Attention teams willing to sign up for the next Le Mans 24 Hours or indeed any other LMP1 endurance race! Don’t bother. Pack it up and go home. Audi announced they are working on a new, better, more efficient and faster version of the R18 e-tron LMP1 race car. They might as well give them the trophy right now.

The 2014 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro is being tested and fine-tuned at the Sebring track in America to make sure it can continue the success of its predecessor, and the ones that came before that. Audi is treating Le Mans like the dictator of a third-world country. The thing is, they’ve got the power to impose their will.

Audi has won the manufacturers’ and drivers’ classifications in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) for the second time in succession and the Le Mans 24 Hours for the twelfth time this year. Before the end of December, Audi will present the next generation of its hybrid sports car and announce further details.

Next year they are going to have a formidable rival, called Porsche, who is preparing a mighty machine and has put together a brilliant driver lineup to finally put an end to Audi’s reign. Chances are, though, their faith will be the same as those who tried to challenge the lord of the rings before, namely Peugeot and Toyota. They are going to be crushed.