Audi reveals its Le Mans racer

This is the car that Mark Webber needs to beat with his Porsche LMP1 next year if he's to hold aloft the most prestigious prize in world sports car endurance racing, the Le Mans 24 Hours trophy.

Audi has released new information on its revamped LMP1 race car ahead of its official debut this Wednesday (December 18) and the 2014 R18 e-tron quattro racer’s attempt to secure its fifth consecutive win -- and 13th overall -- in the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race next June.

The new R18 doesn't look like much of a departure from the vehicle that won Le Mans in 2012 and 2013, but due to 2014's new rules almost every single component has been redeveloped.

Audi says the 2014 R18 is its most efficient race car yet, and that the diesel-electric car's technical innovations will influence future production models.

Major changes to the dominant Audi endurance race car include a reworking of the mid-mounted turbo-diesel V6, which makes use of an electric turbocharger for the first time. The turbocharger can use either exhaust gases or stored electrical energy to build extra induction pressure. This technology is already being trialled in production cars.

A revised kinetic energy recovery system (ERS-K) has received further changes to the way it stores flywheel energy, in line with new rules that require some cars to use up to 30 per cent less fuel than the 2013 racers.

Head of Audi Motorsport, Wolfgang Ullrich, talked up the credentials of Audi’s new R18 racer, which will be the odds-on favourite to take out next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

"The next Audi R18 e-tron quattro represents a completely new generation of Le Mans prototypes. The principles of the LMP1 regulations have fundamentally changed.

"The idea behind this is to achieve similarly fast lap times as in the past with considerably less energy. Making more out of less: a forward-thinking approach,” said Ullrich.

The Audi R18 e-tron quattro will make its racing debut in round one of the 2014 World Endurance Championship, the six-hour race at Silverstone in the UK on April 20.

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