Do you miss seeing the Audi R18 race already? It’s been less than a month since Audi ran its final race in the World Endurance Championship, and I’m still sad, too. But I have great news for you! You—yes, you!—can personally fix this terrible lack of Audi problem with ludicrous amounts of cold, hard cash.
Basically, it sounds like Audi wants to keep racing the R18, but let somebody else come in and pay for it.
Like Volkswagen’s mostly-baked World Rally Championship car, the Volkswagen Group will absolutely let the right privateer run the Audi R18 in competition. Autocar writes:
[Volkswagen executive Wolfgang] Dürheimer also confirmed that Audi’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) LMP1 racers are available for privateer teams to run if they can raise sufficient budget. The works squad’s involvement Le Mans and the WEC was terminated at the end of this season’s championship.
Shoot, for the right price, they may even let you take it to other places. I mean, have you seen the bill for Dieselgate lately?! I’m pretty sure you can pitch them “intermediate run group track day ownage” with a fistful of very large bills and they might go for it if you promised not to smash the car.
You may have to make it rain harder than everyone else if you want to get your hands on a prized piece of machinery, though. For one, Volkswagen & Corporate Friends want any privateer squad who campaigns the R18 to have some über-talented mechanics on staff before they even let you sniff the vaguely carbon-metallic smell of victo—er, Audi LMP1. Dürheimer explained to Autocar:
There is interest, but it is more complex than the World Rally Championship situation - these cars are on a different level technologically to anything else racing today, including F1. They are not cars that a privateer can just operate, but we are very willing to co-operate with any team that has the expertise and budget to race them.
The Volkswagen Group’s road car side may have ruined everything for everyone on the planet, so the last thing they need is some hoser using the beloved R18 as a wrecking ball. Like the Volkswagen Polo R WRC, it looks as if the lucky LMP1-class privateer will also receive some level of factory support.
That makes this the go-fast deal of the century! How could you pass it up?