The beginning of the end was announced June 10, 2010, when the ACO confirmed hybrid prototypes for Le Mans 2011. It was inevitable. Automakers were electrifying their road cars, and hybrid tech offered a connection between what car companies raced and what they sold.
This story originally appeared in Volume 16 of Road & Track.
In 2012, Toyota entered the fray with the TS030, and Audi returned fire with an electrified prototype called the R18 e-tron quattro. It paired a turbodiesel 3.7-liter V-6 driving the rear wheels with a motor-generator unit (MGU) powering the front axle. The car proved blistering in qualifying. During the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the R18 worked without fault, placing Audi’s hybrids first and second overall, with a nonhybrid R18 finishing third. The hybrid may have been bleeding edge, but, as longtime Audi Sport engineer Brad Kettler says, it was subjected to “at least four or five” 30-hour tests at race pace before turning a wheel in competition. Standard operating procedure for Audi.
With that win, the era of the hybrid LMP1 car had begun for Audi, Toyota, and, later, Porsche. The problem? It wasn’t cheap. As competition grew, development budgets ballooned to rival Formula 1. Audi threw down its weapons in 2016, its prototype program’s demise accelerated by fallout from Dieselgate. Porsche followed a year later, departing top-tier endurance racing for Formula E. Toyota remained the sole hybrid entrant until 2023.
The expense of the technical complexity ultimately ended up killing LMP1, but it left us with incredible cars. The first hybrid Le Mans winner was no exception.
A car enthusiast since childhood, Chris Perkins is Road & Track's engineering nerd and Porsche apologist. He joined the staff in 2016 and no one has figured out a way to fire him since. He street-parks a Porsche Boxster in Brooklyn, New York, much to the horror of everyone who sees the car, not least the author himself. He also insists he's not a convertible person, despite owning three.
