Motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich believes F1 to be irrelevant to Audi

Audi has rejected speculation that its parent company Volkswagen Group could use its name as part of its planned entry into Formula One in 2013.

VW's motorsport boss Kris Nissen has long talked about VW entering the sport, possibly as an engine supplier, and has said its entry could be branded as Porsche, Audi or VW itself.

However, Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport, told a German news agency that the firm had no intention of entering F1.

"We believe F1 and Audi do not fit so long as the technology has no relevance to the development of our production cars," he said.

Ullrich claims that Le Mans and DTM are both more relevant to Audi's customers and are also far more cost-effective. A budget for a full season in the DTM is estimated to be around one fifth of that required to be competitive in F1.

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