Audi celebrates ultra-successful year in motorsport

The German manufacturer’s pioneering diesel engine technology triumphed in arguably the world’s toughest motor race, the Le Mans 24 Hours, for a second consecutive year.

The winning Audi R10 TDI, powered by a 5.5-litre, 12-cylinder bi-turbo TDI engine, covered a distance of 3,124 miles – the equivalent to an entire 16-race Formula One season – at an average speed of almost 130mph, and was stationary in the pits for less than 24-minutes during the twice-around-the-clock race.

Scotsman Allan McNish, together with Dindo Capello (Italy), swept their R10 TDI to a successful defence of their LM P1 American Le Mans Series title – the eighth consecutive year Audi has won the North America based championship. Their 650PS Audi, delivering 1,100 Newton metres of torque, won the “blue riband” 12 Hours of Sebring and 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans races.

Furthermore Audi won the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) for the fifth time (1990/1, 2002/4/7) when Swede Mattias Ekström secured the Driver’s title in the most popular international touring car racing series for the second time (2004/7). The new generation A4 will be used in next year’s DTM which, for the third consecutive year, features a race at Brands Hatch (31 August).

“Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the American Le Mans Series and the DTM in the same year is a fantastic team achievement,” commented Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of AUDI AG. “All Audi employees and Audi customers can be proud of our successful 2007 motorsport season.”


Meanwhile the Formula Palmer Audi series celebrated its 10th consecutive year in 2007. The single-seater cars are powered by standard Audi 1.8-litre turbocharged engines that are fitted with an innovative “overboost” button that increases power to 360bhp for an eight second burst in each race to aid overtaking.

Formula Palmer Audi has proved itself to be one of the premier training grounds for aspiring Formula One drivers. Nine FPA graduates have progressed to F1 with many more racing in premier international championships.

Tim Bridgman, from Essex, won this year’s championship title while Alex Brundle, the 18-year-old son of former Grand Prix ace Martin, completed his first full single-seater season by registering a creditable 11th place in the final standings. Alex, from King’s Lynn, plans to continue in the FPA championship next year and will spend the close-season, winter months behind the wheel of a 1.6-litre Audi A3 he recently took delivery of from Audi UK in Milton Keynes.

Meanwhile 2007 FPA series runner-up Stefan Wilson has won the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. The 18-year-old from Sheffield is the younger brother of Justin who won the inaugural FPA title in 1998.