Yahoo Autos Audi Still Hasn't Decided Whether to Continue Racing at Le Mans
Last week, we reported that Audi may withdraw from the World Endurance Championship after 2017. If true, that would mean the end of one of the most successful endurance racing teams this century. But if you ask Audi's Head of Motorsports Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, that's not necessarily decided.
Motorsport reports that at a recent press conference, Ullrich was insistent that no decision has been made about Audi's future in LMP1. "I'm optimistically looking forward to the future," he told reporters. Ullrich then went on to say that the meeting where such a decision would be made had yet to take place this year.
One of the potential issues Audi faces: Its LMP1 racers have all been diesel-powered, a decision made back when Volkswagen Group was aggressively expanding its diesel passenger car offerings. With the diesel scandal ongoing, the future of all TDI models, including diesel-powered race cars, was called into question.
But according to Motorsport, Ullrich believes diesel is still great for racing, saying "the diesel engine is still one of the most efficient combustion engines you can get. They can be very clean. It's just a question of working on it and developing it. As long as efficiency is a key factor, we think the diesel in racing is still a good solution."
There's another issue: With Porsche still successfully competing in LMP1, Audi would be the second big-budget endurance racing team run under the VW Group umbrella. Given the costs associated with the automaker's diesel emissions scandal, and the challenging future of diesel, Audi's racing team faces an uphill battle
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