Back in 2000, Audi arrived Down Under with its all-conquering R8 LMP cars to contest the final race of the international Le Mans Series – the Race of a Thousand Years.

Held on the 3.8km Adelaide street circuit that had hosted the Australian Grand Prix for a decade before, it represented the culmination of a year that had seen Audi clinch the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in June as well as dominating the Le Mans Series internationally.

Audi fielded two cars at the Adelaide event, with the first driven by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, in its familiar silver livery, but the second car #77 driven by Allan McNish and Rinaldo ‘Dindo’ Capello, paid homage to the first ALMS race to be held Down Under with a unique livery that transformed the car into a giant saltwater crocodile complete with its own habitat.

Quite aside from the captivating appearance of the cars, their performance was in a completely different league from the start, and though the lead switched between the two Audi’s, it was the crocodile that literally tore the opposition apart. In the hands of Audi legend Allan McNish, it dominated the race and added another win to what was a growing tally for the Audi R8 LMP900.

The Adelaide victory, McNish’s sixth of the season, saw him win the Driver’s Championship, while Audi comfortably claimed the Manufacturer’s Championship – the Audi R8 having finished in first and second in seven races that year as well as the historic 1-2-3 at Le Mans.

It was very much the dawn of a new era in motorsport for the Audi brand, and now, 26 years later, Allan McNish was back behind the wheel of the famous ‘Crocodile’ car heading for Melbourne and the start of another motorsport chapter for Audi.