Joest Racing is a
sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
team that was established in 1978 by former
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
works racer
Reinhold Joest
Reinhold Joest (also spelt Reinhold Jöst; born 24 April 1937) is a former German race car driver and current team owner. During the last 25 years, Joest Racing has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans fifteen times.
Driving career
Joest's driving career ...
. Their headquarters are in
Wald-Michelbach
Wald-Michelbach is a municipality in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
The community lies in the Odenwald, 12 km east of Weinheim. The now disused ''Ãœberwaldbahn'' (railway) runs through Wald-Michelbach.
Geo ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Early years
As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began to race a
Porsche 908/3
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906-Porsche 910-Porsche 907 series of models designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand Pià ...
in the
European Sportscar Championship The European Sportscar Championship was a name used by several sports car racing championships based in Europe. Initially created in 1970 by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) as the European 2-Litre Sports Car Championship f ...
, winning the driver's title. He then switched to
Porsche 935
The Porsche 935 was a race car developed and manufactured by German automaker Porsche. Introduced in 1976 as the factory racing version of the Porsche 930, 911 (930) Turbo and prepared for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-Group 5 ( ...
s, winning the
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
in 1980. The team won the
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement milita ...
back to back with driver
Bob Wollek
Bob Wollek (4 November 1943 – 16 March 2001), nicknamed "Brilliant Bob", was a race car driver from Strasbourg, France. He was killed on 16 March 2001 at age 57 in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation afte ...
, in 1982 and 1983. During the 1982 season, whilst the
Porsche 956
The Porsche 956 was a Group C sports-prototype racing car designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was later upgraded to the 956B in 1984. In 1983, driven by Stefan Bellof, this car est ...
was only available to the works team, Joest adapted a roof onto a
Porsche 936
The Porsche 936 is a Group 6 sports prototype racing car introduced in 1975 by Porsche as a delayed successor to the 917, a five-litre Group 5 Sports Car, and the 908, a three-litre Group 6 Prototype-Sports Car, both of which were retired by ...
to enter the
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
. They would race the car into the 1983 season until they took delivery of their 956 prior to Le Mans.
Le Mans successes
In
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
, in absence of the works team, Joest Racing would score the first of their fifteen wins at the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
, with
Klaus Ludwig
Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver.
Biography
He also known as ''König Ludwig'' ("King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car racing.
In the 1970s, Ludwig drove for Ford in the Deutsche ...
and
Henri Pescarolo
Henri Jacques William Pescarolo (born 25 September 1942) is a former racing driver from France. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record 33 times, winning on four occasions, and won a number of other major sports car events including the ...
driving their "lucky #7" car a Porsche 956, chassis number 117. In
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
, the works team returned, and despite having little factory support, they defended their title with Ludwig,
Paolo Barilla
Paolo Barilla (born 20 April 1961) is a businessman and a former Formula One driver who raced for the Minardi team. He is now the Deputy Chairman of the Barilla Group and, as of January 2017, had a net worth of US$1.39 billion.
Racing career
Bari ...
and incognito German businessman "
John Winter" driving the #7 chassis number 117 again. This would make them the second team to score back to back wins with the same car, the other being
JW Automotive whose
Ford GT40 Mk.I won in
1968 and
1969.
In
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
,
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, and
1989 Joest won the
ADAC Supercup
The Supercup was a West German auto racing series created by the ADAC in 1986 as a replacement for the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM). The series used Group C category sports prototypes identical to the ones used in the World Sportscar C ...
title for teams and Wollek winning the drivers cup in 1989. They also took the
Interserie Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series.
Created in 1970 by German Gerhard Härl ...
title for drivers with Winter in 1985 and
Bernd Schneider in 1991, and the teams title in 1991.
In 1989,
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
introduced the new 3.5 litre
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
engine rule to Group C, which not many teams were happy about, because few, if any, such engines were available to privateer teams like Joest. The previous fuel economy based rules were gradually phased out in favour of short races with cars that were virtually two-seater Formula 1 cars; existing Group C cars such as Joest's Porsche 962s were given higher weights and lower fuel allocation to make them less competitive. The team would instead compete in the
IMSA
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
GTP category beginning in 1990, winning the
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
in 1991 with Wollek, Pescarolo,
Frank Jelinski
Frank Jelinski (born 23 May 1958 in Bad Münder am Deister) is a retired German racing driver.
Career
After karting, Jelinski moved to the German Formula Three Championship in 1978 and European Formula Super Vee in 1979 finishing 4th. In 1980 he w ...
, "Winter" and
Hurley Haywood
Hurley Haywood (born May 4, 1948) is a retired American race car driver. Haywood has won multiple events, including five overall victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, three at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He is cre ...
. With their
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Europ ...
now being outmoded by the
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
s,
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
s and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
s, the team would not score any more victories. In 1993, the Nissan and
TWR Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
team had withdrawn, and the
AAR Eagle Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
would continue to dominate the series final year. Joest managed to score the car's last IMSA victory at the
Road America 500
The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America (formerly the Road America 500) is a sports car racing, sports car race held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The event began in 1950, and in 1951 was added to the SCCA National S ...
, due to Toyota's absence.
Joest and Opel
In the 1990s, the team also had a successful career developing and racing an
Opel Calibra
The Opel Calibra is a coupé, engineered and produced by the Germany, German automaker Opel between 1989 and 1997. In the United Kingdom, where it remained on sale until 1999, it was marketed under the Vauxhall Motors, Vauxhall brand as the Vaux ...
in the
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide.
The original DTM had resumed racing with producti ...
(DTM). They first won the ITR Gold Cup at the
Donington Park
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...
round in 1994 with
Manuel Reuter
Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver.
He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice:
*in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes
*in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing
He also won the Inte ...
driving, when the leading
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
of
Alessandro Nannini
Alessandro "Sandro" Nannini (born 7 July 1959) is a former racing driver from Italy. He is the younger brother of singer Gianna Nannini. His five-year F1 career resulted in his one and only win at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix but ended less than ...
was disqualified for running out of fuel. They would continue to have a successful career there by the time the series became a full-fledged international championship (ITC), winning the title for the final year in 1996 for
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
.
Return to Le Mans
In late 1995,
Tom Walkinshaw Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.
The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring ca ...
were commissioned by Porsche to produce a
WSC car to compete in the 1996 Daytona 24-hour race. The resulting
Porsche WSC-95
The Porsche WSC-95 (sometimes referred to as the TWR WSC-95) was a Le Mans Prototype originally built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. It was modified by Porsche from the original Group C Jaguar XJR-14 from which it derived, and run by Joest Racing. Or ...
was based on the TWR's 1991
Jaguar XJR-14
The Jaguar XJR-14 is a sports-prototype racing car introduced for the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season. It was designed by Ross Brawn and John Piper, and was built and run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), on behalf of Jaguar Cars.
Design
...
chassis, with the roof removed and a flat-six Porsche engine fitted. The car was withdrawn because of a sudden rule change. For 1996 the concept was revived and Joest were chosen to run the WSC-95s at
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
as backup for Porsche's own team of works
911 GT1s. Joest won the race with
Davy Jones,
Manuel Reuter
Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver.
He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice:
*in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes
*in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing
He also won the Inte ...
, and
Alexander Wurz
Alexander Georg Wurz (born 15 February 1974) is an Austrian former professional racing driver, driver training expert and businessman. He competed in Formula One from until , and is also a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
He is current ...
. They returned in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, this time without works support, but again with the same car wearing #7. The winning pilots were by
Michele Alboreto
Michele Alboreto (; 23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver. He was runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring spo ...
,
Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...
and
Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...
, the latter scoring the first of his nine wins. As with the #7 956 of the 1980s, Joest attempted for a third straight win, although without success, as neither car finished, while Porsche itself prevailed in the
1998 race.
Audi Sport Team Joest
![Audi Sport Team Joest Tent Sebring 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Audi_Sport_Team_Joest_Tent_Sebring_2012.jpg)
In 1998, after being associated with Porsche for many years, the team signed a works contract with
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
(its CEO being
Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Karl Piëch (; 17 April 1937 – 25 August 2019) was an Austrian business magnate, engineer and executive who was the chairman of the executive board (''Vorstandsvorsitzender'') of Volkswagen Group in 1993–2002 and the chairman of th ...
, a grandson of Porsche) to support them for the
1999 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 67th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1999. The race had a large number of entries in the fastest Le Mans Prototype classes, with Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lola Cars, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Pan ...
. Joest helped them build and develop the
Audi R8R
The Audi R8R was a Le Mans Prototype built by Audi for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a predecessor to the dominant Audi R8 which debuted in 2000. It was raced alongside the British built closed-cockpit Audi R8C.
Development
The R8R project ...
. Audi, not being sure which concept was the better one, also supported an LM-GTP entry, the
R8C
The Renesas 'R8C'' is a 16-bit microcontroller that was developed as a smaller and cheaper version of the Renesas M16C. It retains the M16C's 16-bit CISC architecture and instruction set, but trades size for speed by cutting the internal data bu ...
, developed by
RTN. While the British R8Cs never worked properly, the two Joest R8R were reliable, yet too slow to finish better than 3rd and 4th against one of the works
BMW V12 LMR
The BMW V12 LMR is a Le Mans Prototype built for sports car racing from 1999 to 2000. The car was built through an alliance between BMW Motorsport and Williams F1, and was the successor to the failed BMW V12 LM of 1998. It is famous for earnin ...
and a
Toyota GT-One
The Toyota GT-One (model code TS020) is a racing car initially developed for grand touring GT1 rules, but later adapted into a Le Mans prototype LMGTP car. It raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans.
History
Following the end of the G ...
.
Audi and Joest went back to develop the highly successful R8, winning its maiden race at the
2000 12 Hours of Sebring, and going on the win at
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
. Between 2000 and 2002, the R8 cars took a hat-trick of wins at Le Mans, Sebring, and
Petit Le Mans
The Petit Le Mans (French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which ...
, as well as
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
titles in each year.
Audi scaled their sports car racing operation down at the end of 2002, preferring to focus their attention on the
Bentley Speed 8
The Bentley Speed 8 (developed from the Bentley EXP Speed 8) was an Autosport Award Winning Le Mans Prototype race car that was designed by Peter Elleray. The EXP Speed 8 debuted in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001 and won the race in 2003. I ...
for a year, allowing it to win in 2003 (with support by Joest mechanics). In 2004, Audi returned to
DTM touring car racing
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
While the cars do not move ...
, now officially backing up the
Abt Sportsline effort which had been called "private" since 2000. Joest and Abt fielded
Audi A4
The Audi A4 is a line of compact executive cars produced since 1994 by the German car manufacturer Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.
The A4 has been built in five generations and is based on the Volkswagen Group B platform. The first ...
s in the series.
In 2006, Joest began racing the new
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
-powered
Audi R10 sports car. They began the 2006 season with a win at the
12 Hours of Sebring, and took also the
2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. The winners of the race were Frank Biela, Marco Werner, and Emanuele Pirro, driving the Audi R10 TDI. For the first time in the history of th ...
, replicating that performance
a year later and again in 2008, both times against Peugeot's diesel
908 HDi FAP coupe.
In 2009, Joest and Audi introduced the
Audi R15 sports car, the replacement for the R10. However, reliability issues allowed Peugeot to finish first and second at the
2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, with their 908 HDi FAP which had been perfected over its three-year history.
In an answer to the 2009 issues, Audi reworked the R15 for 2010 (under the R15 TDI plus designation) with a higher reliability factor; unexpected Peugeot reliability issues of the 908 HDi FAP forced all four cars (including one by
Oreca
ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...
) to retire before the end of the race and resulted in a clean sweep of the podium in the
2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, with all three cars running farther than the former race record, despite that the R15s were not using the V10
TDI engines at full and were not running faster than the four 908s.
In 2011, the
Audi R18
The Audi R18 is a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) racing car constructed by the German car manufacturer Audi AG. It is the successor to the Audi R15 TDI. Like its predecessor, the R18 uses a TDI turbocharged diesel engine but with a reduced capacity of ...
TDI won the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
despite the loss of 2 cars (both via crashes with slower GT Ferraris claiming Allan McNish in car 3 and then Mike Rockenfeller in car 1; the sole survivor, car 2, was the winner) and a ferocious pace from the opposing Peugeots. The R18s failed to win any of the other races in the
Intercontinental Le Mans Cup
The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010. that year, however, handing the team and drive titles to Peugeot.
For the first part of 2012, with the collapse of the Peugeot racing program, Audi has run near-unopposed in the first races of the 2012
FIA World Endurance Championship
The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...
. The R18 TDI won the
2012 12 Hours of Sebring in its last race and its successor, the Audi R18 Ultra, won the
2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
The 2012 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on May 5, 2012. It was the second round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season. Following the cancellation of the Zolder round of 2012 European Le M ...
with the related R18 E-Tron Quattro finishing in 2nd place. In the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, Joest Racing Audis won the top 3 positions with two R18 E-Tron Quattros finishing 1st and 2nd and one Audi R18 Ultra taking 3rd.
After Le Mans, Audi won 2 further rounds of the
FIA World Endurance Championship
The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...
, the
2012 6 Hours of Silverstone and the
2012 6 Hours of Bahrain. While handing the other three rounds to Toyota, Audi would win the LMP1 Manufacturer Championship 2012 and helped Andre Lotterer, Bernoit Treleuyer and Marcel Fässler to become Driver World Endurance Champions 2012.
In late 2016,
Audi Sport announced that they would leave the FIA World Endurance Championship.
GT3
Audi Sport Team Joest entered a pair of
Audi R8 LMS GT3's in the
2011 Bathurst 12 Hour held at the
Mount Panorama Circuit,
Bathurst,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
on 6 February. Both cars qualified on the front row with the team of Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and
Darryl O'Young
Darryl Hayden O'Young () is a Canadian-born Hong Kong racing driver.
Career Early career
O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships. The highlight ...
leading home Australian team mates Mark Eddy,
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Sup ...
and
Warren Luff
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...
in a 1-2 finish. With both cars on the same lap racing for the win, the margin was only 0.7141 between the two at the end of 12 hours of racing. The Joest Racing R8's finished one lap in front of the VIP Pet Foods Racing
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R of
Craig Baird
Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Australian Supercars Championship.
Honours
In the 2010 New Year Honours, Baird was appointed a Member of the New ...
and father and son pairing Tony and Klark Quinn.
It was Joest's 2nd win in Australia in two starts having previously won the ALMS
Race of a Thousand Years
The 2000 Race of a Thousand Years was an endurance race and the final round of the 2000 American Le Mans Series. It was run on the Adelaide Street Circuit in Australia on New Year's Eve, 31 December 2000. The race was run on the full 3.780&nbs ...
on 31 December 2000 with
Dindo Capello and
Allan McNish
Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...
winning in an
Audi R8
The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006.
The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactu ...
LMP on the old
Grand Prix circuit
The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. The Grand Prix and World Championship Tennis (WCT) were the two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, with ...
in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. Capello easily put the R8 on pole position, while McNish was actually laid up with a bad back after he put it out when stepping out of his
Kilt
A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Hi ...
after a pre-event photo shoot. They also had to drive a repaired car after Capello put the crocodile liveried car into the tyre barriers in the race morning warm up session. Despite his troubles, McNish started the race and set the fastest lap. He also drove the 25 laps required and wrapped up the inaugural ALMS Drivers' title as a result.
Mazda Team Joest
On 18 July 2017 it was announced that Joest Racing would take over the operation of the
Mazda RT24-P
The Mazda RT24-P also known as the Mazda Road to 24 – Prototype is a Daytona Prototype International built to the 2017 IMSA DPi regulations. The car is designed and built by Mazda Motorsports, in collaboration with Multimatic Motorsports, and is ...
Daytona Prototype International
A Daytona Prototype International (DPi) was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the International Motor Sports Association's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as their top class of car, acting as a direct replaceme ...
(DPi) entry in the
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...
for the
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
season.
Mazda withdrew from the remainder of the 2017 season in order for Joest to spearhead testing and development of the then uncompetitive DPi.
The partnership was terminated at the end of March 2020 with Mazda moving to
Multimatic Motorsports
Multimatic Motorsports is the competition arm of Multimatic Special Vehicle Operations. Founded in 1992, the team has competed in the Firestone Firehawk Series, Motorola Cup, IMSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am Cup, Rolex Sport ...
.
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship wins
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Joest Racing
German auto racing teams
Auto racing teams established in 1978
1978 establishments in Germany
24 Hours of Le Mans teams
American Le Mans Series teams
FIA Sportscar Championship entrants
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams
British Touring Car Championship teams
World Sportscar Championship teams
FIA World Endurance Championship teams
European Le Mans Series teams
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams
Audi in motorsport