WEC: Audi to Leave Championship at end of 2016 Season

[Ben Lee]

Interesting now in that there are no more diesel cars running whereas a few years ago, the entire LMP1 lineup was diesel based. Of course we are only really talking about two works teams in those cases (Audi and Peugeot), however it does mark an interesting point how we have gone from a total diesel LMP1 field, to a zero diesel LMP1 field.

 

[Grand Tourist]

Let me just leave this here.....for me this was Le Mans, with its wide variety of prototypes

 

[Grand Tourist]

Let me just leave this here.....for me this was Le Mans, with its wide variety of prototypes

And how about this treasure of carnography? When all was pure and so damn sexy (7:15 in the yellow prototype )

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

In 2011 there was 17 LMP1 teams at Le Mans. None of them will be there in 2017!

 

[Sicario Del Toro]

Sad to here this , and now VW going the same way .

 

[fortyfivekev]

Sad to here this , and now VW going the same way .

Yes, it's really sad what has happened to rallying over the years. Was watching the Welsh Rally WRC round last weekend but you would have no idea from the media that it was happening and nothing like the coverage that it used to have in the UK.

The only good thing is at least privateers can still run these WRC cars which is not an option for the WEC Audis.

 

[Grand Tourist]

VW to leave from the WRC!! Hmmm, maybe the 20,000,000,000€ cost of their malware adventure has proven too much to keep participating in the elite motorsport world

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

The only good thing is at least privateers can still run these WRC cars which is not an option for the WEC Audis.

Sadly I don't think we will see an old Polo for two reasons. First the works team hasn't ever offered a car up to now (or no customer ever wanted to drive it?). And second is a problem of the new rule set. Privateers like Bertelli are unwilling to rent the cars being so much slower and showcase them in a "TC2" rallye class.
Sorry for feeding OT talk here. I wanted to open a new thread on this particular subject today, but as it all is in here already...
Please open new topics for these relevant things only the vast minority here got knowledge of by today.
And fortyfivekev, your contributions are always very welcome and often bring solid points to the table!

Oh and yes, the no-comment comment by Dr. Frank Welsch, head of VW R&D, doesn't give me hope we will see all three Polos next season.
But then again, Toyota coming and no VW driver swapping brands...

 

[fortyfivekev]

I don't know much about the details of the VW rally program but it would be pretty dumb just to park the cars in a museum when they could make some money by selling cars and spares like Ford have done for years with M-Sport. Probably VW is in such a mess that they don't care though.

It's a boring point but car manufacturers have an expensive few years coming up with the need to move away from diesel and develop electric and self-driving cars so I don't think Audi and VW will be the only factory race programs stopping.

 

[Grand Tourist]

I bet someone at VW has used the phrase "I told you so " quite a few times now. Crime doesn't pay. I hope they learned their lesson . It's a disgrace to the automotive world.

 

[Grand Tourist]

When you see this montage, you notice 2 things :
Porsche wins and Audi doesn't. And also Shanghai has a nasty u-turn.

 

[EpilepticToast]

brutal showing from Audi last night, think they've thrown in the towel now.