The 2012 Audi R18 e-Tron Quattro Took Le Mans Prototypes to Unsustainable Heights

The beginning of the end was announced June 10, 2010, when the ACO confirmed hybrid prototypes for Le Mans 2011. It was inevitable. Automakers were electrifying their road cars, and hybrid tech offered a connection between what car companies raced and what they sold.

This story originally appeared in Volume 16 of Road & Track.

In 2012, Toyota entered the fray with the TS030, and Audi returned fire with an electrified prototype called the R18 e-tron quattro. It paired a turbodiesel 3.7-liter V-6 driving the rear wheels with a motor-generator unit (MGU) powering the front axle. The car proved blistering in qualifying. During the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the R18 worked without fault, placing Audi’s hybrids first and second overall, with a nonhybrid R18 finishing third. The hybrid may have been bleeding edge, but, as longtime Audi Sport engineer Brad Kettler says, it was subjected to “at least four or five” 30-hour tests at race pace before turning a wheel in competition. Standard operating procedure for Audi.