Did Audi blur the truth over its WEC withdrawal?

Audi did the World Endurance Championship a disservice when it dropped its bombshell earlier this week. Not because a marque that has been the mainstay of the LMP1 scene for 18 years was withdrawing from the pinnacle of endurance racing, though that was blow to us all, but because of the wording in its official statement.

Maybe it was the translation from German to English, but the use of the word "instead" when talking about LMP1 and its Formula E entry was disingenuous. We all know that Audi announced it was ramping up its involvement in the Abt FE squad at the start of September.

More to the point, Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich pointed out shortly afterwards that the FE campaign was on an entirely different level - and by that he meant lower and, more pertinently, cheaper - and would have no bearing any decisions about the future of the LMP1 programme.

Yet a few weeks later, here was Audi headlining a press release "Formula E instead of WEC" in clear contradiction of Ullrich's statements that it was an "additional programme".

There was then a quote from Audi chairman Rupert Stadler about a decision to "contest the race for the future on electric power".

The tone of the release, which came across as an attempt to put a positive spin on bad news, gave the impression that Audi believes FE and the technological platform it offers is more, to borrow words oft used by Ullrich, "future-orientated" than the WEC.

That clearly got the goat of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, both the promoter of the WEC and the organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

ACO president Pierre Fillon explained that electric motors were "already part of our daily lives in endurance racing" and went on to point out that, together with the FIA, the organisation is working on how to incorporate hydrogen fuel cells into its regulations.

We all know that electrification - a buzzword in the automotive industry that unfortunately makes me think of the railways - is an important trend for the world's car-makers right now.

That explains why Audi got into FE on the ground floor by lending its name to Abt in season one in 2014/15, and then its technology in season two. And why it is now backing the German team with a view to a full-factory programme in the future.

But it doesn't explain why Audi is pulling out of the WEC. There was no "either/or" situation here.

Audi's statement does hint at the bigger picture behind the WEC withdrawal. It pointed out that the decision needed to be understood "in the context of the current burdens of the brand". That's a clear reference to the financial liabilities likely to follow last year's 'dieselgate' emissions row.

The Volkswagen Group, of which Audi is a part, clearly needs to save money, and had already been trimming its motorsport budget even before this latest decision.

Audi and sister marque Porsche cutting their Le Mans campaigns from three to two cars for this year was part of that belt-tightening process, as was the decision to hold Bentley's proposed entry into the US IMSA SportsCar Championship in the Daytona Prototype international class.

When the Volkswagen Group cleared Porsche to go head-to-head with Audi at Le Mans and in the WEC - remember the posturing in the press between the two brands in the winter of 2010/11? - it was clear they had to go to the start line using different technologies.

The decline of the turbodiesel market, and political pressure in some countries against diesels, threatened to remove the raison d'etre of Audi's LMP1 programme and made it an easy target.

Ullrich had a good counter argument when I spoke to him at the Fuji WEC round earlier this month.

"We are talking about an efficient combustion engine [in the turbodiesel]," he said. "And efficiency is going to be a really important issue if there are going to be political decisions around the world."

Ullrich's arguments, for once, must have fallen on deaf ears in the Audi boardroom. He has been the master of keeping Audi's P1 programme going all these years. That has to be one of the greatest achievements of his 20-plus year spell at the helm of Audi Sport.

We don't know why it was decided to end Audi's involvement in prototypes straightaway, when much of next year's budget has already been spent. Ullrich said in Fuji that the 2017 car, based on the monocoque of this year's R18 e-tron quattro, was "almost ready", but I guess there's no stopping the falling axe marked 'budget cuts'.

But does Audi really need a continuous presence at Le Mans and beyond? Ullrich always said that it takes a long time to build a reputation, but a much shorter time lose one.

He probably has a point, but I doubt that we're going to forget about its 13 Le Mans victories, not to mention 11 wins at the Sebring 12 Hours and nine at Petit Le Mans, in a hurry.

Audi, it shouldn't be forgotten, hasn't always had a factory programme throughout its 18 years in the prototype division. There were no works Audis at Le Mans in 2003-05, but the marque still claimed a couple of wins with heavily-supported privateers racing under the flag of national importers.

That was essentially the result of Audi building such a brilliant car, the R8, in the first place, and the fact that the opposition in the years it won with Team Goh and Champion Racing in 2004 and '05 comprised only privateers. So good and so dominant was Audi that it definitely frightened off other manufacturers.

Audi returned as a factory with turbodiesel technology in 2006 and has been with us ever since. Maybe the diesel has had its day - in the marketplace and on the race track - but I'm hopeful that Audi will return in the future.

A marketing message is required by Audi, and it might just find one in the hydrogen fuel cell. The Ingolstadt marque is the brand chosen to spearhead that technology within VW, and its then head of road car technical development, Stefan Knirsch, stated as recently as this summer that a hydrogen-powered P1 car could be possible very soon.

Ullrich has revealed that an investigation is underway within Audi Sport into this technology. There are, however, a lot of unknowns about racing a hydrogen fuel cell right now: when it might be allowed under the rules (we are due to hear more from the ACO and the FIA next June); if it really is viable; and now much it would cost (a lot, I suspect).

I've got my fingers crossed that Audi will return to showcase a new road-relevant technology at Le Mans sooner rather than later. I just hope that it will be before the memories of its great Le Mans victories - 2008 and 2010 spring to mind - begin to dull in my mind.

And that its absence from the top ranks will be shorter than the 15 seasons that Porsche was out of the game.