Audi's radical diesel-powered R10 — how it was made
The news came as quite a shock, even to the drivers. Few could believe that Audi was about to put its faith into ‘dirty diesel’ for its Le Mans hopes with the radical-for-the-time R10 TDI. But what the car achieved was nothing short of sensational, ushering in a new era of endurance racing efficiency, technology and most of all, power. This is the story of the car’s evolution
Classic Driver
Like many off-the-wall ideas, this one was hatched in a bar. The notion that a diesel-powered sports-prototype might one day challenge for victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours would have sounded so preposterous at the turn of the century that it could only have been conceived under the influence of alcohol. And so began the story of the Audi R10 TDI.
The participants in the boozy evening were Audi Sport engine boss Ulrich Baretzky and two of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s most important officials of the time, Daniel Poissenot and Daniel Perdrix. The subject of diesels appears to have come up in light of a previous conversation Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich had conducted with the powers-that-be at Le Mans about the need to incorporate new technologies into the LMP rulebook.
The remarkable thing was that Audi was still a newbie at Le Mans when these first tentative diesel discussions were taking place. Baretzky remembers that his “night in the bar with the two Daniels” was as early as January 2001. That means the German manufacturer had only claimed one of its 13 victories in the 24 Hours at that point, and it would be another five and a half years before it would take win number six with the R10 turbodiesel.