Land-Motorsport Walks Away: Audi Partnership Reaches Its Finish Line

[Source: Sportscar 365]

All good things must come to an end. According to a SportsCar365 report, Land-Motorsport has announced that it is parting ways with Audi. After a successful partnership that lasted for ten seasons, and resulted in some impressive wins, Land-Motorsport will not be racing an Audi in 2026.

Seeing the Audi and Land-Motorsport partnership end is sad but not unexpected. Back in 2023, Audi announced that they would end its factory GT3 racing support. The automaker continued to support customer teams, but things changed after 2023. The R8 road car went out of production that year, and Audi began to focus on its Formula 1 debut in 2026.  

Land-Motorsport and Audi History

Land-Motorsport began to race Audis in the GT3 class back in 2016. In that first year they won ADAC GT Masters title. The next year the team ended up taking a GTD class podium on debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona before winning the Nürburgring 24. The team also earned a class win at Motul Petit Le Mans at the end of 2017 and overall victory in the 2018 California 8 Hours. And the team remained competitive for years after that. In 2021, they won the ADAC GT Masters title for a second time.

“Special thanks go to those responsible for Audi, who have carried and supported everything in the background and on the track over all these years, as well as the partners who have accompanied Land-Motorsport,” the team wrote in a statement.

At this time there is no word on what Land-Motorsport plans to race for the 2026 season. But it won’t be an Audi R8. Even though Audi ended their factory GT3 support a couple of years ago, customer teams continue to enjoy a lot of success all over the globe. But as time marches on, we more teams leave the Audi platform? It is certainly possible

As exciting as it is to see Audi enter the world of Formula 1, there is no question that it is consuming a massive amount of resources. We would love to see Audi be competitive in Formula 1 and if they win a championship that might make us forget all about these other race series. But don’t count on it. Audi Sport customer racing began in 2009. Since that time an incredible 580 titles have been won by Audi Sport customers. It is a big part of Audi racing heritage and we hate to see any partnership end.