While Audi Sport is busy fighting for the victory of the 2024 Dakar in the Car class, the leaders of the Ingolstadt team have made the future of the German company's rally raid project clear.
The 2024 Dakar is and will be the last edition of the event held in Saudi Arabia for Audi before closing the team and dedicating all possible resources to the new project which will see the brand with the 4 rings enter Formula 1 starting from 2026 taking over the majority of the shares of the Sauber team (now Stake F1).
The news was given directly by the top management of Audi Sport, i.e. by the head of the division Rolf Michl, in an interview granted to the Madrid newspaper AS. Not a real cold shower: it had been clear for months, after the announcement of Audi's entry into Formula 1, that the Dakar project was in the balance and certainly weakened compared to the previous two years.
“The decision to participate in the Dakar was taken to then race for three years,” the head of Audi Sport, Rolf Michl, told AS. “Therefore, this edition of the Dakar will be Audi's last. I can clearly confirm that this will be the last Dakar and, in any case, we will not race in the 2025 Dakar.”
“The size of a decision like this has many components. Getting the win this year would be great, but the decision to quit depends on many parameters.”
“Audi's F1 project changed everything and led to the discussion of the entire set of Audi's programs in motorsport. It was clearly decisive that the focus had to be on that project due to demanding timescales.”
“That, however, does not mean that it had an effect on the Dakar project or anything like that. Yes, there were some movements by our specialists towards the F1 project, but this did not influence the rest.”
Michl underlined how Audi has kept faith with the announcements made 4 years ago, completing the three-year project at the Dakar. At the moment the final victory has not arrived, but Carlos Sainz, Mattias Ekstroem and Stéphane Peterhansel are all in an excellent position to aspire to take home the 2024 winner's trophy.
“For our part there was a three-year commitment planned for the Dakar project and this will be fully respected with the current participation, which is why we are racing in the rally raid.”
“Audi has never participated in a race just for fun. The RS Q e-tron is a very complex car, as you know, and in the Dakar there are factors that we cannot control 100%. But essentially I would say that we cannot Nothing is missing to be able to win. However, all factors must come together, including luck, to achieve final success. This is the great factor that everyone must face.”
With the announcement of Audi's withdrawal from the Dakar and rally raids, two Dakar winners such as Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel lose their seats and a team for next season, becoming valuable pieces of the market in view of 2025 (assuming they want to continue to run in the category).
A possible scenario, but still very far away today, is that linked to M-Sport. The British team will debut the new vehicle with which it will hunt for success next year and will need top drivers in the category to achieve its goal. Sainz and Peterhansel could be perfect for the ambitions of the team based in Cumbria…
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