(Motorsport-Total.com) – Audi Sport GmbH cannot calm down: After it was announced in mid-June that the successful customer sport program would be scaled down to basic support from 2024 and the driver squad would be disbanded, the next bad news came a few weeks ago.
Frequent motorsport guest and enthusiast: ex-Audi Sport managing director Grams
With Sebastian Grams, the second managing director is leaving the high-performance factory, into which motorsport was also integrated. As a result, Rolf Michl, who also acts as head of motorsport and is temporarily taking over Grams’ department, now has sole responsibility for around 1,500 employees.
While Michl has a commercial background, Grams is a trained engineer and is considered an excellent technician. The end of the Heilbronner, who only became managing director of Audi Sport GmbH on March 1, 2021, comes as a very surprise, as we hear from those around Audi.
Audi: departure of managing director Grams “voluntarily”
Audi emphasized in a statement that Grams resigned from his position as managing director “at his own request” and “with immediate effect” in order to reorient himself professionally outside of the VW Group.
But there are doubts about that: 43-year-old Grams doesn’t open until August 31st LinkedIn posted that his “batteries” were fully charged again after his vacation in Spain and that he could therefore “hardly wait” to “work on new products and services – and then present the results.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like someone who’s planning to leave. But on September 20th, the Audi Sport staff was informed of Grams’ immediate departure.
Does Grams’ exit have anything to do with the new Audi task force?
In fact, there is speculation that Grams’ departure was not as voluntary as Audi communicated. “The situation at Audi Sport is currently highly political,” reveals an Audi expert from the Volkswagen environment in an interview Motorsport-Total.com.
There are different versions circulating about what happened: In addition to the version that Grams himself decided to take on a new challenge externally, one hears from different sources: Audi’s development director Oliver Hoffmann and ex-head of motorsport Julius Seebach, who will run Audi Sport with Grams until August 2022 GmbH, could be behind its collapse.
There is no longer an Audi Sport dual leadership: Rolf Michl (left) with Sebastian Grams
Seebach has been responsible for strategy and innovation management at Audi AG since May 2023 and reports directly to Hoffmann, with whom he is said to have a close, trusting relationship. It is also said that he has recently headed a task force for technical problem solving within Audi AG, which, for example, takes care of postponed model launches or software problems.
The Ex-Audi-Boss Markus Duesmann on September 1, 2023 – finished Motorsport-Total.com had already predicted a year before – and was replaced by ex-Porsche man Gernot Döllner, they wanted to show the new boss that they were “ready to take action,” says an insider. Especially since Grams was also uncomfortable with his straightforward manner. It cannot be ruled out that further separations will follow in this context.
What impact the departure has on motorsport
What does all of this have to do with motorsport? While Michl, who is now the sole managing director, was previously responsible for strategy and financial procurement at Audi Sport GmbH in addition to motorsport, Grams headed the series areas of Audi’s high-performance division in Neckarsulm with technical development, production and project management.
Since it doesn’t currently look like they are looking for a successor for Grams, Michl will have even less capacity available for motorsport in the future. Apart from that, Grams, whose career began over 20 years ago at Audi in the engine department for the Le Mans project, is an avowed motorsport fan. He was also regularly present at the DTM weekends, although he was not obliged to do so in his role.
Insider about Grams: “Enthusiast who supports a cause”
He is also responsible for extending production of the Audi R8 series vehicle until 2023 with a special edition limited to 333 models. Audi originally wanted to stop building the R8, which is also used in the DTM in a GT3 version and is now finally being phased out, two years ago.
“He can get people carried away and is very persistent when it comes to topics that are not easy to reach,” says an Audi insider about Grams. Another expert describes the man from Heilbronn as an “enthusiast who has always supported the cause.”
But Audi Sport is also losing a lot of technical know-how with Grams, who has two degrees as a mechanical engineer and a doctorate.
Even though he is an expert in drive systems and digitalization, one person in the know describes him as a “generalist” who “also pushed forward innovative ideas” when designing new sports models. This missing technical part will be difficult to compensate for.
2023-10-14 07:18:00
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