Its silver bodywork had become a tribute. Across its flanks, Audi had listed the names of the drivers who had taken the R8 to victory, alongside the 23 circuits where it had triumphed since its debut in 2000. A simple “Thank You” completed the livery, celebrating not only an extraordinary machine but also the people who had shaped one of the most successful programmes in endurance racing history.
By the summer of 2006, the Audi R8 had long secured its place among the sport’s greats. Five victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005) had made it the most successful car in the history of the French classic. Championships had followed on both sides of the Atlantic. So had records.
Yet numbers alone never quite explained its significance. More than any statistic, the R8 had changed the way endurance races were won, turning preparation, reliability and flawless execution into the benchmark every rival sought to match.
Motorsport, however, is forever looking forward.
Only two weeks earlier, the R10 TDI had become the first diesel-powered car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, confirming that Audi’s next chapter had already begun. Lime Rock was not about introducing its successor. It was about saying thank you to the car that had made such ambition possible.
There was, perhaps inevitably, one final victory to celebrate. Dindo Capello and Allan McNish delivered the Audi R8’s final outright victory, bringing to a close a career that yielded 63 wins from just 80 starts, including 50 in the American Le Mans Series.
“It is a big achievement to stop a great career with a victory,” reflected Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. “It’s great to finish a big story of a great car.”
McNish, who had shared so many defining moments with the prototype, struggled to disguise what the afternoon meant. That was all the more impressive given the fierce challenge posed by the Team Penske Porsche RS Spyder of Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard.
“To personally give the R8 a final win here is unbelievable. We all had to pull out 110%, but the R8 stood up to it as she always does.”
For Dindo Capello, the memories stretched back to the Nürburgring in 2000 and Le Mans in 2004. For Audi Sport North America (Champion Racing) Team Director Dave Maraj, they reached even deeper.
“The Audi R8 ‘made’ my team,” Audi Sport North America (Champion Racing) Team Director Dave Maraj added. “My team scored its first outright ALMS victory with her at Road Atlanta in 2003, won my ‘home’ 12 Hours of Sebring for the first time last year and then the world’s biggest and toughest sportscar race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans as an Audi ‘customer’ team.”
Parked in Victory Lane, the Audi R8 still wore the names of the drivers and circuits that had built its legacy. One sticker simply read: My other car is a diesel. The future belonged to the R10. The legacy already belonged to the R8.
