Back in 2014, Porsche announced that it will be returning to Le Mans racing, and following that Audi wasted no time in its response - sending on of their R18 LMP racers to Porsche HQ to lay some black lines on the road just outside which read “Welcome Back”.
Now, though, with Audi pulling out of the series after an 18 year run, Porsche found an apt follow up to that cheeky and brotherly competitive message involving those same patches of rubber and an old Porsche tractor driven by a farmer - meant to be the same one from the 2014 film.
The premise goes that after hearing about the Audi announcement on the radio, the farmer turns the tractor around and slowly drives back to Zuffenhausen to the tune of “Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker.
Upon arrival, he…well, you should just watch the video to find out for yourself. It’s a touching thing, and poignant, more so if you follow the small competitive gestures these two automakers trade on and off the racetrack, both displaying great sportsmanship (as a team).
Despite the two sharing a common parent company in the Volkswagen Group, Audi was caught up in the damaging ‘dieselgate’ emissions falsifying scandal that rocked VW in late 2015. The culmination of which has led Audi, in terms of motorsport, to focus instead on Formula E while Volkswagen is planning a dramatic pivot toward electrified vehicles with Audi in tow.
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