News: Toyota LMP1 breaks cover

Ironically, on the same morning Peugeot's withdrawal from international sports car racing was announced, images of Toyota's Hybrid LMP1 machine were leaked. The car looks to borrow heavily from techniques used by both Audi and Peugeot.

(Photo: Racer Magazine)

Audi's R18 (Photo: John Dagys)

Desktop: APR's Audi R8

Our friends at APR make some of the best aftermarket parts for your Audi, VW, or Porsche, but they also have a kick ass racing program where they put their products to the test against some stiff competition in the Grand Am Continental Tire Series.

For 2012, APR makes the step up into Grand Am's Rolex division in the highly competitive GT class with an absolutely stellar looking Audi R8.

Photo courtesy of goapr.com

 Be sure to head over to APR's website to grab some nice desktop images showing off their latest toy and be sure to watch the R8 make its debut at the Rolex 24 at the end of the month. All the action can be seen on SPEED January 26-29

Video: Audi at Le Mans

 Take a cinematic look back at Audi's victory at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. Enjoy.

Video: A Day in the Life of an Audi Driver

 Very cool commercial by Audi ahead of this year's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Preview: Audi vs Peugeot 2011

Sebring left many questions unanswered (Photo: John Dagys)

   Every sport needs a good, hard-fought rivalry to fuel the passion and emotions of competitors and fans alike. Baseball has the long lasting feud between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, soccer has Manchester United vs Liverpool and college football has the heated Ohio State and Michigan game. Motor racing has seen its fair share of rivalries, just as fierce as the ones mentioned above. Ferrari vs Porsche in sports cars and Ferrari vs McLaren in Formula One are two famous battles that spring to mind, but recently Audi vs Peugeot at Le Mans has been the one to watch.

Photos: Audi R18 at Sebring

  The 12 Hours of Sebring may be over, but Audi is still in central Florida with their new LMP1 car, the Audi R18. And lets just say the R18 looks absolutely menacing in bare carbon fiber...

Audi appears to have wrapped the cockpit area of the car in chrome. Peugeot implemented a similar look in 2009 to help keep drivers more comfortable by reflecting sunlight away from the cockpit of the car.

This photo really illustrates how aggressive the packaging of the bodywork around the radiators is. The undercut of the sidepod looks very similar to a modern day Formula One car. Also Audi has integrated a single, swan-neck rear wing mount into the mandated fin above the engine cover. With power down this year, it would appear that Audi has really focused on the aerodynamics of the R18.

The R18 is also sporting some pretty good sized front dive planes that were not on the car when it was launched. I doubt we'll see these on the car at Le Mans, however.

For more photos check out Audi's flickr

All photos courtesy of Audi USA

Sebring Preview: LMP1

Photo: John Dagys

Its never too early for predictions and with the entry list for next month's 12 Hours of Sebring being released last week, we figured now is the perfect time to state our predictions. We'll kick things off with the LMP1 category. At the moment, a strong entry of 12 to 13 cars is set to take the green flag and a total of 5 diesels headline the bid for the overall victory.

Video: Don't Mess with McNish

Just don't do it, we're not kidding

Photos: Sebring Testing

 Photographer James Boone was at Sebring International Raceway last week and snapped some photos of some ALMS teams testing at the historic venue. James was kind enough to let us share some of his images.

Click on the photos for a full size image

Audi's R15++ will see action at the Sebring 12 Hours before being replaced by the new, closed topped Audi R18

BMW seems to be testing a new front aero package. Compare this to last year's car. 

West Racing's new GT2 Lamborghini Gallardo

Front end shot of the R15++ Only difference I can spot is a slightly reworked headlamp assembly

All photos courtesy of James Boone
http://www.flickr.com/photos/old_boone/

News: Audi R18 unveiled

Nervous Peugeout? (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

    Audi has unveiled their replacement to the Audi R15+, with their latest Le Mans Prototype, the R18 and for the first time since the Audi R8C, in 1999, Audi will race a closed cockpit LMP.

    The R18 will be powered by a 3.7-liter V6 TDI with a possible hybrid system integrated into the power plant for 2012. The V6 engine has been worked on since early summer, with the car completing its first shake down at the end of November with Scottish ace, Allan McNish behind the wheel.