New Audi R18 presented at Audi Sport Finale in Munich

The new Audi R18 e-tron quattro celebrated its world premiere at Saturday’s Audi Sport Finale at the Audi Training Centar in Munich. The LMP1 car for the 2016 season of World Endurance Championship is fundamentally re-designed and became the most powerful and efficient race car Audi has ever built. TDI powered R18 e-tron quattro will step up in the six megajoule hybrid sub-class next year and will be on a par with petrol-powered rivals Porsche 919 Hybrid and Toyota TS040 Hybrid.

The new car features innovative aerodynamics, represents the next stage in lightweight design and has a modified hybrid system with lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, plus an efficiency-optimized TDI engine. In the 2016 season Audi Sport will run two R18 cars in the championship but also two cars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, instead three entries such as in 2015. Drivers line-up for World Endurance Championship will remain unchanged.

At the Audi Sport Finale event, which marked the end of the season, plans for 2016 were announced for other categories in which Audi competes. In the DTM, Audi has opted for continuity with an unchanged driver line-up. The only change: Adrien Tambay and Nico Müller are swapping teams. In GT racing, the new Audi R8 LMS is facing its first full racing season. For the 2016 Audi Sport TT Cup, 125 candidates have applied for the 20 available entries.