The Audi R8 is a Le Mans Prototype sports-prototype race car introduced in 2000 for sports car racing as a redevelopment of their Audi R8R and Audi R8C used in 1999. In its class, it is one of the most successful racing sports cars having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005, five of the six years it competed in total. Its streak of Le Mans victories between 2000 and 2005 was broken only in 2003 by the Bentley Speed 8, another race car fielded that year by Volkswagen Group.
Audi R8 (LMP)
The #1 & #2 Audi R8 LMP1 cars racing in the 2005 Grand Prix of Atlanta
This R8, in a special crocodile livery, won the Race of a Thousand Years in Adelaide, Australia, in 2000 driven by Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello.
Audi R8 road car at the 2006 Paris Motor Show
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500—that form the Triple Crown of Motorsport, and is also one of the races alongside the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring that make up the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing. Run since 1923, it is the oldest active endurance racing event in the world.
The pits in the daytime
The pits at dawn
The pits at night
GT cars approaching Dunlop Bridge