VW Group to maintain motorsport activities after emissions scandal
The Volkswagen Group emissions scandal will not affect the automotive giant's motorsport activities, according to new boss Matthias Muller
Muller, who moved over from chief executive officer at VW subsidiary Porsche to take the top job after the resignation of predecessor Martin Winterkorn, said the scandal would not result in the cancellation of any of the racing or rallying programmes at VW, Audi or Porsche.
"The motorsports programmes are not in danger of being dropped or significantly reduced because motorsports is very important for the group and the brands," he said on a visit to the World Endurance Championship finale at Bahrain last weekend.
"Basically we do not question our motorsport efforts."
Muller said that 2015 was "a tremendous season with incredible success and a huge effort of all teams".
Porsche is set to downscale its activities in the GTE Pro class of the WEC, however.
It is expected to announce in mid-December that the factory Manthey team will not defend its GT drivers' and manufacturers' crowns and that Porsche will instead focus on developing a new, facelifted 911 built to the GTE regulations that come into force next season.
It is possible that it will maintain a presence in GTE Pro division with one works-supported 911 RSR run by the Proton team, which under the Felbermayr-Proton banner fulfilled a similar role in the Le Mans Series in 2007-11 and then in the relaunch year of the WEC in 2012.
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