Doubts over Audi’s commitment to the FIA World Endurance Championship – and prototype racing at all – have long since been the subject of paddock rumour-mongering. In reality, Audi is looking to the future of its LMP concept and assessing how the new LMP1 regulations can match the works teams’ ambitions.
“I think that’s the spirit of the LMP1 regulations,” Audi’s Head of LMP Stefan Dreyer told WEC-Magazin at round four of the WEC at the Nürburgring. “We want to break new ground, all of the LMP1 teams want to break new ground – and that will be facilitated by the rulemakers.”
Any new technologies, such as hydrogen- or electric-powered concepts, would certainly have to measure up to the current level of LMP1 technology, says Dreyer: “We have to maintain the same level of performance, and aim to move up a level, too – irrespective of where that next level may be. No one wants to see the cars become much slower overnight. And that is where the challenge lies.”
“Our job is to develop new technologies and build them into a package, which we can present to the public,” says Dreyer. “That includes performance development and efficiency development, and showing that we have the capabilities as a manufacturer.”
Interview: WEC-Magazin
Image (c) Audi Mediacenter (Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild GmbH)