The racing division of the luxury German automaker Audi, the Audi Motorsport, has finally decided to introduce the 2015 model year R18 e-tron Quattro model. This model from the German marquee is expected to take part in the upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) series.
Needless to say, the new car is going to have some quite significant improvements when compared to its predecessor. Well, honestly speaking, this is not going to be an easy task at all, especially when you take into consideration how the outgoing model actually managed to come out as a victor in last year’s competition season. Yet again, the German company is pretty confident that it will be able to repeat the success it achieved last year.
The Audi Motorsport may have good reasons to be confident, after all. Its new vehicle model is very aerodynamic, to say the least. This is clearly visible if we pay attention to the air inlets in the front wheel arches that have been redesigned. The air inlets are actually even bigger than those of the outgoing model. In addition, the car also sports newly designed headlamps that feature the German marquee’s laser lighting and matrix LED lighting technologies. The car can also be seen featuring new engine hood and front wing. As for the body panel, the model uses the monocoque construction from the predecessor.
Speaking of the body of the vehicle, the German company actually has two configurations to count on while racing on different circuits involved in the 2015 FIA WEC event. Also, another interesting fact regarding the vehicle is that Audi has worked in close collaboration with one of the world’s leading tire makers, Michelin, in order to optimize the chassis of the car. Now, the car has four instead of two Mega Joules of energy for each of the Le Mans laps and while braking, the energy will be sent back to the car’s front axle for use while accelerating.
The 2015 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro will reportedly pack a 4.0L V6 TDI engine that delivers 558 HP of power output in total.