For fans of Audi’s Le Mans era, this is the holy grail. An actual R18 e-tron quattro — the most advanced, most extreme, and final evolution of Audi’s LMP lineage — is now for sale at Fiskens in London. And not just any R18: this is chassis 420, a 2015-season works car with real pedigree, real results, and a place in one of prototype racing’s most technologically transformative chapters.
From 1999 to 2016, Audi defined endurance racing dominance. Thirteen Le Mans victories from seventeen starts may only be the second-best record at Le Mans, but the pace at which it was achieved from 0-13 was astounding.
For Audi, diesel innovation rewrote what efficiency and power could mean, then rewrote it again when hybrid technology pushed to its limits. The R18 e-tron quattro is the culmination of all of it — the first hybrid to win Le Mans, the last of Audi’s closed-cockpit prototypes, and arguably the most sophisticated LMP1 machine of its era.
Chassis 420 is one of only three new cars built for Audi’s 2015 World Endurance Championship campaign. It is also one of the few R18s ever released to private hands, placing it in the rarest category of modern prototype ownership.
Its racing résumé is significant. Debuting as the number 8 car at Silverstone with Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis, chassis 420 qualified third behind the Porsche 919 Hybrids and finished fifth after losing time to repairs. At Spa, the car ran as number 9 with Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi and René Rast, qualifying eighth and finishing fourth — a strong result against Porsche’s rising pace. With the low-drag Le Mans package fitted, the car set the third-fastest time at the official test day.
Then came Le Mans. Yes, it also ran at Le Mans. As number 9, chassis 420 delivered one of the most compelling drives of Audi’s hybrid era. Albuquerque, Bonanomi and Rast qualified sixth but quickly moved into contention as both sister cars hit trouble. Through the night and into Sunday morning, this R18 was the most consistent and strategically promising of the Audi trio, repeatedly cycling into the lead and trading blows with Porsche. Only hybrid system issues and the resulting driveshaft change — a costly 17-minute setback — took it out of podium contention. Even so, it finished seventh in what remains one of the most hotly contested Le Mans races of the LMP1-H era.
Retired after its three-race 2015 campaign, chassis 420 became one of the very few factory R18s sold into private ownership, joining its current caretaker in 2019. Fiskens now offers it as a turnkey piece of motorsport history: the pinnacle of Audi’s diesel-hybrid technology, the last chapter of an engineering dynasty, and a machine that remains eligible and highly competitive for Masters Endurance Legends.
With Audi Sport’s “Racing Legends” program now supporting the ongoing preservation and active running of customer-owned R18s, opportunities like this have become even more meaningful. This new program from Audi Sport means this car is no longer just a static collectible. It is an invitation to experience the most advanced Audi prototype ever built as it was meant to be used — at speed, at events, and in front of crowds who know exactly what they’re looking at.
Find it HERE.
Thanks to Mike J. for the tip.
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