Audi recovers power lost in 2016 fuel regulations for LMP1

Engine power has been pegged back for the coming season as a result of a blanket 10MJ reduction in the energy available to both petrol and turbodiesel internal-combustion engines over a lap of Le Mans.

But Audi Sport head of engineering Jorg Zander said that developments to the all-new R18 e-tron quattro's four-litre V6 turbodiesel had largely made up for this loss.

"The fuel flow is being reduced by about 10 percent and reducing the fuel flow means you are losing power," he said.

"The idea is to maintain power with reduced fuel flow and I think we have achieved that to a great extent: we are still dealing with about 380kW [514bhp] with this engine, which is a very good result."

That rating for the single-turbo 120-degree V6 compares with the 558bhp that was quoted for last year's version.

Audi's engineers have also had to deal with an approximate three percent reduction in fuel associated with the move from the four to the six-megajoule hybrid subclass.

That move, combined with the improvements in engine efficiency, mean that the latest car to carry R18 e-tron quattro nomenclature is more powerful than its predecessor.

The bigger hybrid system, which includes the replacement of flywheel energy storage to a lithium-ion battery, is now rated at 350kW or 469bhp.

That compares with the 202kW or 272bhp hybrid power rating for the 2015 R18.

The fuel-flow P1 regulations introduced for the 2014 season were framed with a reduction of power from the cars' conventional engines over time.

The rule makers opted for the maximum 10MJ reduction allowed under their framework in the light of ever-quicker lap times around the Circuit de la Sarthe during last year's Le Mans 24 Hours.

A new rule that will limit the maximum power of a car's hybrid systems to 300kW (402bhp) for Le Mans only has also been introduced for safety reasons.