The fans on the race track and a worldwide audience of millions of TV viewers saw an impressive demonstration of Audi TDI Power and the performance of modern diesel engines. The brace of Audi R10 TDI cars, powered by a 650 hp V12 TDI engine, were by far the fastest and most economical cars. During the entire race, one of the new diesel sportscars from Ingolstadt was at the head of the field. Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen drove the fastest lap of the race, setting a 3m 31.211s time, and he was the first driver at the wheel of an LM P1 sportscar to cover 16 laps with one fuel load. Completing 380 laps, Audi also set a new distance record.

In the race, the advantage in fuel consumption of the Audi TDI Power was visible for the spectators too: on average, the Audi drivers only pitted every 14 laps to refuel 90 litres of Shell V-Power Diesel. The opposition, who relies on petrol engines, had to pit considerably more often. The fans were also impressed just how quiet an environmentally friendly 650-hp sportscar can be.

Although the roll-out of the new Audi R10 TDI took place only 200 days before the race, the victorious Diesel sportscar ran as reliably for 24 hours as its predecessor, the R8 that scored five Le Mans victories. The only unscheduled pit stop was carried out at 3:47 am when Audi Sport Team Joest decided to replace the gear cluster after trouble with fifth gear. In spite of the fact that the change of the entire rear end – as it had been done with the R8 – is no longer allowed by the rules, the team needed less than ten minutes war this exercise thanks to an innovative gearbox design. One more minute was lost for Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner on Sunday morning when one headlight of their R10 TDI was broken so the front bodywork had to be replaced. Apart from that, their Audi run like a clockwork.

Audi’s triumph was completed by Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish who finished third. The #7 R10 TDI was in the lead in the early phase of the race when the injectors of the right-hand cylinder bank of the V12 TDI engine had to be replaced in the fourth hour. Having dropped back to 16th position, Capello, Kristensen and McNish fought back with the fastest lap times in the field to third place in spite of further setbacks at night and in the early morning hours. Following a collision with a GT1 car, the undertray was loosened, and also the left-hand turbocharger had to be changed. Number 7 lost almost a full hour in the pits. Thanks to the mechanics who carried out all the repairs they still made it to the podium.

Quotes after the race

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "This was already the sixth Le Mans victory for Audi, but by far the most difficult and important one. Only 200 days, the most intensive ones in the history of Audi Sport, separated the roll-out of the R10 TDI and the start of the Le Mans race. I want to thank every single member of Audi Sport, of Audi Sport Team Joest, the colleagues of the TE (department of development) and our technical partners. We have started this project from a blank sheet of paper and we tried something that nobody has ever done before in this form. We knew how big the challenge was to win Le Mans with such a high-performance diesel engine. We have seen in the past 24 hours and before that so many things can happen in this race. Le Mans always harbours some surprises that cannot be simulated on a test bed or a test track. So we are all the more happy to have succeeded in writing another chapter in the history of motorsport. The team has worked immaculately and has always reacted correctly to everything that has occured. The winning car ran almost faultlessly for 24 hours. Unfortunately, the other car dropped back due to an accident. But the fact that this team made the podium at the end, too, shows that it was a fantastic performance from the team.”

Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #8): "Today it’s an Audi day, it’s a diesel day and it’s the day of ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’. With the first victory of a diesel engine something extraordinary has happened which we all still don’t completely realize. It’s a great reward for all the people who have been working for this project in front and behind the scenes. I think this weekend we saw the beginning of a new era in motorsport. And it was a confirmation that Audi is the leader of any new technology in the automobile industry.”

Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #7): "The TDI project was always a very ambitious one. Audi never takes these things lightly and came perfectly prepared to this race. But coming to Le Mans you have to expect everything including problems – and that’s what happened to our car this weekend as it happened to the Audi R8 on its debut in 2000. But again we overcame them in the true style of Le Mans and Audi, and fought our way to the podium. That was a fantastic effort for the whole team.”

Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #7): "It’s a great result for Audi and we’re all part of this victorious brand. Our car suffered some problems through the race but each time my engineer and the mechanics on #7 worked very hard and did a good job to solve them so that we lost as little time as possible. They all deserve a big thank you. I’m so happy to be a part of this race which now has new history.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi R10 TDI #7): "I’m feeling very, very emotional. Now everybody will know what TDI Power means. This project started not so long ago as a clean sheet of paper and has already triumphed. Audi’s dream has come true so quickly thanks to the efforts of many people in this massive motorsport programme. I’m proud to be apart of this success. I would have loved to be on the top step of the winners’ rostrum with Dindo and Allan but on this occasion, we had to face many challenges in the race. But we overcame these and still finished on the podium.”