Le Mans 2001
Frank Biela showing the trophy for the "Sportscar of the year 2001" during the Essen Motor Show

Even after the season, the Infineon Audi R8 is still in the centre of attention: the readers of the web magazines racing1.de and rallye1.de voted the R8 “Sportscar of the Year 2001”. 40 per cent of the electorate were in favour of the successful sports racing car, whilst both BMW (16 per cent) and Bentley (12 per cent) received considerably lower scores on second and third place respectively. Representing the Audi team, Le Mans winner Frank Biela received the trophy on the Essen Motor Show in Germany. “The whole squad of Audi is delighted to receive this accolade”, said Biela.

The Infineon Audi R8 was not the only car to receive thumbs-up by the readers. The Abt-Audi TT-R was voted “Touring Car of the Year 2001”. Audi works driver Laurent Aiello won two races with the car in the past DTM season.