MOTORSPORT

Having quit the DTM and Formula E, Audi had many spare engineers and proven parts lying around – so it decided to build a Dakar rally raider.

Piers Ward reports

Picture the scene at Audi head office. The company is no longer racing in the DTM and has withdrawn from Formula E. Both announcements meant there were presumably a lot of race engineers standing idly around wondering what to do with all the make-things-go-faster stuff.

Then someone hit on a bright idea: why not put it all into a Dakar Rally car? So here it is: the Audi RS Q E-tron, possibly the world’s most recycled racing car. Talk about being on-message with the climate agenda.

The RS Q E-tron is also, as you would expect from a German manufacturer, one hell of a statement of intent. Although its road car implications aren’t clear at the moment (or at least aren’t being spoken about officially), it is apparent that, with the investment and technology being packed within its tubular spaceframe, Audi would be mad not to use it for a wider ultimate purpose.

A few details, then. Designed for Dakar’s T1-U regulations (a new class that the event organisers hope will mean 100% of vehicles by 2030 will be low-emissions), the RS Q E-trons are being constructed at Audi’s Neuburg site, in the same building that was designed to house Audi’s now-mothballed LMP1 endurance racing programme.

Despite the recycling, Audi is quick to acknowledge that the project carries risk. “It’s the most complex car we’ve ever done,” according to Julius Seebach, managing director of Audi Sport. “An LMP1-plus,” is how Stefan Dreyer, head of powertrain development, puts it.

At its heart are four powerplants: three electric motors, weighing 33kg each (one to act as generator, the others to power the front and rear axles, and all three nicked from Formula E), and one mid-mounted petrol engine. This is a turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol unit taken from Audi’s DTM race car.