Wouldn't that be just as applicable to Porsche though? Bah, it's a shame but hopefully it'll make someone rethink something and we all come out with better racing because of it. And I could win a million bucks and so on.
You kinda hit the nail on the head, in an inadvertent manner. Two things (feel free to correct or dispute me as I am going on memory)
First - Porsche Automobili Holding SE owns Volkswagen who, in turn, own all the other companies including Porsche AG and Porsche SE. Audi, of course, is under the PAH SE holdings. VW is "taking the hit" monetarily for the diesel scandal, but it is PAH SE that is really taking the hit.
Yesterday I heard that VW agreed to pay nearly 15 BILLION dollars to owners of their diesel vehicles in the US. That money will take a significant amount of capital from the company that, if it were smaller, may have forced it to close it's doors.
Second - I heard, about a week ago, that Porsche was developing a competing LMP 900 car to battle with Audi in the late 90's/early 00's. They stopped development to put money into the development, marketing and manufacturing of the Cayenne.
They also, at that time, made an agreement with Audi that they would not re-enter LMP1-type competition for ten years.
Ten years was up in 2014 and Porsche came roaring back.
Conclusion: Porsche will take the same hit as Audi would but Porsche has decided that Audi has had enough glory. Audi steps away from LMP1 competition so Porsche can still race and the reduced amount of available funding is not split between two makes under the same umbrella.
Maybe Audi comes back in 10 years.
Or maybe the diesel scandal becomes too expensive and Porsche drops out, or VW ceases to exist as it does today. Maybe the whole conglomerate breaks apart and then no one has enough money to race LMP1.
Dunno.