autoevolution
 

Audi R18 Ultra Le Mans Racer Spotted... Parked on Handicap Spot

We’ve asked ourselves on numerous occasions - what happens with a racecar once its track time is over? There are plenty of answers depending on the car, but we now have one that’s among the least expected. The pic below shows the Audi R18 Ultra Le Mans racer parked out in the real world. Actually, it’s on a handicap spot.
Audi R18 Ultra Le Mans Racer parked on handicap spot 1 photo
Photo: imgur.com
The racecar was spotted over the weekend, being discovered in a multi-story parking lot used by the Volkswagen of America’s headquarters in Herndon, VA. Reddit user willkinton247, who came across the track-confined Audi, was obviously surprised to stumble upon such an expensive piece of technology being casually left around a parking lot with public access.

Here are a few fun facts about this spot:

  • Ironically, the Le Mans racer is held in place by a piece of scrap lumber - you didn’t expect these things to come with a handbrake, did you?
  • Like we said, the Audi was parked on a handicap spot. Who knows, perhaps Audi is willing to borrow Alex Zanardi from BMW and ask him to race their prototype - for those of you who aren’t up to date with this, Zanardi lost his legs in a racing crash that took place back in 2001 and currently competes in whatever he sets his sight on, from the Blancpain Series to the Paralympics (two gold medals).
  • Notice the white compact in the background? This shouldn’t be there - it’s no ordinary Golf, but the e-Golf, which hasn’t officially arrived in the US yet (the electric Golf has been spotted in America before though).

What about the racecar itself?

The beast you see here is an Audi R18 Ultra. Unlike the R18 TDI it is based on, it hasn’t won Le Mans. The Ultra was introduced in 2012 as a backup third car, since Audi was not certain about the reliability of their new E-Tron Quattro - they raced a pair of these hybrid all-wheel drive monsters, which came first and second, leaving the R18 Ultra in third place.

These days, we get to see dozens of special vehicles being spotted every day, but an unguarded Audi Le Mans prototype is simply priceless.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Andrei Tutu
Andrei Tutu profile photo

In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories