2023-11-08 05:37:27
He is not a stubborn “petrol head”, even though he once wrote his dissertation on the combustion process in motor vehicles at the Vienna University of Technology and has been giving a lecture on racing engines at his alma mater since his retirement in 2017. Wolfgang Ullrich, now 73, was head of Audi’s sports department for 24 years. During his time as a driver, there were 13 Le Mans victories with premiere successes for various drive concepts (TFSI, TDI, diesel hybrid), two drivers’ and constructors’ world championships on the long distance (WEC) as well as eight drivers’ and constructors’ titles each in the DTM. Since 2018, the Viennese, who now lives in Hainburg an der Donau (“I look at the vineyards”), has been an advisor to ACO President Pierre Fillon.
The fact that long-distance racing is seeing an almost uncanny influx of manufacturers can also be attributed to the Viennese technician’s involvement in aligning the regulations between the World Cup and the American IMSA Championship. In the WEC, which currently has five manufacturers (Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Peugeot, Cadillac, if you don’t see Colin Kolles’ Vanwall as a car manufacturer), Alpine, Lamborghini and BMW will be added in 2024, and Aston Martin also wants to make a comeback in the big class in 2025 Celebrate hypercars.
“It was not only the harmonization of the regulations that was important, but also the associated cost reduction. The years with free drive choice in LMP1 were great, but they became too expensive. The solution was the new hypercars as hybrid prototypes, which were merged with IMSA’s previous Daytona prototypes, thus enabling a real World Cup – and offering a platform to those manufacturers for whom the US market is important. The ACO, the FIA and the IMSA have made such important progress,” explains Ullrich.
Ullrich also admits that too many manufacturers in a series also result in losers and that there will be exits once more, but he says: “There will always be a wave movement. You now have to be careful that you maintain the current high, in which everyone has the chance to win. We try to keep costs within limits through the regulations.”
Ullrich puts the costs of a season with two hypercars compared to the previous LMP1 cars at “15 to 20 percent. With the LMP1 we were not far from a Formula 1 budget – i.e. 150 to 200 million euros at the time.
Ullrich sees the fact that the GT cars in the World Cup will run according to GT3 regulations from 2024 as the right step: “It was considered a few years ago, but there was no majority back then. Now it is time. It’s just a shame that it comes too late for the Audi R8.”
Side view of Formula E: “We (Audi, note) were among the first to get involved with the factory, that was before the end of my time. I admit I like a little noise and smell, but you have to deal with different forms of propulsion. That’s why the ACO is also pushing forward the hydrogen drive project for long-haul routes.”
And what does Audi’s long-term sports director say regarding the rumors that the Formula 1 project for 2026 and beyond might be on the rocks? Ullrich remains diplomatic: “I’m so far away in terms of information that I can’t judge anything. But there is no question in my mind that there are people at Audi who can handle Formula 1.” The fact that there has been a lot of turbulence at Audi Sport since the departure of Ullrich’s former deputy and successor Dieter Gass and that the support for customer racing (GT etc.) was canceled as a final step noticeably hurts the Viennese: “I have to admit that I was in the first place Years following my time at Audi, what I struggled most with was separating myself from what I saw in a way that didn’t hurt me. I was very busy with that because a lot of things happened that were unthinkable for me. What had been built over 25 years was ignored and no longer used. There were a lot of changes in the house, both in terms of personnel and strategy, and you have to accept that. But my time at Audi left me with so many positive memories, and that’s a good thing.”
During his time at Audi, Ullrich had around 30 works drivers in his team, of whom he was called “Mr. Le Mans» Tom Kristensen (nine victories) and Mattias Ekström stand out as young DTM champions. “But we had many more who won championships and were great partners to work with. I only had to part with two drivers over the 24 years because it was no longer a good fit.” They were Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Alexandre Prémat.
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