Audi R18 E-Tron (was) parked at Volkswagen Financial Services lobby

"Saf1" (safone) 07/19/2014 at 05:27 • Filed to: audi, r18, e-tron, lmp1, p1, le mans, 2014, vw, volkswagen

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When I worked there, I was lucky enough that this came in one day - I doubt I'll ever get this close to an LMP1 for a long time! Their showroom had some great classics on display from VW and sister marques and were rotated fairly often

I'm really surprised this wasn't parked as a shell. I assumed it was but especially through the open "air routing"(above the diffuer) there were definitely components inside. Why?! I thought teams ran 2 chassis and a spare - this was before Le Mans so surely they wouldn't just have...spare components set into the spare car??

The359 > Saf1 07/19/2014 at 06:26

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Your answer lies, I presume, in the sticker attached to the rear wing. This is R18 chassis #203 which had no racing history, but was most likely a test chassis for 2012. Audi ran 4 chassis in the WEC in 2012, two R18 ultras and two R18 e-tron quattros to help split the difference on hybrid development versus a known reliable commodity, these were chassis #205, 206, 207, and 208, all brand new builds in 2012 to replace the previous year's cars. Audi typically has at least two test cars, although sometimes those test cars are pressed into duty on the race team, plus a spare or two. The fact that this car is very much mechnically together lends me to believe it is a retired test car and not simply a spare chassis.

Saf1 > The359 07/19/2014 at 06:35

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Great insight thanks!