Kettler Departs Audi Sport Customer Racing

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Longtime Audi engineer and North American operations director Brad Kettler has departed Audi Sport customer racing.

Sportscar365 has learned that Kettler, who got his start with the German manufacturer more than 15 years ago with Champion Racing, will no longer be in charge of trackside and customer support in 2019.

Kettler’s last day with Audi Sport customer racing came on Monday.

A veteran of Audi’s prototype efforts through the 2000s, including stints in the American Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans, Kettler had become one of the most recognizable faces behind Audi’s sports car racing success, particularly in North America.

His Indiana-based company, Kettler Motor Werks, most recently headed up operations and trackside technical support for Audi’s customers in both IMSA and SRO Motorsports America.

“We were honored to support the Audi Sport customer racing program all those years and wish everyone well,” Kettler told Sportscar365. “Our choice not to continue was a difficult one.”

While Audi has yet to comment on the shakeup, Sportscar365 understands that its IMSA/SRO America trackside support has been taken over by Centigrade, the same company charged with support of Lamborghini’s North America motorsports activities.

Both the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo share a number of similar parts, having initially been built on the same platform.

Kettler, meanwhile, has been linked to a potential move to Mazda Team Joest in an engineering capacity, although he declined to comment regarding any future plans for himself and his company.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John