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AUDI yesterday lifted the victor's trophy at the Le Mans 24-hour Endurance
Race, but even as the huge crowd acclaimed its place in racing history, the
team's eyes were on a higher prize. Audi registered a clean sweep of all
three podium places, including a unique hat-trick of wins for the lead
driving squad of Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro.

Their feat, one that will probably never be emulated, was almost certainly
the final chapter of Audi's foray into sportscar racing. Before the
champagne ran out last night, company executives were fielding speculation
that Le Mans was merely a prelude to their entry into Formula One. They
insisted that Le Mans is the limit of their sporting ambitions, but few
believe that beating the world of sportscars into submission has any more
mileage for Audi's reputation.
The company went into the sportscars category determined to dominate and Le
Mans proved that it has achieved its ambition. But there is little point
going on bullying relatively weak competition, which means that Audi has to
take its place among the world's elite racing teams in Formula One.

Audi is the best equipped racing company outside Formula One, having
dominated the sportscar category for the past three years. Victory at Le
Mans was little more than a formality with the three works entries trading
the leading positions from the start, sucking the tension from an event that
traditionally offers excitement into the final hours of a gruelling event
over more than 3,000 miles with the lead car setting an astonishing average
speed of 143.86mph.
Returning next year would be both pointless as well as expensive. No other
sportscar team has such resources and the =A350 million they spend could
easily be switched into manufacturing engines for a Formula One team to
compete alongside the company's rivals in the marketplace, Jaguar, BMW and
Mercedes, while Bentley, a sister company of Audi in the Volkswagen Group,
could become the focus in sportscars.

It is an open secret that Bernd Pischetsrieder, the Volkswagen chairman, met
Tom Walkinshaw, owner of the OrangeArrows team, three weeks ago during the
Monaco Grand Prix. Walkinshaw is likely to lose Orange, the mobile phone
company, as his title sponsor and around =A320 million in sponsorship at the
end of the year, that would pave the way for Audi to take over the team and
launch its assault on Formula One.