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Well, that proves the point, as well as the fact that you need factory support to run a factory built car-look at how much Kolles has struggled with their R10s, as well as the fact that Kolles hired pay drivers and gentleman drivers for his cars(though the phrase pay driver shouldn't be used so loosely-even Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen bring personal endorsement sponsors to Audi, and last year Sebastian Bourdais brought Red Bull money with him to Peugeot).
The private Audi R8 teams, namely Champion were de-facto factory teams, like de Ferran and Highcroft were with Acura last years(listed as privateer teams by IMSA, but basically factory teams in all but name), and Highcroft is a Honda Racing/HPD factory team in all but name now.
The Judd V10 is now about 20 years old, and so is Kristen Stewart. While Kristen is 20 years old literally and metaphorically, the Judd V10 in engine terms compared to Audi's V10-be it gas or diesel-dates back to the industrial revolution in technical terms.
And add to that there are no serious factory or privateer turbocharged gasoline engined efforts aside from the AER V8 that's only used in the ALMS.
You can't beat a factory teams' cubic dollars and research-Audi and Peugeot are able to claim 2008-esque power and torque figures in 2010 inspite of a 12% smaller air restrctor and about 10% less turbo boost. That's factory R&D right there, something that the likes of John Judd can't afford and other factories aren't willing/able to spend.
And all we have to do is look at the Audi R8-within a year of a 10% air restrictor cut, they were nearly as fast as in 2002, and set a new disance record in 2004(which the Audi R10(twice), Peugeot 908, and the Audi R15 shattered in '06, '08, '09, and '10).
This is factory vs privateer, pure and simple, as we all know that if Audi and Peugeot ran gasoline engined cars(a la the Audi R8 and Bentley Speed 8), they'd dominate just as much.
Simply put, you can't keep up with a car who's chassis and engine was designed in 2008 with a car that was designed in 2008 and has an engine that aside from displacment bumps hasn't really been updated in nearly 20 years.
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