Audi and the first full-electric Italian rally: sportiness with zero impact (without charging anxiety)

Le Mans, July 1985. On the boiling track of the Maison Blanchetwo very young drivers are competing for the world junior karting: the defending champion, Andrea Gilardi, and the rising star of speed, Michael Schumacher. A battle at the last corner, in which it is the Italian who becomes the winner the first pilot in history to win the prestigious title twice in a row.

DolomitesFebruary 2022. The first light of dawn illuminates the walls of the Marmoladawhich slowly begin to resume their color. And they frame, like an imposing one natural grandstandthe frozen lake of Fedaiawhere a impressive car circuit. From there passes the 20 four hours of the lakes, the first sustainable Italian rally with cars full-electricconceived and developed by Audi Italy.

“Keep your gaze long, on depthalways carry on with the thought“. Gilardi’s advice, sitting next to the driving position, they are pure manna. On the other hand, the race studied by House of the four rings – compliant with FIA and ACI sport regulations – it is far from one walk: six teams of four crews each, to ride over 900 km (divided into eight stages) on asphalt, ice and snow.

Between special timed stages (on the lakes of Fedaia, in fact, Issengo and Pianozes), transfers (through scenic passes such as Pordoi, Giau and Tre Croci) e time controls (where to keep a steady pace despite the Alpine hairpin bends). Day and night aboard the twelve cars made available by the Ingolstadt company: Audi Q4 e-tron And Audi RS e-tron GTboth produced at carbon neutral sites.

On the one hand, therefore, the Compact SUV electric native, on the other the electron touring from 646 CV which constitutes the apex of the sustainable sportsmanship. Yes, because in the 24 hours of extreme competition, it is precisely what emerges the performances of full-electric cars, in addition to the effectiveness of the four-wheel drive four electric, five times faster than a traditional system in distributing torque between the axles.

Forty years ago, thanks to the intuition of four-wheel driveAudi began to triumph in the most important international rallies, gaining a reputation for sportiness and robustness. Today, carrying the 4WD to an unprecedented level of technical evolutionproposes those same values ​​alongside them with drivers who look to the futureto a new concept of mobility mainly linked to environmental awareness.

The funtherefore, conjugated to the sustainability. One factor does not exclude the other, on the contrary: the 24ore dei Laghi demonstrates that they can go arm in arm, dispelling the canonical taboos on the electron universe. And inserting as well the efficiency element: from the recovery system to the electro-hydraulic braking, up to the heat pump, which on the most demanding slopes favor a intelligent energy management.

«If you impose with the paddles on the steering wheel the maximum level recovery to release, reduce to the maximum the use of the brake»Suggests Gilardi during the descents. On the other hand, the innovative e-rally signed Audi also rewards those who manage to save battery. Which can be recharged in direct current, with power up to 270 kW for Audi RS e-tron GT, so as to restore 100 kilometers of autonomy in about five minutes.

By canceling reload anxietytherefore, the historian also fails sore point connected to full-electric. The cars competing, in fact, they stop only for short pit stops: they run in the Dolomites for a whole day, covering a total of – among all 24 crews – 5400 kilometerswithout any technical problem, except a defective screwdriver which damaged three wheel nuts during a tire change.

“Compared to when I was competing, the cars have changed “, recalls Gilardi, «but also the world to drive“. He is undoubtedly more aware, there is a need to take care of what surrounds us: performances, in fact, travel parallel to environmental awareness, intertwining and finding new ones meeting points. As the recent shows Dakar Rallyin Saudi Arabia, where Audi has led the first electrified car.

Sportiness with zero impact.