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Originally Posted by Dutton
I cannot see any reason that Audi would join the IRL (certainly not given the current situation: both of the series' state of being, but also the overall global situation). What would they gain from it?
The IRL gets better ratings than the ALMS I guess, but the ALMS has much greater value brand image wise. Given they have pulled the plug on the LMS and ALMS, well, I just don't see why they'd ever want to go and get involved with an AOWS in a bad state during a global mince-fest.
It just doesn't make sense.
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I'd agree to an extent. You have to look beyond the numbers. If an irl race gets a 1.0 rating and an ALMS race gets an 0.8 rating, it isn't everything. What is important is who is watching and why.
Audi in 2007 sold 115,000 cars out of 16 million cars sold in the USA. Small beans. Looking at average demographics of the irl there are probably few audi owners that are fans and even fewer that would attend an irl race. You compare that to the ALMS. Numbers overall might be a little lower but it is more Audi's demographic. Assuming for a moment that the cost of the irl and the ALMS would be the same, Audi would likely reach more of it's potential customers in the ALMS.
I think what Audi did for 2009 was just panic like every other manufacturer. That is what I guess based on first hand knowledge. They will be here for Sebring and the R8 GT3 is coming on line as well. I suspect they may be back in 2010 full bore if the economy goes out of panic mode.