Having won eight of the last ten editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi is naturally one of the favourites to win this year's race. In 2009 the German team struggled with the revolutionary and also controversial R15 TDI, which did not live up to the expectations despite a debut victory at Sebring. At Le Mans it particularly suffered from a lack of top speed. Over the winter the problems have been addressed, which has resulted in the R15 plus TDI. There are still hints of the predecessor in the new car's design but some fundamental changes were made to the aerodynamics. The intricate 'channel' system, which saw much of the airflow run through the car instead of over it has been abandoned for the most part on this much more conventional design. What remained was the V10 TDI diesel engine that was part of the original R15 package. The very compact unit displaces 5.5 litre and still produces in the vicinity of 600 bhp and more importantly in excess of 1050 Nm of torque.
The official debut of the R15 plus came two months ago with a victory in the Le Castellet 8 Hours. A few weeks later the mighty Peugeot team joined the fray at Spa for a clash of the titans. Both rivals brought three fully equipped cars and Peugeot showed that the victory at Le Mans last year has not led to complacency. Running the Le Mans aero-package, the new Audi was competitive throughout the weekend and especially the top speed figures were encouraging. We captured the new Audi at these races and have created a 24-shot gallery to illustrate a detailed article on the development of the latest endurance racer from Ingolstadt.
At Le Mans Audi will field three R15 plus TDIs; the #7 for Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen, the #8 for Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer, and the #9 for Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller. It looks like we may have another classic fight on our hand and it would take a brave man to bet against Audi.

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2010 Audi R15 plus TDI - Images, Specifications and Information