Marko hopes Porsche, Audi cooperation ‘possible’ (2nd Update)

Thirteen-time Le Mans winner Audi says it has “largely completed” the concept work on its 2023 Le Mans race car and says it is being developed with fellow VW owned company, Porsche.

Porsche was the first automaker to sign up and in addition to Audi, Acura, Ferrari, Toyota and Peugeot are on board so far.

Audi Sport boss Julius Seebach said the cooperation with Porsche is “a great strength of the Volkswagen Group” on the road car side. “We are now transferring this proven model to motorsport.”

Given this, would Audi or Porsche also do F1?  They never have done both F1 and sportscar racing in the same season in their past history.

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff stated on Friday in Portugal that the Red Bull engine being taken over from Honda by the team will eventually be labelled a Porsche, or maybe an Audi.

(GMM) Red Bull is looking to sign up even more members of Mercedes’ dominant F1 engine operation, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport.

The claims come after the energy drink owned team announced that it has poached current and long-time Mercedes engineer Ben Hodgkinson to be technical director of the newly-formed Red Bull Powertrains company.

It is believed he will not be released from his Mercedes ‘gardening leave’ until the end of 2022, by which time Red Bull will already be up and running with its own engine program based on the current Honda power unit.

But Red Bull official Dr Helmut Marko says the bigger goal is a new engine for the all-new technical regulations of 2025.

“Our plan is to build the engine ourselves for 2025,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

When asked if Porsche or Audi entering Formula 1 might change that approach, the Austrian added: “In that case we would have to see if a cooperation is possible.”

Marko said construction of the new engine facility at Milton Keynes is “in full swing”.