Audi set for LMP1 and Le Mans withdrawal (3rd Update)
10/17/16 In June, Porsche put an end to Audi's streak of never losing two years in a row at Le Mans. After 16 successful years racing in the top class at Le Mans, Audi is rumored to be calling it quits after the 2017 season. A report from Auto Motor Und Sport says the decision to bow out of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and thus the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has already been approved.
The evidence the German magazine cites is nothing new, but does point to Audi strongly considering hanging up its helmet and HANS device. Dieselgate costs are mounting, and racing two Volkswagen Group brands in Le Mans' top class isn't cheap. Reports suggest each brand has a budget of more than 200 million euros (roughly $220 million) per season in WEC, and in the end only one can win.
Racing two brands at Le Mans was former Volkswagen Group supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piech's idea, and with his ousting last year that choice is being reconsidered, insiders say. Before Porsche returned to Le Mans in 2015, Audi was closing in on Porsche's record for most wins in the famed endurance race with 13 top finishes. Porsche secured back-to-back wins this year and last to retain its title of the winningest manufacturer with 18 overall wins.
10/15/16 Audi Motorsport boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich has downplayed rumors that Audi would stop its LMP1 program at the end of 2017, amid reports from German media indicating the manufacturer's imminent exit from the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Auto Motor und Sport reported this week that a number of factors, including VW's emissions scandal, a dwindling demand for diesel production cars and a higher scrutiny on motorsports budgets, could force the German manufacturer to end its factory involvement.
"I hope they're wrong," Ullrich told media Saturday at Fuji Speedway, site of this weekend's WEC race.
Ullrich said a decision on the program's future has not yet been taken.
"We have seen so many press rumors during the last years," he said. "The good thing is that in most of the cases, the negative ones didn't occur. I'm an old optimist and I'm looking forward to the future.
"We are going the standard way of how we organize our race program, which is always in the autumn of the year.
"The meeting of the boards, where normally the motorsport programs are decided, has not taken place yet. So there's been nothing to decide and it's going to come."
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| The 'dirty' diesel Audi LMP1 powerplants no longer makes sense as VW pushes all its brands to electric |
10/14/16 Audi is set to withdraw from the World Endurance Championship, ending its long association with the Le Mans 24 hour race by ceasing its LMP1 motorsport operations, according to rumors circulating at its Ingolstadt headquarters in Germany.
While Audi won’t officially be drawn on speculation it is set to bring to a close the most successful chapter in its motorsport history. High-ranking insiders close to its chairman Rupert Stadler suggest the company has made the decision to end its LMP1 motorsport engagement from the end of 2017. That gives the German car maker one more shot at adding to its haul of 13 Le Mans victories.
The decision to withdraw Audi from Le Mans comes after cost-cutting initiatives were introduced by the Volkswagen Group in the wake of the dieselgate affair. Bosses are said to have questioned whether it was in the best interest of the financially embattled company to pit its two most profitable brands, Audi and Porsche, directly against each other in the world’s premier sports car championship. Reports suggest that a season's budget for each manufacturer is more than 200 million euros.
Among the arguments against a continuation of both Audi and Porsche in the World Endurance Championship is the fact that much of the attention around the global race series is focused on the Le Mans 24 hour race. Despite the media attention it draws, Volkswagen Group officials point out there is only ever one winner of the Le Mans race each year.
“Whatever way it turns out, one of our brands is deemed to lose," said an insider.
Autocar understands Volkswagen Motorsport boss (and Bentleychairman) Wolfgang Durheimer has been ordered to streamline the group’s motorsport activities in a move aimed at freeing up development budgets for a wide-ranging electrification strategy that will result in the Volkswagen Group introducing up to 25 new electric cars by 2025.
The decision to end Audi’s commitment to LMP1 is also tied to a decision made by the Volkswagen Group to no longer showcase its diesel engine technology in a motorsport environment in the aftermath of its diesel emission manipulation scandal.
It also follows a decision by Volkswagen chairman, Matthias Mueller, to reduce the number of diesel engines across the group in favor of petrol-electric hybrid and pure electric systems.
In recent years Audi’s WEC contenders have run a diesel-electric hybrid system, which despite its promise, has no direct connection with its road cars.
"One of the attractions of the two-brand LMP1 strategy was their differing driveline concepts," said the insider. "Bringing both Audi and Porsche to a common driveline concept would limit the technology transfer to our road cars."
A further hurdle that counts against Audi’s continuation in LMP1 is the introduction of new driveline regulations. From 2018, manufacturers competing in the premiere class of the WEC will be committed to a 10 megajoule rule, which would require a major revision of the turbocharged 3.7-liter V6 diesel engine and electric motor application used by the existing Audi R18 e-tron quattro that runs under the 6 megajoule rule, including the adoption of a second kinetic energy recuperation system. Greg Kable/Autocar