According to Autosport’s sister website Motorsport-Total.com, there are plans to close Audi Sport Customer Racing at the end of the current season to allow the marque to prioritise its upcoming entry into Formula 1 in 2026.
This would make customer racing the latest programme to be scuppered by the Audi board in recent years following its factory exits from DTM in 2020 and Formula E in 2021, and its decision to stop its LMDh project in 2022.
Audi CEO Markus Duesmann had been keen on taking the brand to F1 ever since he took over the reins of the company in 2020, having previously headed the engine programmes of both Mercedes and BMW.
His dream of Audi joining F1 was finally realised in August last year when the German marque was formally able to confirm an entry for the 2026 season that will see it construct its own engines and partner with Sauber on the chassis side.
According to multiple sources, Audi’s board of directors led by Duesmann decided to put all its weight behind the F1 project already in 2021, long before even its grand prix entry was finalised.
It is understood that the board finally issued instructions towards the end of last year to close its customer racing division following the conclusion of the 2023 season. Audi Sport Customer Racing includes the GT2, GT3 and GT4 variants of the R8 LMS as well as the TCR programme with the RS 3 LMS.
It is believed that Audi’s Dakar Rally programme will continue in 2024 despite the board deciding in 2021 that it wants its motorsport department focus entirely on F1. In fact, Audi is even planning to contest the full World Rally-Raid Championship season next year in addition to Dakar.
That is despite the German manufacturer not achieving the kind of success it had hoped for in Dakar and costs escalating beyond what was expected also due to the work required on building a new RS Q e-tron for 2023. That was necessary because the dimensions of the first car didn't comply with the original specifications.
Source: Autosport