Audi has improved on the car that has bagged it three 24 heures du Mans titles in a row - the revised Audi R18 e-tron quattro makes its debut at the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps race this weekend.
In this case, the improvements to the 2015 season car consists of a new bodywork configuration, which makes the Spa racer significantly different from the version with which Audi won the WEC season opener at Silverstone.
The latest update has a bodywork version developed specifically for the Le Mans 24 Hours race this year, and the detailed solutions has resulted in reduced downforce, significantly lowering drag on the R18.
Click to enlarge the pix
The new package sees all the turning vanes, wings and similar elements being no longer mounted so steeply in the airflow, and there's now less curvature to the wing profile.
The differences to the sister specification - which generates higher downforce levels - also includes a fundamentally different front fairing and modified sidepods. Elsewhere, openings have been relocated on the inner surface of the rear fenders for venting the wheel arches and the bodywork rear edge now features an unusual rear wing support.
There are also slight mechanical changes, and these are revisions to the R18 e-tron's cooling system and a new suspension setting which restricts the spring displacement on the car to a smaller range. Do we hear four-in-a-row then?
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