If you have the 24 hours of Le Mans on your DVR and don't want to know which diesel crew landed at the top of the podium then don't follow the jump. If you want to know who covered the most distance today go right ahead.

Ever since the debut of the Audi R10 in 2006, the mighty diesel-powered sports cars have been running on a gas-to-liquid (GTL) diesel fuel supplied by Shell. For the 2008 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans coming up in a few weeks, Audi and Shell will try a new blend that combines the GTL fuel with a BTL (biomass-to-liquid) fuel supplied by Choren. Choren is a German company that has been collaborating with Audi's parent company Volkswagen to develop the BTL diesel branded as SunFuel. Like cellulosic ethanol, BTL is produced from non-food biomass like wood chips. Choren plans to have the worlds first commercial demonstration plant open in Freiberg, Germany within a year. A small percentage of BTL is being mixed into the GTL fuel for this year's race. This will be the first ever use of second-gen biofuel at Le Mans. Shell's GTL fuel is branded as V-Power and is sold at over 7,000 stations in Europe.

[Source: Shell]

Two years after its racing debut at the 2006 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the Audi R10 TDI is making its first ever visit to the classic Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium. The R10s are running in the European Le Mans Series for the first time this year and Spa will be a whole new challenge for Audi. The length of the Belgian track has been cut by more than half to 4.4miles from its original 9.3miles but it still remains one of the most challenging tracks in the world. The diesel-powered Audis will again be taking on the dominant Peugeot 908 HDis but the R10s are fueled by a GTL fuel supplied by technical partner Shell. GTL is a gas to liquid fuel produced from natural gas. GTL has an advantage over conventional petroleum diesel in that it is free of sulfur and produces less particulate emissions without any changes to the engine. The same processes used to produce the liquid fuel from natural gas can be used to produce fuel from a syngas derived from biomass. Audi's press release is after the jump.

Since it's 2006 debut, the Audi R10 TDI has raced exclusively in the American Le Mans Series except for the annual June trek to France for the big all-day race. This past weekend a pair of R10s campaigned by the Joest team made their first run in the European Le Mans series with a second place finish in season opener at Barcelona. The Audis were again competing against the pair of Peugeot 908 HDi coupes which won the European championship last year. The Audi of Dindo Capello and Allan McNish finished second to the Peugeot of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené. The second Audi and Peugeot finished 5th and 6th respectively. The Barcelona race, like most of the European races, was more of an endurance run with a length of 1,000km compared to the 2-3 hour sprints that make up most of the American series. Audi is planning to run both the full European and American seasons this year with Joest handling the duties overseas while Champion Racing campaigns the cars in the ALMS. Unfortunately, it appears that we won't be seeing the Peugeots stateside again this year. Hopefully they will at least come over to participate in the Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta in the fall.

[Source: Audi]

After struggling somewhat in recent street races in the American Le Mans Series, the diesel-powered Audi R10 finally got back to the top of the podium on Saturday in St. Petersburg, FL. In spite of setting the fastest lap of the race early on, mechanical issues forced out the #1 Audi after 63 laps. The #2 car in the hands of Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr soldiered on and managed to cross the line just over eight-tenths of a second ahead of the Porsche driven by Romain Dumas. David Brabham brought the Acura ARX-01B that he shares with Scott Sharp home another five seconds back to take the third spot on the podium. The C6R Corvettes both completed their first race running on cellulosic E85 to take the first two spots in the GT1 class.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

We'll relay the information in this article on Auto 123 in the ever-popular backwards-first method of news reporting. That article ends this way: "Further down the road, as oil reserves become exhausted, bigger and better solutions will be needed." While that may seem obvious, another point worth pondering is this: why wait until then?

In an effort to stave off the impending exhaustion of our oil reserves, Audi is testing and marketing a few alternatives to the gasoline engine. While still relying on some fossil fuels for power, the E85-capable A5 coupe (the red one above) uses far less crude oil than the standard 2.0 four-cylinder would. Of course, ethanol raises other environmental issues which we'll save for other posts. Audi also has A5 models powered by CNG. Then there are the obligatory hybrid models that will be made available by Audi shortly in the form of the Q7 and its 3.6-liter V6 coupled to an electric motor. Of course, Audi is rightly proud of their class and Le Mans leading diesel technology. Although dealyed, these vehicles are likely to be sold in the U.S. in addition to Europe.

Lastly, in the "one of these things is not like the other" category, Audi is showing off some alternatives to the... uh, alternatives mentioned above: monitoring driving habits. The writers at Auto 123 were not so sure that this technology would be accepted in the marketplace, and they may be right. But, we are sure that there are a certain number of drivers who would welcome a little training on how to eke the most miles from a gallon of fuel as possible. Bring it on, Audi!

[Source: Auto 123]

It looks like Audi won't be running away from the American LeMans series just yet. Although, the Ingolstadt automaker has dominated the LMP1 class for several years now, the diesel powered R10 will run at least the rest of the 2007 series. Audi is still not happy about the current rules in ALMS which they say favors the LMP2 cars too much.

Audi Motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich sees the ALMS as a medium for promoting the company's commitment to diesel engines. However, those rules don't seem to have hindered Audi at Sebring. Starting this weekend, the series moves to a run of shorter races, where the diesel won't have as much of an advantage. Hopefully Audi's success will prompt other companies like Peugeot to bring in their diesel engines.

[Source: Speed TV]

Click the photo for a gallery of high-res images of the 2007 Audi R10 TDi

For the second year in a row the Audi R10 TDi has won the Twelve Hours of Sebring in the hands of Marco Werner, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro . The R10 ran six laps more then the second place Acura of Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. Even the reduction in fuel tank capacity from 90L to 81L and the resultant extra fuel stops was not enough to stop the dominant Audis.

The other R10 led for most of the first five hours before encountering electrical problems that caused delays. That car eventually recovered and finished fourth overall, eleven laps behind the lead car. The Audi press release is after the jump.

[Source: Audi and American LeMans Series]

The Audi R10 TDI will be the car to beat this weekend for the 12 Hours of Sebring. Two R10s (driven by Marco Werner and defending champion Dindo Capello) will both start in the front row, thanks to some amazing driving during the qualifying rounds by Werner that beat the track record by nearly a second (to 1m 44.974s). Capello qualified for second with 1m 45.326s.

The R10 diesel has had an amazing recent history, and the 2007 version looks to continue the trend. This year, the Audi teams have an additional handicap compared to last year: the fuel tank capacity for diesel sports cars has been reduced by nine liters to 81 liters. This weekend, the R10 TDI will have come into the pits about three laps earlier compared to last year, Audi says.

You can read quotes from Audi team members after the jump.



Related:

• New Audi R10 diesel racer unveiled; makes debut next week at Sebring

[Source: Audi]

We have shown you the Peugeot 908 racecar a few times now, and even video of the machine on the racetrack. Now, we can show you the official livery of the vehicle. Interested? Check out the gallery, hosted over at Autoblog.

The reason that this vehicle is here on the green side of things is the diesel engine which powers it. Similar to the Audi R10 racecar, the hope is to take advantage of the fuel mileage benefits of the diesel engine over its petroleum-fueled competition. Audi did this to good effect last year, dominating the racetrack when it was on the grid. Peugeot hopes to do the same this year.

Two diesel powered racecars on the track this year, hydrogen powered racers, ethanol and hybrid powered rally cars. Maybe it's not so hard to be green after all?

[Source: Autoblog]

Audi pulled the wraps off its revamped diesel-powered sports car this week. The new R10 TDI will make its first race appearance at the Sebring 12-hour race in Florida next week in preparation for the Le Mans 24-hour race later in the season. This year the diesel-powered cars must run with a smaller fuel cell, 81 liters down from 90, to help level the playing field. But Audi and injection specialist Bosch worked over the engine to give it a more useable power curve. Some other changes include lighter diesel particulate filters, improved tires and refined suspension.



[Source: Audi Motorsport via Planet Le Mans]

Audi's dominating R10 TDi racecars may leave the American LeMans series because of a rule change by the organizers. Although ALMS nominally uses the rules defined by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) for the 24 Hours of LeMans, they do occasionally tweak minimum weights, and air restrictor sizes to help even out the competition. The ALMS has increased the restrictor size for LMP2 class cars this year to allow them to compete better with LMP1 cars, which includes the R10.

Since Audi is planning to run the R10s on a special biodiesel fuel this year, it would be a shame if they decided to quit the series because of this change, especially since the gasoline powered ALMS cars will begin using an ethanol blend this year. Hopefully, Audi will take it in stride and continue demonstrating what can be done with diesel engines to race fans all across America.

[Source: ProjectLemans.de via GermanCarBlog]

Hey Audi! Some of us here at AutoBlogGreen like to drive Insanely fast cars too! A lucky writer from the German magazine AutoBild recently got the chance to sample the undefeated Audi R10. Based on the rough translation courtesy of Google, apart from the fenders, sitting in the car feels like a formula one car. Apparently launching this immensely powerful machine is pretty tame even from 1500 rpm thanks to the 1100 Nm of torque. Follow the link to check out the article and more pics. Oh, and if Audi needs anybody to write up an evaluation of the R10 in English, you know where to find me.

[Source: GermanCarBlog]

The all-conquering Audi R10 TDI has been awarded the Pioneering and Innovation Award from the British racing magazine Autosport at their annual awards ceremony. The R10 was the first diesel-powered racer to win the 24 hours of Le Mans as well as going undefeated in the seven races it ran in the American Le Mans Series. The vastly reduced fuel consumption of the diesel allowed the R10 to run three laps farther between each fuel stop at Le Mans compared to the previous R8. In 2007 Audi will be joined on the track by the new diesel powered Peugeot 908 RC which should give them some real competition for the first time in several years.

[Source: Audi]

Audi continued its domination of endurance racing in 2006, by capturing the victory at the Petite LeMans race at Road Atlanta this past weekend. In seven races this year the R10 has not lost yet. The R10s won all three of the biggest endurance races of the year at LeMans, Sebring, and Petite LeMans. Audi has conclusively demonstrated this year that diesels can perform, and and their extra efficiency helped them overcome the 143 lb weight penalty that ALMS organizers gave them. Right now only Audi is running diesels but they will be joined by Peugeot and others beginning in 2007. If the ALMS had more exposure in the US, and more Americans were aware of what the R10 has accomplished this year, diesel cars could start making some real in-roads in the American market. The Audi race report is after the jump.

[Source: Audi]