Spanish veteran Carlos Sainz managed to snatch a win in Saudi Arabia in January with Audi’s RS Q e-tron hybrid car, but now, Audi’s project has encountered problems. Audi has announced that it will not continue in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for the rest of this season.
The W2RC consists of a total of five races, out of which Audi has completed only one. A significant fine threatens if a team abandons the season. The second race of the series was held in Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago, which Audi’s team skipped.
Audi had registered as a manufacturer for the W2RC series for the 2024 season. For missing the Abu Dhabi race, the event’s stewards imposed a fine of 750,000 euros on Audi “of which the amount of 562,500 EUR is applied with suspension of sentence subject to no further similar infringement during the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship”.
It was noted that Audi was “harming the image” of the World Rally-Raid Championship.
According to Motorsport.com, which reported on the issue, Audi no longer has an interest in participating in the desert rallies World Championship. As a result, the manufacturer will be fined 750,000 euros, which, in the scale of an automobile company, is likely considered reasonable.
“We are appealing and will not comment further on the matter as it is an ongoing procedure,” an Audi representative told Motorsport.com.
Audi previously mentioned that their withdrawal was due to a shortage of spare parts.
“After extremely high spare parts consumption at the 2023 Dakar, a very intensive test program in 2023 and the damage that occurred, as well as the very tough 2024 Dakar Rally, most of the prototype parts have been used up as a thorough analysis showed.”
“The long lead times in the production of such one-offs are sometimes up to two years due to very few, highly specialized suppliers for Audi’s extremely complex prototype. “
“This means that the framework conditions are not in place within which Audi could ensure successful participation in the World Rally-Raid Championship during an entire season.”
