Audi motorsport boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich has insisted that his company is not interested in joining Formula One in the future, despite earlier quotes from parent company VW suggesting they may be considering an engine supply.
Volkswagen has been linked with a move into the sport for some time, with the company's motor racing boss Kris Nissen saying last month that: "Within the group, for sure [we are interested]. [The brand] could be Audi, it could be Porsche and might also be Volkswagen."
But Audi's own motorsport boss has scotched the idea that they might be the ones to move into F1, with Ullrich saying that the company is perfectly happy in their current motor racing pursuits at Le Mans and in the DTM.
"We believe Formula One and Audi do not fit, so long as the technology has no relevance to the development of our production cars," Ullrich was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"The technologies [at Le Mans] are closely related to those used by our clients, so they directly benefit from our motor racing. In F1 that is not currently the case."
He added that the current budget requirements to be competitive in Formula One were a major issue for any future Audi bid, with Ullrich pointing out that their current DTM campaign cost around 30 million Euros, a fraction of a big team's F1 budget.
"So, the DTM continues to be the benchmark in cost-versus-benefit," he concluded.
The Audi company recently swept the board at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, with their R10 diesel prototypes finishing first, second and third in the endurance classic to secure their ninth overall win in the last eleven years of the race.
Despite Ullrich's comments, VW could still be interested in a separate F1 bid, with brands such as Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley all coming under the VW Group company.
The company is believed to be looking at Formula One for 2013, when the new technical rules come into place.
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