight hours. The balance changed as day turned to night. The R15 came alive and the car driven by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello started to put pressure on the French cars.

"Everyone slates the R15, but at Sebring that year I had the best-balanced sportscar I've had in my career," recalls McNish. "It was the first time I'd ever gone around the outside of someone at Turn 1. You have to have a lot of confidence in the machinery underneath you to do that."

Victory still appeared to be a long shot for McNish and his team-mates as the race entered its final phase. And not only because the Audi would need a late splash of fuel, whereas the Peugeot out front shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin would not.

"I remember getting in for my final stint and 'H' [engineer Howden Haynes] came on the radio and said, 'Allan, Bourdais has just done a 43.5s', and I had done a 45.2 or something up to that point - and had been straining my nuts to do that."

But the Audi liked the soft-compound Michelin more than the Peugeot and McNish set about building the lead of 50 or so seconds he would need to be able to make a late splash-dash stop.

He was just 36s ahead of the Peugeot when it exited the pits for the final time with Montagny at the wheel, but after a string of laps below the pole mark, the Scot had the lead up to more than a minute.

DENYING PEUGEOT...AGAIN
2011 Le Mans 24 Hours

Three years after its classic 2008 victory, Audi pulled off an equally dramatic victory over Peugeot in very different circumstances.

The Audi R18 TDI was equally matched with the second-generation Peugeot 908, but it was going one lap fewer around Le Mans on each tank of diesel. What's more, two of the German manufacturer's entries were out of the race early, leaving its victory hopes on the shoulders of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler.

"It was flat-out all the way and I think we changed lead over 40 times," recalls Lotterer. "It was a thriller."

The Audi ended up triumphing over the Peugeot shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Simon Pagenaud by just 13s. What's more, Lotterer had been just six seconds ahead after the final round of stops.

Joest Racing boss Ralf Juttner picks 2011 as his favourite Le Mans victory. "I was less involved in the running of the car that year and seemed to spend most of my time in the stewards' room," he recalls. "We managed to get away with no penalties whatsoever even when we did things that I was sure would get us a drivethrough or a stop/go.

"We had overtaking in the pitlane - Mr Lotterer. Overtaking with all four wheels off the track - Mr Treluyer. And we got away with all of them. Just one penalty would probably have cost us the race.

"I regard that one as my Le Mans win. I thought after that race that I should have become a lawyer."

TOE-TO-TOE WITH PORSCHE
2015 World Endurance Championship opener

Audi had the fastest car at the 2015 World Endurance Championship opener at Silverstone. But the Porsche 919 Hybrid had the advantage in terms of hybrid power. And it made for a fantastic spectacle.

The latest Audi R18 e-tron quattro was racing in the four-megajoule hybrid class, while Porsche had just moved up to 8MJ for its second year back in the top class. That would make overtaking difficult.

The race came to a head in a thrilling battle leading up to the halfway point of the six-hour encounter. Marcel Fassler moved the #7 Audi onto the tail of leader Neel Jani in the #18 Porsche. He could pass, but he couldn't make it stick.

Andre Lotterer, who shared the Audi with Fassler and Benoit Treluyer, caught Romain Dumas on the Porsche driver's second lap after taking over the car and hung him out wide on the exit of Village.

"It was a little bit cheeky, but I had to make him lose momentum," recalls Lotterer. "I knew that if I was still in front by the time we got to Copse and then Becketts, I would be away."