American Audi fans hoping to root for a factory race program in IMSA’s fast-approaching LMDh category will be disappointed to hear the brand has canceled the program.
Racer reports that Audi will not campaign any factory entries in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and will instead focus on the FIA World Endurance Championship. Audi’s entry into the series had been anticipated for 2023.
Unnamed sources told the outlet that the Audi factory team was in advanced communications with at least one American partner in order to help run its factory entry into the series. Talks were broken off by Audi, though, after the decision was made to focus on the WEC.
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IMSA and the WEC have agreed to share regulations for their top prototype racing classes. The decision was celebrated by both fans and teams because it makes the decision to enter either of the racing series easier for manufacturers since it potentially gives them exposure to both series’ fans.
A number of manufacturers, including Acura, Cadillac, Lamborghini, and Porsche have announced factory LMDh entries. Although no reasons beyond focusing on WEC were given for dropping its IMSA program, Audi may have decided to limit competition in the busy field that contains Porsche and Lamborghini, two of its stablemates in the VW Group.
The silver lining, though, is that, according to Racer, the German automaker is still talking to customer teams, so there may be an Audi on the WeatherTech Championship grid in 2023 yet.
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