By Tarek Ramchani :
The ACO has released the official entry list for the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours which now becomes the stellar event of the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship. Strong rumors have been circulating the last couple of months regarding the Audi projects for 2012. Much talk surrounded the possibility of Hybrid power for the Audi R18 during the off season. It is now official, following the release of the 2012 entry list, Audi will indeed be using hybrid power at Le Mans.
For Le Mans, Audi will field no less than 4 cars. Two R18 "TDI"s, the winning car in 2011 and two brand new R18 "Hybrid"s. The four car squad will all be run by Joest Racing. The numbers of the cars have also changed following Peugeot Sport's departure. The #1, #2 and #3 will be used as Audi Sport Team Joest. The #4 machine will be under Audi Sport North America banner. Andre Lotterer the 2011 winner, Allan McNish, Timo Bernhard and Oliver Jarvis are the first nominated drivers that have been announced. Oliver Jarvis, an Audi works driver since 2008 in the DTM will have his first attempt with the official Audi Sport Le Mans program. In 2010 he drove for the privateer Team Kolles with the Audi R10 TDI. The other works drivers for both Le Mans and WEC will be unveiled later on.
Audi Sport's plan of fielding four cars comprising of two different technologies was originally set to face the strong French rivals from Peugeot Sport, and the fresh new comers from Toyota Motorsport. The TDI power proved to be very strong, dominating at La Sarthe for years and taking five wins from six attempts. The timing was perfect for Audi to introduce the Hybrid technology for its R18 LMP1 racer. In recent years, as the titanic battles between Audi and Peugeot proved, Le Mans is no longer an endurance event. It has changed and radically metamorphosed into a true 24 Hour "Sprint" challenge. You have to have a very fast pace and not a single mistake can be tolerated if you want to win. Four cars means Audi has more chances to do exactly that. The Hybrids will debut and hopefully immediately challenge for the overall battle and win. The TDI cars will provide a safe back up with its very proven strong and reliable Turbo Diesel Injection power with zero engine failures at Le Mans since the Audi R10 TDI era. The first race of the season will be the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida. The twelve hour classic will open both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series seasons. Audi Sport Team Joest will field there three Audi R18 TDI cars. The new Hybrid version will have its race debut at the WEC's round two, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Audi is aiming for an 11th outright Le Mans win. Even with and Peugeot out, it still won't be easy and there is serious competition ahead. In 2011 Toyota supplied petrol power engines to the privateer Rebellion Racing team for their Lola Coupes LMP1 cars, winning both teams and manufactures titles in the European based Le Mans Series. Many saw that as a first step for a full factory and imminent return to Le Mans. At the end of 2011 that become fully official, Toyota is back with a works team and Hybrid technology. However Hybrid isn't new for Toyota Motorsport, in 2007 a Toyota Supra HV-R Hybrid won overall at the Tokachi 24 Hours race. Last time Toyota was at La Sarthe was in 1999, entering the very fast but unlucky Toyota GT-One. For their return, the Japanese are using the brand new Toyota TS030 Hybrid, a closed cockpit prototype. The car is built by Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Germany (ex Toyota Team Europe). The Hybrid engine comes directly from Japan. Toyota is taking its Le Mans challenge very seriously; it contracted French Le Mans specialists Team ORECA, one of the finest teams in endurance racing as their technical partners. Two cars will enter the big French classic this coming June. The #7 and #8 cars will race under Toyota Racing banner. And along with the R18 Hybrid the TS030 will debut at the 6 Hours of Spa.
We all hoped for a three way battle at Le Mans, Audi vs Peugeot vs Toyota. Unfortunately the French challenge is gone, but we are still looking forward to an epic fight. Fifteen cars are entering the top LMP1 class. It is however still quite obvious that it will be a Germany vs Japan battle of Hybrid machines.
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| Audi R18 TDI at Le Mans 24 Hours 2011 |
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| Toyota TS030 Hybrid testing at Paul Ricard 2012 |
