The last time DSC caught up with Wolfgang Durheimer, he was working as head of R&D for Audi, having moved into that position following a two-year stint as CEO of Bentley and Bugatti that ran until September 2012. But in June 2013, he left the role after just nine months, reportedly due to disagreements over Audi’s electric vehicle strategy. It wasn’t long before he was back at the head of the VW Group’s two most prestigious brands – a position he took up officially in June of this year. DSC spoke to Dr Durheimer at the recent Blancpain Endurance Series finale at the Nurburgring.
Did you have any involvement with the decision to take Bentley racing during your previous tenure as CEO from 2010 to 2012?
“Yes – I did the analysis, I started the project, I organised the funding and then I moved away. Then, two days before I started in my second stint as CEO, I went to the Silverstone Blancpain race, where we scored our first win, so that was a very satisfying outcome. During my absence, I looked on the project from a distance. I knew that they’d exceeded the weight reduction target that I’d given them when the project began, and I thought that with the level of engineering that Brian Gush and his team were putting in, the car should be quite competitive. The three victories we’ve scored this year [Silverstone and Paul Ricard in Blancpain; Miller Motorsports Park in World Challenge] weren’t expected, but of course it’s a big satsifaction for everybody involved.”
Did you look only at GT3 racing or did you consider other categories?
“No, we analysed the whole motorsport world and also had an intensive discussion with sales and marketing about what would be the best proposition. Looking at our size and product portfolio, and with the Continental line being the backbone of the company, we thought it was a good decision to go GT racing. And I think this grid is very attractive – there are 11 brands racing each other, the cars look like real cars from the street, so we think it’s good to be here.”
In Blancpain and Pirelli World Challenge, you’re fighting for overall wins. Does Bentley have any interest in entering multi-class races where it would be racing behind prototypes?
“No – Bentley is a competitive brand that’s won great races overall in the past, and it’s not our objective to score class wins.”
What are the plans for the Bentley works team for the rest of 2014 and into 2015?
“Our car hasn’t been on the Nordschleife so far, so we’ll do the last two VLN races in order to collect data and to qualify some of our drivers for the Nurburgring 24 Hours. We most likely will race in the Blancpain Endurance Series again next season, and then we have some ‘highlight’ races as well – the Nurburgring 24 Hours will be one of them.”
You’re also the CEO of Bugatti. What’s the product plan for that brand now that the Veyron is coming to the end of its run? Is there any chance the four-door model could be resurrected?
“The product plan in the long term is for Bugatti to mark the ultimate pinnacle of motor cars in terms of power, performance, price and exclusivity. At present, we’re entering the final straight with the Veyron project – a project that was extremely successful. We only have about 20 cars remaining and then we’re done with this project. We’re not talking about what’s coming next yet. I very much like the four-door idea and the project hasn’t been terminated – at present it’s just on ice.”
Will the Veyron replacement need to use hybrid technology to compete with the LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918?
“With its sheer amount of power and constant all-wheel drive, Bugatti has no need for hybrid to become faster. We’re accelerating from 0-100km/h in under three seconds, which is the highest possible acceleration for the car, so technically there’s no reason for a hybrid. The only reason would be to make it more attractive in terms of CO2 emissions, but if you have a hypercar like a Bugatti with 1,200bhp and average mileage of only 1,600km per year, CO2 is irrelevant, so it’s only about power and performance. Hybrid is an important subject for Bentley, though. Bentleys are on the road in the world’s biggest cities all the time, so for this reason we need to look at alternatives.”
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