The R10 TDI had been super successful but in reality the challenge from Peugeot was growing fast and required a new response fro the Ingolstadt brains trust –
Like its predecessor, the R15 TDI used turbodiesel power but this time the 5.5 litres came in a more compact V10 format, the reduced physical size of the engine allowed better weight distribution, a weakness of the tail heavy R10 but retaining a near 600 bhp power output.
After testing the car made its race debut with a successful tilt at the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring, but there was controversy and disappointment on the horizon for the new car.
What wasn’t on the horizon was a full season of racing, the R15 would race just three times in its debut season, and in its original form, with Peugeot finally breaking the Audi winning streak at Le Mans and also taking Petit Le Mans after late race stumbles from the Audis, the marque’s first failure to win the Road Atlanta classic in a decade.
Le Mans also saw what proved to be an unsuccessful challenge from Peugeot to the R15‘s intricate bodywork, claiming that it was shaped purely to increase downforce, a protest that was rejected by the ACO.
2010 saw a heavily revised version of the car, redubbed R15 Plus, with major changes to the front bodywork, and despite the ever changing regulations reeling in the size of diesel LMP1 air restrictors and turbocharger boost pressure, Baretsky and co managed to unlock more power from the V10 TDI package.
The new car won first time out at Le Castellet, beating a delayed Oreca Peugeot and a factory Aston Martin but when the Audi and Peugeot factory teams met at Spa in full strength it was the 908s that prevailed.
After that there were five more races for the R15 Plus, but just one win, happily for Audi though that win came at Le Mans as the Peugeot challenge self destructed, the three Audis would finish 1-2-3, all three beating the distance record set back in 1971 by a Porsche 917.
The R15 raced, briefly, into 2011, losing to the Oreca and factory Peugeots, bringing down the curtain on the short career of the third of Audis successful LMP designs.
Overall Stats – Audi R15 TDI and R15 Plus
Races Contested 10
Races Won 3
Pole Positions 1
Championships/ Major race wins 1 x Le Mans, 1 x Sebring
Fastest Race Laps 2
