Audi willing to enter Daytona Prototype class in the future

Audi could enter the Daytona Prototype class in the U.S. or its successor once Grand-Am and the ALMS merge for 2014.

The German manufacturer has admitted it is interested in the category due to its desire to race at the highest level in sportscars in North America, one of its largest sales markets. Audi previously competed for overall honours in the American Le Mans Series between 2000 and 2008, winning the overall title every single season with LMP1 prototypes.

Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich said that racing with the R8 GRAND-AM, which is now in its second-year in Grand-Am’s GT category, would likely be only one side of Audi’s U.S. racing program in the future. “I do not think that racing for class victories should be our ultimate target. We are thinking about what we can do in US motorsport in the future and we are constantly talking with people from all the motorsport authorities in the US,” Ullrich was quoted as saying by Autosport.

“We have to race in the top class and we have to race with relevant technology,” Ullrich added. However, he did not set a timescale for an Audi entry into the future merged series which will combine Daytona Prototypes, LMP2 cars and production versions of the DeltaWing in its premier division for at least 2014 and 2015.