Audi R15 TDI, a protagonist of Le Mans for sale | FormulaPassion.it

Passionate collectors of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will try not to miss this example of Audi R15 from 2009, which was put up for sale by Canepa at an unspecified price. The house of the four rings dominated the iconic motorsport competition in the early 2000s, and did even better in 2006, when it debuted the R10 TDi: it was the first racing prototypediesel of the brand, which immediately proved to be of great success going to win the same year, in 2007 and also in 2008. The R15 was instead unveiled the following year, and under the hood hid an updated engine.

In fact, a new one was thinking about pushing the R15 5.5-liter turbo-diesel V10, capable of unleashing over 590 hp of total power and delivering 774 Nm of maximum torque. The specimen that was now on sale is known as the T 101, and it was the first R15 chassis built. It was first tested in December 2008, before being officially unveiled. The debut in the race was made at the 12 Hours of Sebring on 21 March 2009, where among other things got the third place overall. As mentioned, however, the great showcase of this Audi R15 was the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it raced in the same year with Alexandre Premat, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas at the wheel. The result at the checkered flag was not exciting: 17th place.

Even Audi was not particularly satisfied, so much so that it immediately set to work to give life to the R15 Plus, which compared to the standard version of the model had an improved aerodynamic package. And it was this Plus variant of the R15 that finished second in the 1,000km of Zhuhai, with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen sharing the driving duties. His last outing on the track took place at the 12 Hours of Sebring 2011. We will see how much the Audi R15 proposed by Canepa will be sold for: the estimates speak of a maximum offer that will reach seven digits.

Images: Canepa

FP | Andrea Trezza

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