2001

The light had only just turned green when several cars found themselves all over the place. A heavy downpour of rain fell onto the circuit during the fourth lap. Several drivers were making mistakes having been taken by surprise. Laurent Aïello, who started in the lead in the no. 9 Audi, spun and fell down in the standings. The first Audi was then in third position. The title holder is not at the party!

The violent storms were making the circuit more slippery and were putting the drivers and card to the test. The night became an inexorable justice of the peace. All of the outsiders gave up in the early morning. The Audis no. 1 and no. 2 were now in the lead.

The Pirro-Kristensen-Biela trio repeated their success of 2000 despite a change of gearbox at the end of the race. The winner had the lowest average since 1977 because of the rain. The winners completed only 320 laps, 700 km fewer than the previous year.

Audi quickly established itself as an essential reference and had achieved thirteen victories at the Le Mans 24 Hours between 2000 and 2014. Only Bentley and Peugeot managed to get the better of the German manufacturer in 2003 and in 2009. Porsche then won in both 2015 and in 2016. That same year, Audi announced its withdrawal from the World Endurance Championship and has not returned to Le Mans ever since that date.

The name of the Audi model stems from the surname of its founder, the German industrialist August Horch (1858-1951).

Audi is a play on words between the manufacturer's last name Horch (“horchen” means “to listen” in German) and the contraction of the Latin translation of the verb to listen, “to hear”.