Later this month AUDI will finally cease taking part in the FIA WEC, 18 years & 106 victories mean nothing left to prove.

• Audi to end its sports car program in Bahrain following 106 victories in 186 sports car races in 18 years
• Successful track record of technology transfer between race cars and production models
• Thanks go to FIA, WEC and ACO, and the strong competitors for a tremendous time

Audi is ending an era. On Saturday, November 19, not only the current season of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will end in Bahrain but also Audi ceasing its Le Mans sports prototype program after 18 years. 

Audi’s sports prototypes, from the Audi R8, the Audi R10 TDI and the Audi R15 TDI to the Audi R18, have shaped an entire racing era. 

They represent one of Audi Sport’s most successful periods and are symbols of the technical progress achieved by the brand with the four rings.

“The event in Bahrain will no doubt be a very emotional farewell for all of us,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. 

The Austrian, who has been in charge of Audi’s motorsport activities since the end of 1993, has decisively shaped the brand’s sports car commitment. In 1999, the LMP race cars competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring for the first time, to date having clinched nine titles in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), three in various European Le Mans series, plus two drivers’ and two manufacturers’ world championship titles in the FIA WEC. No less than 106 winners’ trophies are displayed in the showcases of AUDI AG and its teams, including 13 for victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours. A historically unique success is Audi’s “triple,” in other words three victories in succession, allowing the brand to keep the trophy.

“What this program means to the brand is hard to express in words,” says Dr. Ullrich. “To this day, the various rally models of the Audi quattro, with which everything began in 1981, have kept a special place in the hearts of the audience. I am sure that the sports cars, which are esteemed by a worldwide fan community, are going to continue to define the historic image of our brand for a long time.” 

In addition to the emotional value being associated with the sports cars from Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Neuburg an der Donau, the LMP race cars epitomize pure technology as well as having set many milestones of automobile development at Audi. 2001 saw TFSI gasoline direct injection debut in the Audi R8, its principle subsequently helping reduce emissions of millions of cars in road traffic. In 2006, Audi made history by clinching its first TDI victory at Le Mans. In 2012, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro was the first hybrid sports car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The current generation of the Audi R18 uses 46 percent less fuel than the Audi R10 TDI did ten years earlier, while achieving faster lap times.

“This is pure efficiency,” says Dr. Ullrich. Safety innovations such as the tire inflation pressure control system, the Audi Matrix LED headlights or Audi Laser Light complement the long list of technology transfers taking place between motorsport and production in both directions.

The close interlinking of these two fields will be a key aspect in future activities as well. Audi is realigning its motorsport strategy and, beginning in 2017, will be involved in the first all-electric racing series, the FIA Formula E Championship, with a factory-backed commitment. This program perfectly fits the business decision made by the premium manufacturer based in Ingolstadt to offer new battery-electric automobiles year by year, starting in 2018.

Now, in Bahrain, the fastest, most efficient and most innovative Audi sports cars of all time are going to tackle their last competition. Following practice sessions on the desert circuit on Thursday, November 17, and Friday, November 18, the 6 Hours of Bahrain will start on Saturday, November 19, at 16:00 local time (14:00 CET). Like every year, the FIA WEC race is going to continue into the night. For Audi, the finale will be about clinching its final trophies in a sports car race and the vice-world championship title in the manufacturers’ classification.  

Eurosport will be offering free video live streaming of the entire race and airing live coverage of the final stage on Eurosport 1 (17:00–20:00 CET). Audi is going to keep its fans up to speed on Facebook (AudiSport) and Twitter (@audisport).

Standings after eight of nine rounds

Drivers’ standings                                                                  

1 Jani/Lieb/Dumas (Porsche), 152 points                                                

2 Conway/Kobayashi/Sarrazin (Toyota), 135 points                          

3 Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (Audi), 121.5 points                                         

4 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche), 119.5 points

5 Fässler/Lotterer (Audi), 86 points

6 Imperatori/Kraihamer/Tuscher (Rebellion), 60.5 points

7 Tréluyer (Audi), 52 points

Manufacturers’ standings

1 Porsche, 301 points

2 Audi, 222 points

3 Toyota, 207 points

BREAKING NEWS - GM announces that CHEVROLET will pull out of Europe in 2015

General Motors will drop its Chevrolet brand in Europe by the end of 2015, GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said today.

The move is the latest effort by GM to turn around its European operations and to focus its resources on reviving the Opel brand.

Chevrolet will no longer have a mainstream presence in western and eastern Europe due to a challenging business model and the difficult economic situation in Europe, GM said in a statement.

"We believe this is a win for all of our brands here in Europe and around the globe as GM will benefit from a stronger Opel/Vauxhall," Girsky said. To pull Chevrolet out of Europe "will help us to accelerate progress in the region," he said.

Some of the brand's iconic models, such as the Corvette, will remain on sale in Europe, and the upmarket Cadillac marque is working on an expansion in the region in the next three years, GM said. Chevrolet sales will continue in Russia, where the brand ranks No. 5 in sales behind Lada, Renault, Kia and Hyundai.

Low sales

Chevrolet's annual sales in Europe have remained low at about 200,000 since GM relaunched the brand in the region in 2005. Chevrolet focused on selling small cars in Europe such as the Aveo subcompact and Spark minicar built by GM Daewoo in Korea.

Chevrolets were supposed to compete at the budget end of the market with the likes of Hyundai, Skoda and Renault's Dacia. But the brand failed to make much headway as its largely rebadged Korean-made Daewoo cars struggled against rivals, whose models are customized for European markets.

GM Daewoo exported 186,000 vehicles to Europe last year, accounting for over 20 percent of the unit's total vehicle output. "We will phase out exports to Europe by the end of 2015. We will discuss with the union how to enhance the operating efficiency of our plants," Park Hae-ho, a spokesman at GM Korea, said.

Chevrolet's deliveries in the EU and EFTA markets dropped 17 percent to 152,260 vehicles through October, giving the nameplate 1.2 percent of the market. Opel and its sister UK division, Vauxhall, posted a 3 percent decline to 718,829 units over that period for a 6.7 percent market share.

Hurt by a brutal downturn in European demand, Chevrolet has responded by slashing prices and introducing more upmarket models -- putting it on a collision course with Opel.

Thomas Sedran, Chevrolet Europe president, said: "Chevrolet's business results have been impacted by the unfavorable economic environment in Europe."

Dealer network

The Chevrolet distribution network in Europe totals about 1,900 dealers, and the company will “work with individual dealers” to determine their future, Sedran said. More than half of the outlets also handle Opel models.

Girsky said that by shutting Chevrolet GM expects to record net special charges of $700 million to $1 billion primarily in the fourth quarter of 2013 and continuing in the first half of 2014.

Of this amount, $300 million of net special charges will be non-cash expenses. These charges include asset impairments, dealer restructuring and severance related costs. In addition, GM said it expects to incur restructuring costs that will not be treated as special charges, but will impact GM's international operations earnings in 2014.

The decision to drop the Chevrolet brand is not influenced by GM's partnership with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, Girsky said. "This is done independent of the PSA relationship," he said.

Opel may not benefit

The revamp “eliminates some competition from one of their own brands,” said Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Bankhaus Metzler. “But we need to keep a sense of proportion: Chevrolet has never been very successful in Europe and there’s no guarantee Opel will automatically get its market share.”

NordLB analyst Frank Schwope said the decision to drop the Chevrolet brand will likely to ease some of the pressure on a European market suffering from overcapacity. "GM hopes Chevy customers will now migrate to Opel. But will they instead go off and buy other value brands like Dacia and the Koreans?" Schwope said, referring particularly to strong European demand for Hyundai cars.

Abandoning Chevy shows that GM, unlike Volkswagen, is unable to manage several brands in Europe, Schwope said.

As part of its efforts to push Chevrolet globally, GM signed a $559 million, seven-year sponsorship deal with English soccer champions Manchester United in July 2012, which is due to put the Chevrolet brand on the club's famous red shirts in 2014-2015.

Chevrolet introduced a dozen vehicles in Europe in 2011 and 2012, including a wagon version of the mid-sized Cruze that was designed specifically for the region.

Susan Docherty, a GM marketing veteran, became head of Chevrolet's European operations in January 2012. She left in the middle of that year and was replaced by Sedran, Opel's strategy chief.

GM’s losses in Europe since 1999 have exceeded $18 billion, including a $214 million deficit in the third quarter.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report