This would happen at the end of the current year to allow the brand to give priority to its next entry into Formula 1 in 2026.
In this way, customer racing would become the latest program to be canceled by the Audi board in recent years, following the exits from DTM in 2020 and Formula E in 2021, and the decision to terminate the LMDh project in 2022.
Audi chief executive Markus Duesmann has been keen to bring the marque into F1 since he took over the company’s reins in 2020, having previously led the engine programs of Mercedes and BMW.
Its dream of getting Audi into F1 finally came true in August last year, when the German marque was formally able to confirm its participation in the 2026 season, which will see it build its own engines and partner with Sauber to as for the frames.
According to various sources, the Audi board of directors, led by Duesmann, has decided to stake everything on the F1 project as early as 2021, long before participation in the Grands Prix was finalized.
At the end of last year, the CDA gave instructions to close the customer racing department after the conclusion of the 2023 season. Audi Sport Customer Racing comprises the GT2, GT3 and GT4 variants of the R8 LMS as well as the TCR program with the RS 3 LMS.
#11 Comtoyou Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II: Fréderic Vervisch, Christopher Hasse, Gilles Magnus
Photo by: Luca Rossini
Instead, it seems that the Dakar program will continue in 2024, despite the fact that the CDA decided in 2021 to focus its motorsport department entirely on F1. In fact, Audi is even planning to contest the full season of the World Rally-Raid Championship next year, in addition to the Dakar.
This is despite the fact that the German manufacturer has not achieved the desired success in the Dakar and costs have increased beyond expectations also due to the work necessary to build a new RS Q e-tron for 2023, necessary because the dimensions of the first car did not comply with the original specifications.
In contrast, Julius Seebach, who headed the Audi Sport department from December 2020 to August 2022, had already cut the budget for the 2022 and 2023 customer racing programs. When Rolf Michl took over from Seebach at the helm of Audi Sport, it was hoped that he would be able to safeguard the future of these businesses, but he appears to have been unsuccessful in his efforts and only a reassessment of the situation by the CDA could save the future of the program.
Production of the road-going Audi R8 is already set to end in early 2024, further dampening hopes, even though there have been talks of a GT3-compatible successor based on a Lamborghini model.
The future of Audi’s customer division remains in jeopardy despite the successful 2022 season, in which it achieved 290 individual victories and 76 titles. In the same year, Audi produced the 300th R8 LMS GT3, which remains one of the most successful cars in the class ever made.
#204 Team Audi Sport Audi: Stephane Peterhansel, Edouard Boulanger
Photo by: ASO
When asked for comment on the future of Audi Sport Customer Racing, a spokesperson said: “The motorsport program in customer racing for 2023 has been decided and will run as follows: Nürburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours, GT World Challenge, TCR World Tour, DTM”.
“We are currently discussing the further development of the branch and the Dakar project. As soon as decisions are made, we will inform our teams and partners.”
If Audi’s customer racing division is indeed discontinued, this could mean that all 14 factory drivers will likely lose their seats. Among them are Markus Winkelhock, Christopher Mies, Christopher Haase and Ricardo Feller. Kelvin Van Der Linde and Robin Frijns had both announced their departures earlier in the year. In addition, the customer sport division employs almost 80 people within the larger Audi Sport GmbH department.
That said, this announcement doesn’t necessarily mean that Audi won’t be in GT3 racing for the next few years. In theory, it would be possible to outsource the production of parts and the service of engine and transmission components to another company.
However, the days of manufacturer support in the DTM and major endurance races appear to be ending. Furthermore, Audi will not supply the teams with factory drivers or make any new updates to the cars, which could mean that the brand will end up completely disappearing from the scene.
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