The German manufacturer was due to see out its third and final season in the FIA-sanctioned series as part of its much-touted cross-country programme with the RS Q e-tron hybrid.
However, just a month after scoring a maiden win in the prestigious Dakar marathon in Saudi Arabia in January, Audi announced that it would be shutting down the project with immediate effect, leaving it out of the remaining four events on the W2RC calendar.
But the decision won’t go down without financial consequences, with stewards at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge penalising the brand for missing the second round of the season as per article 3.4.3 of the FIA Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations.
It was noted that Audi had registered as a manufacturer for the 2024 W2RC season and it was 'harming the image' of the series by skipping certain events.
As such, the stewards concluded “to impose a fine penalty of 750,000 EUR on the manufacturer TEAM AUDI SPORT of which the amount of 562,500 EUR is applied with suspension of sentence subject to no further similar infringement during the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.”
Given Audi has already made it clear that it doesn’t intend to rejoin the championship later in the year, it is expected that it would have to pay the entire fine to the FIA W2RC series.
When enquired about the fine by Autosport's sister title, Motorsport-Total.com, an Audi spokesman said: "We are appealing and will not comment further on the matter as it is an ongoing procedure."
Source: Autosport