TAG Heuer at Le Mans: the Swiss brand’s legitimate ties to the oldest endurance race in motor sports are without rival. It co-starred with Steve McQueen and his Gulf-sponsored Porsche 917K in the 1970 film classic “Le Mans,” partnered with Scuderia Ferrari and the famous Ferrari 312 PB sport prototypes in 1973, and won with Peugeot Sport and its drivers Marc Géné, Alexander Wurz and David Brabham in 2009.

Now TAG Heuer takes on a new Le Mans challenge: Official Partner of the most winning team in the race’s history, Audi Sport.

TAG Heuer is joining forces with Audi Sport in its quest to once again win the most mythic endurance race in motorsports — the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Swiss brand has signed on for the 78^th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Official Partner for watches, eyewear and timekeeping solutions of the German racecar team, which has the best record at Le Mans, with 8 victories in 11 appearances.

Audi Sport will roll out three R15 TDI Plus cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and an impressive line-up of drivers: Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen (8-time winner, a world record), Allan McNish, Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Treluyer, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller. Together, these men have competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 61 times — and have taken home the trophy 13 times.

Audi Sport will bear TAG Heuer colours on its racing cars and drivers’ suits in endurance races throughout the 2010 Le Mans Series championship season.
On April 11, TAG Heuer and Audi kicked off the season in style by winning the first race — the famous 8 hours of Le Castellet. TAG Heuer drivers Allan McNish and Dindo Capello were behind the wheel of the new Audi R15+. Both were wearing the CARRERA Double-Date Chronograph and TAG Heuer eyewear.
The next race is the 1000km of Spa Francorchamps in Belgium on May 7-9, followed by the Silverstone 1000K in England, and the Petit Le Mans/Road Atlanta in the United States and one race in Asia.

TAG Heuer is proud to add drivers of Audi Sport to its ambassadorial roster, which includes Leonardo Di Caprio, Maria Sharapova, Tiger Woods, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. The Audi Sport drivers will wear and promote TAG Heuer CARRERA Day-Date chronographs. The team’s managers, including Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, the head of Audi Sport, will wear TAG Heuer Grand CARRERA chronographs. The team will also use TAG Heuer’s timekeeping technology on private testing sessions.

TAG Heuer will equip Audi Sport drivers with TAG Heuer Night Vision glasses. Created to provide better night-vision comfort by correcting night myopia and prismatic deviation, this exclusive TAG Heuer technology will help maximize the Audi Team’s driving performance at dawn, dusk and in the dark of night. Enhancing vision while driving — in road car driving and competition car racing — is the keystone of TAG Heuer’s Avant-Garde Eyewear strategy. Audi Sport Drivers will put these products to the test in the most demanding conditions imaginable, and TAG Heuer’s R&D will use their findings to push accuracy and performance even further.

‘’For TAG Heuer, being part of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is a key component of our 150^th Anniversary celebrations”, said Jean-Christophe Babin, the brand’s CEO and President. “Motor racing and car manufacturing have been the main source of our inspiration from the very start. After associating our Grand CARRERA model with the GT Audi R8, it is important to reinforce this partnership by joining Audi in their bid to win back Le Mans. We share values of prestige and avant-garde, and we’re driven by the same thing: the quest for the best in performance by means of the best in innovation. With our eyewear technology, we expect to give the Audi drivers a serious advantage. At Le Mans and in day-to-day driving, vision is a key factor for performance and safety.’’

‘’For Audi, it’s a great honour to welcome TAG Heuer to our team of partners,” said Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, the head of Audi Sport. “They’re an important part of motor racing lore and have demonstrated, for a century and a half, unparalleled vision and focus. TAG Heuer has designed and manufactured some of the best timepieces and eyewear that we will use with pleasure.”

TAG Heuer will also back Audi France in the French GT3 championship, where Stéphane Ortelli (winner of the 24 Hours at Le Mans in 1998) will drive an Audi R8 LMS together by the popular French singer David Hallyday. Throughout the year, TAG Heuer and Audi will appear together in events, joint promotions and a series of marketing initiatives in major markets.

In 2010, TAG Heuer proudly celebrates 150 years of pioneering Swiss watchmaking. Founded in Saint-Imier in 1860 by Edouard Heuer, TAG Heuer has set many major milestones of high-end watchmaking, especially in the field of chronographs and ultimate precision. Today, one of the largest and most desired brands in the luxury watch industry, the Swiss legend draws upon its active engagement in the world of sports to create the most accurate timing instruments and watches in the world. TAG Heuer is the first watchmaker to master luxury chronographs with an unsurpassed precision of 1/10^th, 1/100^th and 1/1,000^th of a second. From the Olympic Games in the 1920s to its role as official timekeeper for the legendary Indy 500 race, with accuracy at 1/10,000^th of a second, TAG Heuer, in a constant quest for innovation, excellence, performance and prestige, continues to aim ever higher. This is reflected in its quarter-century partnership with F1 team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, its 7-year partnership with 2008 Formula 1 World Champion, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, and his new teammate, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button. In 2010, TAG Heuer is partnered with Audi Sport and its drivers in the 24 Hours at Le Mans, and with Tesla Motors for the ‘’Odyssey of Pioneers’’, the first-ever around-the-world tour in electric car. TAG Heuer, more than ever, epitomizes prestige and performance through active partnerships with Hollywood icon Leonardo DiCaprio, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, LPGA star Suzann Pettersen, Golf n°1 player Tiger Woods and WTA tennis champion Maria Sharapova. TAG Heuer is a privileged member of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), the most exclusive club in the Swiss watchmaking industry. The newest addition to the TAG Heuer legacy is the Calibre 1887, an in-house, Swiss manufactured, integrated column-wheel chronograph movement that pays tribute to the original Heuer oscillating pinion of 1887, one of the brand’s first patents and a major benchmark in modern watchmaking.