In this week's The Week In Sports Cars, Graham Goodwin mentions the base for the Audi LMDh will likely come from Multimatic, which IMHO means two things:
1. Mazda will be DONE after this generation of DPi. The finances are not great: Mazda has asked for $2.8 billion in loans | Car News | Auto123.
2. Harry Tincknell will likely be one of the Audi drivers (Allan McNish is his agent and Tincknell is very well-liked at Multimatic from what I understand).
I will be surprised if Mazda leave after the investment so far. It's really not much to make it over the line to the next generation. Mazda has to return to Le Mans.
Applying for loans does not automatically make the racing program redundant. After all, racing is a part of the business of selling brand image and cars. It's like a commercial. Car manufacturers don't stop airing commercials even when they are bailed out by government or asking for loans. Commercials are a necessary part of the business model. You would not have thought Renault would stay in F1 after the fallout from COVID, yet here we are, rebanded to Alpine, to develop Alpine's brand image and ultimately help sell cars.
Edited by ARTGP, 19 December 2020 - 16:40.