Volkswagen Group head of motorsports Wolfgang Durheimer told The Detroit Bureau the company is exploring some North American options – either IndyCar or the American Le Mans Series seems like a possibility.
“In my strategy role I am evaluating all motorsports activities,” he said. “The U.S. offers a variety of interesting race series.”
IndyCar looks forward to the return of engine competition in 2012 with Chevrolet and Lotus joining Honda as suppliers.
Durheimer considered IndyCar “attractive.” Less so was his opinion on a potential NASCAR entry, saying the money spent there could be better distributed across other platforms.
Audi has of course set the bar in the sports car world with wins in all but two of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2003, Bentley and 2009, Peugeot, the exceptions) since 2000, but has not run a full ALMS season since 2008 – when there were a combined 12 or more prototypes split between Audi, Porsche, Acura, Lola and Mazda on a full-time basis in the LMP1 and LMP2 categories.
Indy Car could sure use this as a lift. My opinion – bring Audi back to ALMS full-time and build new engines for Indy…
My Motorways 