AUDI REJECTS HYPERCARS

New Hypercar rules won’t attract Audi back to Le Mans – Photo: Supplied

THE NEW road-car based Hypercar formula won’t attract Audi back to the Le Mans 24-hour.

By BRUCE NEWTON

That’s the definitive word from Oliver Hoffmann, the boss of the German luxury brand’s motor racing and performance car division, Audi Sport.

Hypercars will replace LMP1 prototypes at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship from 2020/2021.

Audi’s petrol, diesel and hybrid LMP1 racers dominated Le Mans for years, winning in 2000-2002, 2004-2008 and 2010 to 2014. It also won the WEC in 2012 and 2013.

It pulled out of sports car racing at the end of 2016 to concentrate on the Formula E electric open-wheeler championship. It also has a long-running commitment to the German DTM tin-top series, provides the R8 GT3 and GT4 for sports car racing and the RS 3 LMS to customer teams for TCR.

“Le Mans was a very good platform us to show technology and it is a good way to introduce and to show and to develop technology, our diesel technology, TFSI engines and so on,” Hoffmann told Australian media last week.

“But it is a very expensive way to show off this technology.

“There are no concepts for the next years again for Le Mans.”

So far the new Hypercar formula has attracted commitments from Toyota and Aston Martin, while McLaren, Ford, Ferrari and BMW were also consulted about the formula.

Niche supercar builder Glickenhaus plans to enter and sports car team ByKolles says it will build its own Hypercar racer with a road car spin-off.

Meanwhile, Hoffmann said Audi Sport was watching the future development of TCR as more manufacturers weighed into a series intended purely for customers teams.

“We see TCR is very successful series and we are also very successful with our RS 3 LMS cars and we see the fleet is growing,” he said. “But we have to look, there are a lot of manufacturers working in this segment not as customer racing. It’s more or less factory.

“So we will look for the next years what will happen in the TCR class.”

Hoffmann was obviously referencing the Chinese brand Lynk & Co, which runs four of its 03 sedans only in the pinnacle WTCR via Cyan Racing. The brand says it will sell 10 cars to customers in the 2020 Chinese and Asian TCR championships.

Hoffmann confirmed a new generation RS3 TCR racer will be launched for the 2020 season.

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