Back in December 2013, Audi was the first team to unveil its new car for the 2014 season. However, this decision meant that the German marque already had its cards on the table by the time the ACO decided to adjust the regulations in spring 2014. With Audi on the back foot, Toyota decided to wait until the prologue at Paul Ricard to complete its concept and was able to secure both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles in LMP1.
Audi appears to have had a change of tack for the 2015 season. With the new Nissan and Porsche LMP1s already on show to the world, the Ingolstadt-based team has quietly kept its latest iteration of the hugely successful R18 under wraps. Until now, that is. Earlier today, our friends over at Sport Audi posted a video showing the brand-new Audi prototype being put through its process at Sebring Raceway, a notoriously tough circuit on car components.
These first spy shots show perhaps the most significant change for the 2015 car, the front end. While the headlights on the 2014 R18 e-tron quattro ran from top to bottom at the front of the car, the new headlight system appears to be much more compact and located further upwards. The resulting additional space at the bottom of the front end has been used for a new cooling system, lending weight to rumours of a new hybrid drivetrain with more power. The images don’t reveal whether there are any other new developments on the new Audi prototype. But, with the prologue just three weeks away, the wait for news won’t be a long one.