Audi Was Tantalizingly Close to Another Le Mans Campaign
The World Endurance Championship grid is shaping up to be the most exciting in decades — but Audi won’t be there.
At the moment, the big news in the world of Audi racing is that Ingolstadt will return to Formula 1 for the 2026 season. This year, dominant performances from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen mean he had this year’s crown in the bag long before the final checkered flag. But the surging popularity of the series here in the United States — thanks in no small part to Netflix’s Drive to Survive — makes it a great opportunity for the Four Rings to show its mettle.
Of course, it was only last May when endurance racing fans were waiting to get a glimpse of the successor to the R18, and the car Audi hoped would add to its impressive string of victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That anticipation, it’s important to note, wasn’t based on rumors or speculation. Rather what details we knew came straight from Audi Sport director Andreas Roos, who said that both the engine concept and chassis partner had already been finalized.
Unfortunately, that project was doomed. But now, our friends at Motorsport have revealed just how close Audi was to testing its next-gen LMDh car. According to DTM driver Nico Muller, who was deeply involved with project, the race machine was just weeks away from hitting the test track when the rug got pulled out from the program.
“At the end the car was ready to go,” Muller revealed to Motorsport.com. “We worked a lot on the sim, everything was ready to go into proper on-track testing.
“It had been developed together with Porsche; it is no secret that they shared the same platform with Multimatic.
“Would I have loved to drive it? It was very close, but the call came a few weeks too early.”
For fans who followed endurance racing, the news is heartbreaking. What’s particularly disappointing is that the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grid is shaping up to be the most diverse and exciting as it’s been in decades. So instead of having just one serious competitor, like Peugeot or Toyota, the Four Rings would have faced marques like Ferrari, Cadillac, and corporate cousins Porsche, which would have been a joy to watch.
Given the popularity of Formula 1, and the relative obscurity of the WEC, the move might make sense from a publicity standpoint. But limited budgets mean Audi fans will just have to wonder what could have been…
Photos: Audi
Click HERE to join the AudiWorld forums