2006 , driven by
Marco Werner.|alt=The No. 8 Audi R10, driven by Marco Werner, in motion at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed.|thumb|right The R10's debut season saw
Joest Racing handling the R10's Le Mans duties, and partner with
Champion Racing at Sebring. Champion Racing continued to field the car in the
American Le Mans Series, although the R10 was replaced by the R8 following Sebring and was not reintroduced until the fifth round of the season at the
2006 Utah Grand Prix. Sebring acted as a testing ground for Joest Racing as preparations in Europe began for that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. A temporary measure implemented was to limit the distance covered by each engines through qualifying, so as to preserve them for the race. The injector problem resurfaced during the race, with the No. 7 car coming into the pits in the fourth hour to replace an injector that had failed. The faulty injector held the car up for twenty minutes, because the software could not pinpoint exactly which injector had failed, only which bank it was in. and the No. 7 rejoined in 14th place, six laps behind the leading No. 8. Repairs to fix contact with lapped traffic and
turbo failure cost the No. 7 almost an hour in the pits, effectively ruling it out for the overall win. The No. 8 was not affected by injector issues, with its only unscheduled appearance in the pit lane coming early in the morning of the following day for a gear cluster change. The No. 8 went on to take the overall win in a record 380 laps @ , 4 laps ahead of the No. 17 Pescarolo-Judd, and the No. 7 sister Audi rounded out the podium, finishing 13 laps behind the leader. Kristensen also set the record for longest stint at the time in an LMP1 car, covering 16 laps in a single tank of diesel, Pirro also extended his consecutive podium finishes to eight. Following Audi's success at Le Mans, the R10 made a brief appearance in the
United Kingdom for an exhibition race.
Allan McNish was pitted against a
Harrier Jump Jet at the
RAF Wittering base during the 2006
Goodwood Festival of Speed. The R10 raced the jet from a standing start over a stretch of tarmac, and was the first of the two to reach , shortly before the Harrier overtook the R10 and became airborne. McNish commented "It was essentialiy a 'fun' race," and that "when a racing driver and a pilot get together it quickly becomes serious".
Frank Biela and
Emanuele Pirro were the No. 1 R10's regular drivers for the season, with
Allan McNish and
Rinaldo Capello regulars at the helm of the No. 2. Capello, alongside
Tom Kristensen and
Allan McNish, piloted the No. 2 R10 for the opening round of the
American Le Mans Series with
Marco Werner,
Emanuele Pirro, and
Frank Biela piloting the sister No. 1 R10. The No. 2 R10 broke the track lap record in qualifying en route to pole position at Sebring in an Audi front row lockout, but was forced to start from the pit lane because of an
intercooler failure. The No. 2 dominated the race, leading every single lap of the race, giving
Tom Kristensen a then record-breaking 4th overall win at Sebring. The No. 2 was Audi's sole podium finisher, the sister No. 1 suffering from cooling issues caused by tyre debris blocking a
radiator. The No. 1 was retired four hours into the race as a precautionary measure. Biela lost the lead on the first lap to McNish at turn 4 after going wide, and run wide again at the final turn, losing more places. McNish maintained and extended his lead until he came into the pitlane on the 25th lap to swap seats with Capello. Capello regained the lead on the 49th lap but was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop with a tyre
puncture on the 59th lap, ruling his crew out of overall contention. Pirro in the sister R10 made his way through the field following Biela's earlier mistakes, setting the fastest lap on the 51st lap en route to retaking the lead. At the next round, the
2006 Portland Grand Prix,
Butch Leitzinger put his No. 16
Lola B06/10 on pole with a 1:03.101, 0.132 s ahead of the No. 20 of his teammate,
Guy Smith. The No. 2 R10 of Capello and McNish was the only Audi to crack the top four, qualifying behind the two Lolas with a 1:03.421, and the No. 1 started 5th with a 1:03.813. McNish took his 4th outright victory of the season, extending his championship lead to 39 points. The governing body of the American Le Mans Series, the
IMSA, made changes to the regulations before the
Generac 500 at
Road America, allowing the petrol-powered LMP1 cars to run less than the diesel-powered cars. Despite the
balance of performance shifting out of the R10's favour, they scored a front row lockout in qualifying. The No. 2 of McNish was the fastest of the two, setting a new track lap record with a 1:49.181, 1.386 seconds ahead of the sister No. 1. Shortly after the lights went out for the race,
James Weaver of the No. 16 Lola B06/10 made contact with Biela, sending Biela into the gravel, causing him to drop down to 22nd after the first lap. The No. 7 RS Spyder of Luhr and
Romain Dumas traded the lead with the No. 2 of McNish and Capello, however, a late restart enabled Pirro to take the chequered flag, four-tenths ahead of Capello. The No. 20 Lola B06/10 of
Chris Dyson took the lead on the first lap, holding it until he had to pit on lap 27, remaining at the front until lap 46. The No. 2 of Capello took the lead from there, losing it briefly on lap 62 for the driver change, with McNish racing with the Dyson Lolas of Leitzinger and Smith. With this victory, McNish and Capello extended their championship lead to 49 points, giving them the driver's championship.
Petit Le Mans was their next race, with McNish lining up second on the front row of the grid next to
Nicolas Minassian, who set a 1:10.829 in his
Creation CA06/H. McNish and Capello battled with
Stefan Johansson and Luhr in their No. 15
Zytek 06S and RS Spyder respectively, exchanging the lead several times. Johansson's co-driver, Haruki Kurosawa, briefly led on the 103rd lap before Biela retook the lead on the 104th lap. The sister No. 1 was close behind towards the finish, but contact with a backmarker 13 minutes before the end damaged the front suspension, forcing Werner to pit and lose time. The No. 1 crossed the finish line to place seventh overall, fifth in class. Johansson set a new lap record when he put his
Zytek 06S on pole with a 1:13.731, over three tenths ahead of the No. 2. A
safety car allowed both cars to unlap themselves, and McNish recaptured the lead on lap 108, a lead he held until the end as his competitors had to pit again in the final hour for fuel, something which both Audis did not need to because of the engine's efficiency was combined with fuel-conserving driving techniques. Two drivers,
Lucas Luhr and
Mike Rockenfeller, were poached from fellow German marque
Porsche, the former having previously driven a
Porsche RS Spyder in the
American Le Mans Series and the latter having previously driven a
Porsche-powered
Grand-Am Daytona Prototype.
Le Mans Audi sent three cars to the
75th 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two were run under the "Audi Sport North America" banner, and one under "Audi Sport Team Joest", with
Joest Racing responsible for all three cars. Driver lineups largely remained the same, the No. 1 R10 driven by
Frank Biela,
Emanuele Pirro and
Marco Werner, the No. 2 by
Dindo Capello,
Allan McNish and
Tom Kristensen, and the No. 3 by
Lucas Luhr,
Alexandre Prémat and
Mike Rockenfeller. Kristensen was replaced by
Mattias Ekström for the test days following Kristensen's severe crash at the opening round of the
2007 DTM season in April. Kristensen's recovery meant that Ekström was not needed anymore, and he returned to Sweden. over a second and a half faster than the second-placed No. 2 R10 of Biela, Pirro, and Werner. The first session was interrupted by rain and two
red flags, with Sarrazin eventually taking provisional
pole away from McNish on his final
flying lap, setting a 3:26.344, just over half a second ahead of McNish. Since Sarrazin's time set in dry qualifying had not been beaten, the No. 8 car was on pole for the race, with the No. 2 of Capello, McNish, and Kristen alongside them. The No. 1 and No. 2 R10 of Biela, Pirro, Werner, and Luhr, Prémat, and Rockenfeller lined up fourth and fifth, respectively. and soon the Audis were running in the top three positions. Rockenfeller was one of the first victims of the still-damp track, spinning and crashing the No. 3 R10 within the first couple of hours into an
Armco barrier near Tertre Rouge, destroying a significant portion of the rear assembly of his R10. Rockenfeller attempted to repair his car, but with his
differential only powering a single wheel, he was eventually coerced by the marshals to retire. Capello's co-driver McNish set the fastest lap of the race in the early hours in the following morning, clocking a 3:27.176. Capello led the No. 1 R10 in his No. 2 R10 by three laps as the race passed the sixteenth hour mark, with Werner having lost time due to an unscheduled pit stop for a nose change after his contact with Magnussen. Shortly afterwards, an improperly fastened wheel nut from Capello's last pit stop worked itself loose, resulting in Capello's left rear wheel coming off, sending him into a spin and a large shunt into the barriers at the Indianapolis curve. Rod Bymaster, Audi Motorsport North America manager, remarked that "You know there's something wrong when the rear wheel passes the car". Biela in the No. 1 R10 pitted shortly after, handing over the car and lead to Pirro, who extended his lead to four laps ahead of the second placed No. 7 908 HDi of
Marc Gené.
Nicolas Minassian relinquished second position shortly before the rain fell, coming into the garage with engine problems. Minassian's No. 7 908 HDi rejoined in fourth place, but after a single lap around the circuit he came back into the garage to finally retire with electrical problems just over an hour from the finish. The heavy rain continued, and Biela slowed down accordingly, lapping the circuit a minute and a half slower than what he had under dry conditions. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport, agreed, saying "This victory is the most difficult we have had at Le Mans", and that the team was "put under pressure by Peugeot right to the end of the race." Pirro also extended his consecutive podium finishes to nine, a record yet to be equalled. The replacement of
Frank Biela by
Marco Werner, who largely played a development role in 2006, was the only change in the driver lineup for Audi. Changes to the technical regulations included a 10% reduction in size of the R10's fuel tank from to , and the
LMP2 cars received a weight reduction of . The R10 proved to be still the car to beat at
Sebring, continually topping the timing charts during practice. However, a mistake by Capello in the No. 1 during Thursday night practice meant that his car suffered heavy damage, returning to the pits missing almost its entire left side. Capello himself was unharmed, although the damage sustained required a full rebuild in order for it to be ready for the race. Both R10s started on the front row for the
2007 12 Hours of Sebring, with Werner in the No. 2 setting a 1:44.974, breaking the track lap record by almost a second and edging out Capello in the No. 1. Capello overtook Biela a couple of laps into the race, as Biela had to slow down for a slower
GT2 car, and Biela also suffered from a left rear
puncture shortly after the hour and a half mark, losing several positions and falling to seventh. Kristensen led until the fifth hour, when he pitted to change his car's battery. As a result of the pit stop that lasted almost fifteen minutes, Kristensen dropped down to seventh, and had to come in again just a half-hour later for another battery,
starter motor, and
dashboard. highlighting the competitiveness of the LMP2 cars following their reduction in weight. At the first
street circuit of the season, the inaugural
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the R10s faced stiff competition from the lighter, nimbler LMP2 cars, which had the edge over the R10 in the corners but fell behind on the straights. Come qualifying, both
Team Penske Porsche RS Spyders were quicker than the Audis, with
Romain Dumas in his No. 7 taking pole, lowering the track record with a 1:03.039, the other Penske RS Spyder lining up second, with
Ryan Briscoe close behind, posting a 1:03.189. McNish was the fastest of the Audi drivers, piloting the No. 1 R10 to third on the grid with a 1:03.415, a LMP1 record. Werner was the faster of himself and Pirro in the No. 2 R10, however, could not break the 1:04 mark, posting a 1:04.139 and settling for seventh on the grid.
Marino Franchitti led the way briefly in his
Acura ARX-01a before Briscoe made contact with the Acura whilst attempting to pass Franchitti, causing Franchitti to hit the tyre wall. This did not hinder the Audis, with both cars finishing more than twenty seconds ahead of the Porsches. McNish's fastest lap of 1:04.725 set a new LMP1 lap record, although was not quick enough for overall honours, with Briscoe slightly faster in a 1:04.340. The next destination of the season, the
2007 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was also a street circuit, nicknamed the "Monaco of the United States" due to its proximity to the
coastline. Capello was the fastest of the Audi drivers, posting a 1:12.713 to qualify fourth. Pirro in the No. 2 was two places back, clocking a 1:12.911. Franchitti, who had previously raced at Long Beach during the
2002 CART season qualified on pole with a 1:11.838, the only man under 1:12. Both Audis found themselves out of contention for the own reasons; Capello encountered brake trouble in the opening laps that hindered his pace on the tight circuit. However, McNish in the No. 1 would briefly take the lead after Franchitti, who had been leading so far, lost a gamble on strategy and pitted during a full-course yellow. McNish held Franchitti up in an attempt to allow Pirro in the sister No. 2 past; Pirro promptly took the lead just over three-quarters of an hour into the race. Dumas, who had been running behind Pirro, quickly inherited the lead after Pirro collided with a
Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR. The accident forced Pirro to pit with a puncture, ruling him out of overall contention. McNish finished seventh after his earlier gremlins and a late pit stop cost him time. All the podium spots were occupied by Porsche RS Spyders, marking the first time a single marque had populated every single podium spot, as well as the first LMP2 podium lockout. With Dumas' victory, Audi's winning streak in the American Le Mans Series was finally ended, following nine consecutive overall race wins in the ALMS.
2008 For the 2008 season, Audi entered the
Le Mans Series for the first time.
Joest Racing entered two cars to compete against
Peugeot's two-car entry over the five race season. Peugeot led the championships early, winning the first three races prior to the
24 Hours of Le Mans. A new sub-wing was introduced at Spa. This maintains the same level of downforce but less drag. At Le Mans, Audi won for their third consecutive time with the R10. The No. 2 car driven by
Rinaldo Capello,
Allan McNish and
Tom Kristensen took the chequered flag on lap 381 ahead of the No. 7
Peugeot, with a margin of just over 4 minutes. The other two Audi entries finished fourth and sixth overall. Peugeot brought their seasoned 908 HDi FAP and qualified within the 3:18 range while Audi struggled to get under the 3:23 mark. In the race itself the Peugeot was still up to 3.5 seconds a lap faster but quick pit work by Audi and the superior performance by the R10 in the rain saw Audi winning Le Mans. Returning to the Le Mans Series for the final two races of the year, Peugeot won once again at the
Nürburgring and maintaining their lead in the championships. However, accidents for Peugeot and a win by the No. 1 Audi of
Rinaldo Capello and
Allan McNish at the
Silverstone finale allowed the Audi team to win the Constructors Championship, while the No. 2 Audi of
Mike Rockenfeller and
Alexandre Prémat earned the Drivers and Teams Championships. Audi also continued their participation in the American Le Mans Series. As in the year before, Audi fought against the
Penske Racing Porsches for overall race wins, but unlike before they now had to contend with the multiple
Acura teams. Porsche managed to end Audi's streak of seven straight victories at the
12 Hours of Sebring, but Audi rebounded with overall wins in the next two events. Three more overall victories were earned by Audi by time the series reached the
Detroit Sports Car Challenge. Audi not only failed to win the race overall, but following a rule infraction, neither car finished in the LMP1 category. This was the first time that the Audi R10 failed to win in LMP1, and the first LMP1 loss by Audi since
2005. At Petit Le Mans, Allan McNish overtook Christian Klien in the Peugeot on the penultimate lap and held on to the win.
2009 In the 2009 season, the R10 TDI was replaced by the
R15 TDI with a smaller, lighter, more-efficient TDI engine; however, Audi concentrated on the 24 Hours of Le Mans and
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM; German Touring Car Masters) efforts. The new car, however, ran in the 2009
12 Hours of Sebring before preparing for Le Mans. The Audi R10's wing was limited by the 2009 regulations. In early 2009,
Colin Kolles announced that his team will run privately entered Audi R10 TDI's in that year's
24 Hours of Le Mans, and possibly the Le Mans Series. The deal included factory assistance for servicing the cars. At Le Mans, the Audi R10 best finished 7th overall, a few laps down on the highest petrol finisher Lola-Aston Martin which ranked 4th overall.
2010 Kolles fielded 2 Audi R10 in their final year at the Le Mans 24 Hours, on 14 June 2010. Unlike the factory Audi and Peugeot LMP1, the Kolles R10 was not hampered by the new restrictor regulations which should have shaved off 60 bhp from the diesel-powered prototypes. The cars qualified 3:30, just behind the two Lola Astons. Both cars failed to finish because too much strain from torque was put onto the gearbox. ==Legacy==