Tag: Audi

Audi confirms Sauber takeover ahead of 2026 F1 entry

Audi has confirmed it will completely take over the Sauber Group ahead of its Formula 1 entry in 2026, with Oliver Hoffmann becoming chairman of the board and Andreas Seidl CEO. The German manufacturer announced its plans to enter as a power unit …

Audi has confirmed it will completely take over the Sauber Group ahead of its Formula 1 entry in 2026, with Oliver Hoffmann becoming chairman of the board and Andreas Seidl CEO.

The German manufacturer announced its plans to enter as a power unit supplier from 2026 onwards back in 2022, later confirming that Sauber would become its works partner. Despite speculation about its commitment to the project due to managerial changes, Audi has now announced it is “accelerating its investment and a full takeover of the Sauber Group from current majority shareholder Islero Investments AG has been agreed.“

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“The entry into Formula 1 is not only the pinnacle of Audi’s very successful history in motorsport, but also as big a sporting challenge as it is a financial commitment,” Manfred Doess, chairman of the supervisory board at Audi said. “Through the bundling of Oliver Hoffmann’s responsibilities and the complete takeover of the Sauber Group, we are accelerating our preparations for the 2026 season.”

Hoffmann currently heads up the technical development division at Audi and is on the board, but will step down from those roles to become the general representative responsible for Audi’s entry. 

Hoffmann, who will also become chairman of the Sauber Group, has previously been head of Audi Sport, and oversaw multiple motorsport successes including the first-ever win at the Dakar Rally for an electrified drivetrain.

“I would like to thank the entire team at technical development for the great performance in recent years, and I am proud of the outstanding products resulting from our intensive work that we will bring to the streets in the coming months,” Hoffmann said.

“Motorsport, particularly Formula 1, is my big passion. I am convinced that by bundling responsibilities and taking over 100 percent of Sauber Group, we will further accelerate our preparations for the launch in 2026.

“I am pleased we were able to secure the services of Andreas Seidl as Audi F1 Team CEO. He is exactly the right man for our ambitious plan. Thanks to his broad experience from leadership roles on the manufacturer and Formula 1 team side, he will make a significant contribution to Audi’s Formula 1 project.”

Seidl joined Sauber from McLaren just over a year ago, and has been working largely behind the scenes as Alessandro Alunni Bravi takes on team representative duties for the F1 outfit now known as Stake. However, Seidl will officially become CEO of the Audi F1 Team, and says the takeover will help with future plans.

“I thank Gernot Doellner (Audi chairman of the board of management) and Oliver Hoffmann for their trust and am looking forward to leading Audi into Formula 1 together with a highly motivated team as CEO of the Audi F1 Team,” Seidl said.

“We have a clear roadmap for how we want to become competitive in Hinwil as well as in Neuburg. We have ambitious goals. Realization of them is in progress and will be further accelerated through the complete takeover of Sauber by Audi AG.”

Audi chasing WEC return with Sainteloc

Audi Sport Customer Racing is pushing hard for a two-car FIA WEC LMGT3 entry with its longstanding French customer Team Sainteloc, RACER has learned. Last week’s Goodyear LMGT3 tyre test entry for Portimao, which was attended by eight prospective …

Audi Sport Customer Racing is pushing hard for a two-car FIA WEC LMGT3 entry with its longstanding French customer Team Sainteloc, RACER has learned.

Last week’s Goodyear LMGT3 tyre test entry for Portimao, which was attended by eight prospective WEC LMGT3 manufacturers, included an R8 LMS GT3 EVO II fitted with newly developed closed-loop torque sensors required to meet LMGT3 regulations.

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There, the car ran on 2024 Goodyear tyres for the first time with senior Audi technical staff on hand, factory driver Christopher Haase and as well as Sainteloc team director Frederic Thalamy, its owner Sebastien Chetail and additional engineering staff from their outfit.

RACER asked Thalamy if its presence in Portugal was part of its preparations for the 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series season. There, Sainteloc hopes to win the GT class title and secure a Le Mans invite. This is because over the summer, prior to the Asian Le Mans entry list being revealed, Thalamy described that effort as the team’s one and only chance to get to Le Mans with the R8. “After next year it’s finished,” he told RACER.

However, Sainteloc’s plans have developed and now extend further than an Asian Le Mans Series campaign. The French team, with the full support of Audi, was keen to test on Goodyear tires with a car that meets the 2024 regulations because it is planning to run in the full FIA WEC season, not just at Le Mans.

Thus, it opted to run exclusively on Goodyear rubber in Portugal, unlike AF Corse which turned laps with both Goodyear LMGT3 tires and Michelin’s Asian Le Mans Series GT product to prepare for customer entries in both ACO championships.

“We are here to achieve something, to get into the FIA WEC,” Thalamy told RACER. “It is WEC or nothing. Everybody is pushing very hard to get entries, we are pushing for two, we would like two cars, but we would take one.”

The feedback RACER received from Thalamy and Haase at the test was overwhelmingly positive. Thalamy was keen to comment on how impressed he was with the level of service Goodyear provided, and Haase was hugely complimentary of the tyres. “I have been really surprised, the car worked straight away out of the box. I was so happy with the level of grip and feedback. It was joyous,” Haase said.

If successful, it would mark a return to the World Championship for the German brand for the first time since its LMP1 Hybrid R18 program came to a close in 2016. The hope is that Audi’s previous loyalty to the ACO during the LMP1 era, plus Sainteloc’s level of ambition to compete, will be enough to secure places on the grid.

However, LMGT3 in 2024 is going to be oversubscribed in both the FIA WEC and ELMS (and Sainteloc has no plans to compete in the ACO’s European series). With no Hypercar program or customer team currently competing in the FIA WEC, Audi’s current plan doesn’t fit either of the publicly stated selection criteria, which will give priority to OEMs in Hypercar and teams that have been loyal to the FIA WEC.

If the WEC’s full-season entry cap is 36 cars and the split between the two classes is 18-18, then Audi, like Mercedes-AMG, would appear to be on the outside looking in. This is because Aston Martin (Prodrive/Heart of Racing), BMW (WRT), Corvette (TF Sport) Ferrari (AF Corse), Ford (Proton), Lamborghini (Iron Lynx), Lexus (ASP), McLaren (United) and Porsche (Manthey) are all seeking two-car entries.

Nevertheless, Audi Sport is pushing hard to be a part of the FIA WEC next season, despite its plan to scale back its customer sport program significantly from 2024 onwards.

RACER understands that it will provide both factory driving and engineering talent for Sainteloc’s WEC bid, and is fully supportive of Sainteloc and Attempto Racing’s Asian Le Mans Series plans.

Audi set to test full PU and hire 300 F1 employees by end of 2023

Audi says it is on track to run a full power unit on its test benches by the end of this year, as recruitment of staff for the manufacturer’s Formula 1 project is due to peak at over 300 at the same time. Audi enter F1 as a full constructor in 2026, …

Audi says it is on track to run a full power unit on its test benches by the end of this year, as recruitment of staff for the manufacturer’s Formula 1 project is due to peak at over 300 at the same time.

Audi enter F1 as a full constructor in 2026, partnering with Sauber for its works entry that will also include its own power unit. Under the umbrella of Audi Formula Racing GmbH the team has been established at Audi’s facility in Neuburg an der Donau in Germany, and it is presenting its F1 project during the ongoing Auto Shanghai motor show, where it confirmed the intention to run its first full power unit by the end of this year.

The final quarter of 2023 is also when Audi says it expects to complete its hiring of staff for the project, with a total of over 300 planned despite the partnership with Sauber.

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“More than 260 specialists are already on board,” Audi confirmed in a press release. “The core of the development team consists of experienced Audi Sport and Audi employees with many years of diverse expertise in electric motorsport. They are joined by specialists with Formula 1 expertise who have been sourced externally and will strengthen the team in a targeted manner.”

Oliver Hoffmann — member of the board of management for technical development at Audi AG — says progress has been accelerating when it comes to Audi’s preparations to enter F1, with additional test rigs for power unit development set to be installed in a new 32,000 square foot building at Neuburg later this year too.

“The Audi Formula 1 project has really taken off in recent months,” Hoffmann said. “In the ongoing concept phase of the power unit, the foundation of our drivetrain for 2026 is being laid today.

“We attach great importance to detail work, for example on materials or manufacturing technologies, and we also focus on topics such as the energy management of the hybrid drivetrain. After all, efficiency is a key success factor for Formula 1 and the mobility of the future, these approaches will advance both worlds.”

Sauber has already hired former McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl — who previously worked for Audi’s fellow Volkswagen Group brand Porsche — as its CEO to help with the transition from Alfa Romeo to Audi over the coming years.

‘Wheel of Fortune’ fans are thrilled this contestant is finally getting the Audi she missed out on

Charlene is getting her car, y’all.

Wheel of Fortune had a lot of fans mad this week on the internet.

Charlene, a contestant who went on the show earlier in the week, missed out on winning an Audi Q3 because of a technicality on the show.

She had to solve a final puzzle to win the car and she actually did it. She solved the puzzle. But she didn’t string the sentence together properly enough to win, according to host Pat Sajak.

The phrase was “Choosing the right word.” Charlene initially said “Choosing the right card” instead but corrected it before the timer ran out. The issue was she took a slight pause before saying “word” and finishing the sentence. So she didn’t win. That’s why fans were livid this week.

But there’s hope yet. Audi tweeted that they found Charlene and are giving her the car she deserves.

Good on them. That’s an easy win. Sure, it’s a brand thing. And we probably shouldn’t give Audi too much credit for this. But this was absolutely the right thing to do.

People were thrilled to see this.

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