Viewpoint: What Audi’s departure means for Formula E
By: Nathan Hine
Tags: Dakar Rally, Electric Vehicles, Audi, Le Mans, Fórmula E

Credit: Jannis Lucas

After supporting Formula E since the very beginning in 2014, Audi will leave the ABB FIA Formula E Championship at the end of the 2020/1 World Championship campaign.

The German giant supported Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport for the first three seasons of the series before taking over the team as a full works outfit for the 2017–18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

But it has now been announced that Audi will concentrate their efforts on entering the 2022 Dakar Rally with an ‘innovative prototype’ range-extender electric vehicle.

Audi Sport’s Managing Director Julius Seebach has also confirmed that the company is ‘intensively preparing to enter the new sports prototype category LMDh with its highlight races, the Daytona 24 Hours and the Le Mans 24 Hours.’

So with Audi leaving Formula E to commit to full factory efforts in Dakar as well as fully-fledged sportscar campaigns including 24 Hours races at Daytona and Le Mans, what does this mean for the all-electric single seater racing series?

Audi have always been strong supporters of FE as not only has the German giant backed the sport since its inception, but current Formula E and former WEC (World Endurance Championship)Audi driver Lucas Di Grassi was the test pilot for the championship in 2012 and 2013.

Di Grassi won the 2016–17 ABB FIA Formula E Championship and has racked up a total of ten wins and 32 podiums in 69 Formula E races which is unrivalled by any other driver in the series.

Di Grassi has been a figure-head for spearheading the message of sustainability off-track as well as the Brazilian is UN Environment Clean Air advocate and is CEO of the autonomous racing series Roborace.

He has been one of the few racing drivers who has seen the potential in motorsport to help drive sustainable development of which FE has been a pioneering sport to do just that.

The Brazilian has joined his team-mate Rene Rast in saying that he wants to stay in Formula E when the German outfit moves on at the end of the season.

But with Audi leaving FE to try and advance their ambitions for zero-emissions through Dakar and sportscars, does it raise the question about the continued relevance of the sport?

There is always a risk with a series being made up of a majority of manufacturers, but I think FE is relevant and will continue to be relevant with bigger and better batteries for the Gen3 cars with the potential for longer races and the possibility of more room for development with the powertrains.

So while Audi leaves FE with a view to pursue their zero-emissions ambitions in other series, FE is a low-cost way to help develop electric vehicles for manufacturers which are being transferred to the road today.

Why has Audi left I hear you cry?

This could be for two reasons: one because they want to develop zero-emissions technologies in different ways which will help to stress-test their technologies with Dakar and 24 hour races being a better way to do that. Also, with Porsche and Audi in the same technology group, strategically it makes little sense for both companies to compete against each other in the same series.

So while it may be sad that Audi has left FE, it does not look like this will be a trend of manufacturers leaving the series and it could offer a greater diversity of teams if someone else picks up their entry in the next couple of years…