Motorsport legacy

If Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto weren’t feeling the pressure already, then the presence of some of the giants of Audi motorsport – both human and mechanical – would surely have driven home the footsteps they are about to follow.

At the unveiling of the Audi R26 Concept at a special ‘Audi One’ event in Munich, some of the brand’s greats were on hand to see in the new guard and to celebrate a history in motorsport that spans not only years but disciplines and continents. Standout models were once again motion, with, in many cases, their original drivers at hand, representing everything from the the halcyon days of world the World Rally Championship to the World Endurance Championship, the Dakar rally and right back to the Grand Prix days of the 1930s.

The all-new Audi R26 Concept looked right at home with its siblings, from the Audi Sport quattro Rallye S1 and Audi quattro Rallye A2, to the Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO.  The, Auto Union Type C was a leap back in time to the brand’s last Grand Prix experience, while the Audi R8 LMP will always be linked with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Audi’s complete dominance from 2000 for the next 15 years. More recently, the brand’s Dakar-winning RS Q e-tron created its own history, becoming the first hybrid-electric vehicle to win the gruelling desert classic – and on only its third attempt. Also present was the Audi S1 e-tron Hoonitron, a high-performance all-electric drift car built specially for Audi’s partnership with the late Ken Block, who was a tremendous competitor in his own right and a huge fan of the Audi brand.

Representing many of these successful eras of racing were some of the greatest stars of motorsport. The only female team to win in the World Rally Championship, Michèle Mouton and co-driver, Fabrizia Pons were true trailblazers, while Stig Blomqvist and Harald Demuth are likewise giants within the sport of rally. 

Frank Biela, normally associated with endurance sportscar racing, climbed behind the wheel of the Auto Union Type C racer for the event, while the great Hans-Joachim Stuck was reacquainted with the Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO that so dominated racing in the US that it forced rule changes to give others a fighting chance.

Also forever associated with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and endurance racing, former team mates Dindo Capello, Allan McNish and Mr Le Mans, Tom Kristensen, reunited their 2008 Le Mans-winning lineup, although the trio number 15 wins between them – nine of those belonging to TK of course.

It is a formidable group and one that shows the tremendous depth of talent Audi has exhin=bited across so many different motorsport disciplines for so long. This is the background of the team about to enter Formula 1, and while there is no doubting the enormity of the task at hand, there is also no doubting the seriousness with which Audi approaches this competition.

For all of those involved from Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley and Head of Audi F1 Project Mattia Binotto, to the drivers, Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto and all of the many team members working tirelessly to make the dream a reality, theirs is the next chapter to write in a long  and proud motorsport story.