With a strong handshake and piercing gaze, Audi's technical director is not one to be indecisive. Last year, though the car was never, in terms of pure performance, far behind its big rival Porsche, it was no sure thing that it would have won this season despite the inevitable developments over the winter. So action was needed.

Jorg Zander: "In certain areas, this new R18 is an evolution of the type; in others, it's more radical. Two important factors dictated our approach: the reduction of 10 MJ of fossil fuels per lap for everyone and, as far as we're concerned, going from the 4 MJ class to the 6 MJ class. That adds another fuel reduction. To make up for these losses, we set efficiency goals. We developed the car in every way to erase the loss of energy, and arrive at a car at least equal as far as performance from last year. In short, we worked to keep the same lap times, all while using less energy."

Another major change, abandoning the inertia flywheel for lithium-ion batteries. "It's a fundamental change in terms of design. We were limited by a certain charge level with the old system. The batteries allow us a bigger amount of energy which guarantees us a boost relative to power for a longer time. It will be very interesting for us at Le Mans, and that is why we opted for the change."

Batteries mean increased weight, which presented a significant challenge. "It was an enormous amount of work. We tracked grams in all the systems, in all the components. No element of the old car was reused. Everything is new, from the wheels to the tip of the antenna. We had to compensate in all areas: monohull, gearbox, mechanical systems, etc." Between now and the kickoff of the championship on April 17th at Silverstone in the U.K., the R18 will have added plenty of kilometers to those covered during the Prologue.

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO