Autosport Plus

Why Audi isn't going radical

Rocked but reinvigorated by defeat in last year's WEC, Audi has given its R18 a ground-up going-over in a bid to stay on top at Le Mans and take the fight to Toyota and Porsche in the sprint races. GARY WATKINS outlines what it's done

Audi looked like a wounded giant at the end of last year's World Endurance Championship. It might have triumphed in the Le Mans 24 Hours and kept the championship open to the penultimate round in Bahrain, but it was outgunned on the Tilkedromes that made up much of the second leg of the series.

Now it is back with a major update of its R18 e-tron quattro and a real confidence that it will be in the fight for the WEC titles as well as a 14th victory in the race that really matters in France on the middle weekend of June.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.