Executives at Volkswagen will soon be presented with a proposal for one of its brands to enter Formula 1 as an engine supplier, according to the group’s head of motorsport, Wolfgang Dürheimer.
The VW Group, which also owns Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini, as well as Porsche through its parent Porsche Automobil Holding SE, certainly has the necessary brands to enter the sport.
Speaking to WirtschaftsWoche, Dürheimer hinted at plans to enter the sport, most likely as an engine supplier, with speculation that they could move into team ownership in a few years time, by buying into a current outfit.
“I will introduce my concept later this year and put forward proposals that affect not only the racing series we are currently involved in,” said Dürheimer.
“In terms of the planned sales of the VW group in the Americas, Asia and the Middle East, we are not sufficiently represented in motorsport in these areas. In my view, this must be corrected.”
Dürheimer believes F1 presents the best opportunity to represent itself in Europe and Asia, but isn’t sure about the US, despite the Austin and New Jersey GP’s planned for this and next year.
“F1 is by far the most relevant and dominates the racing scene in Europe and Asia,” he added, but continued “‘it’s far from visible [in the US], but they have IndyCar and Nascar racing. These race series must [also] be examined in the context of a future strategy.”
Dürheimer most recently stated that he could see VW in F1 as a works team by 2018.
“I could imagine involvement in F1 by 2018, when the company is at the forefront of the industry. We have enough brands that could do that,” he told Auto Motor und Sport last year.
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