Automakers tend to maintain their most important concepts and race cars in a private collection. Since they’re keeping the machines for heritage reasons rather than speculating on their monetary value, the companies rarely put these vehicles up for auction.
Audi is now preparing to sell two very special vehicles from its collection. One of them is an R18 E-Tron Quattro Le Mans racer, and the other is an RS 5 DTM machine. The company will sell one of these machines at an auction this summer. Until then, the models will go on display at international classic car events in Germany, France, and Great Britain, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Two Very Important Race Cars
The R18 E-Tron Quattro coming up for auction is chassis 207. It was that car that Romain Dumas, Loïc Duval, and Marc Gené drove to win the FIA World Endurance Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps in 2012. The drivers also hustled the machine to podium finishes at Silverstone, Interlagos, Bahrain, Fuji, and Shanghai during that season, according to the historical data from Racing Sports Cars.
The R18 E-Tron Quattro was Audi’s premier endurance racer in the early 2010s. The cars’ success allowed the Four Rings to win the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in the WEC in 2012 and 2013. The models also achieved consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans wins from 2012 through 2014.
Power comes from a turbocharged 3.7-liter V6 running on diesel fuel. It’s also the company’s first top-spec endurance racer to feature a hybrid-assisted powertrain.
The Audi RS 5 DTM is chassis 107 from the 2015 season. Timo Scheider drove it to victory at that year’s final race, which was at Hockenheim. The cars feature a carbon-fiber monocoque with a steel front, rear, and side crash structure. The body is also carbon. Mechanically, a 456-horsepower 4.0-liter V-8 is under the hood and sends power only to the rear wheels through a semi-automatic six-speed gearbox. A drag-reduction system allows the driver to alter the rear wing angle by 18 degrees for a temporary boost in straight-line speed.
A Refresh Ahead Of The Sale
Before Audi sells the cars, the company is giving them a fresh restoration. It’s also pledging a comprehensive support program so that owners can actually use these machines. Unfortunately, the customers won’t get to take the vehicles home because they’ll remain in the Audi AG’s collection, where technicians will keep them running and deliver them to Audi Tradition events.
“We are rebuilding these chassis together with reconditioned parts from that time into racing cars according to strict standards and with a high level of expertise,” says Rolf Michl, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH. “In some cases, even the developers from that era are involved in the current projects.”
TopSpeed’s Take
Selling important cars but keeping them in an automaker’s collection is a strategy familiar to high-end brands, such as Ferrari. The company gets to retain physical possession of historically significant machines, but wealthy folks get the bragging rights of buying them. Given its racing history and rarity, we suspect the R18’s sale might bring more money. However, the RS 5 DTM is probably less intimidating to drive because it’s more similar to a conventional road car.
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