Historic Era Ends With Final Race for R8

Historic Era Ends With Final Race for R8

Posted: June 24th, 2006 in American Le Mans
Author: American Le Mans Series
Photo By: Joe Martin

The final chapter in one of sports car racing’s greatest stories is nearing completion. At next week’s New England Grand Prix the book on the Audi R8 will close, putting the finishing touch on what has been an unprecedented seven-year run of motorsport history.

No prototype has experienced more success than the Audi R8, which will go for its 50th and final victory in the American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock Park. Allan McNish and Dindo Capello will have the honor of piloting the R8 for the final time at the highest level of motorsport.

“An important era for Audi Sport reaches an end with the final race for the Audi R8,” said Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport. “The R8 is the most successful Le Mans prototype ever and will quite possibly remain so. It would obviously be fantastic if the R8 could finish its career with a race win.”

The R8’s accomplishments speak for themselves. The car has six consecutive championships in the American Le Mans Series, has won at Le Mans five times and has posted 64 victories in 79 races worldwide. It will be replaced at the Utah Grand Prix by the Le Mans- and Sebring-winning Audi R10 TDI, two of which will contest the last six rounds of the American Le Mans Series.

During the pre-race activities at Lime Rock, the R8 will be commemorated in a ceremony that will highlight each of its American Le Mans Series victories. In addition, the names of all 18 drivers who won a race with the R8 will be visible, and the names of the 23 race tracks worldwide on which a R8 won – from the winning debut at Sebring in March 2000 to the 63rd victory in Houston a few weeks ago.

So far, the R8 is 2-for-2 in LMP1 this year with wins at Houston, where it posted the fastest race lap and won overall, and Mid-Ohio, where the car also sat on the class pole. No one with Audi Sport North America, though, has seemed surprised at the car’s performance. Its reliability is legendary and speed has hardly ever been an issue, either. As a result, it stands alongside the likes of the Ford GT40, Porsche 917 and Porsche 962 as the most recognizable and successful sports cars in history.

“Nobody thought that the R8 was a turning point,” McNish said. “They thought it was a good car and a good package, but no one believed that it would turn around the way people built sports car racers and competed. Neither did they believe that it would have a lifespan of six years. But whatever competition it was thrown into it always stood up to the task, whether it was the BMW, Panoz or more recently Pescarolo. There aren’t many cars that have had that capability of adapting.”

“Our team has achieved their greatest successes so far with the Audi R8 – including the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year which made a dream come true for me personally,” said Dave Maraj, Team Director for Audi Sport North America. “The R8 is still an incredible car and actually too young for the museum. Everyone in our team will give everything to make sure this car will get the result it deserves in its final race.”