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Audi stuck with Joest because they were a local team, and it was certainly easier to work with a team based in Germany rather than south Florida as Audi's program became first more European centric, then worldwide with the WEC.
I still rate Champion as a bit better during the latter part of the R8 days and the R10 era, though that could be bias. Also didn't help that Joest being rusty at Sebring in both '07 and especially '08 came from just doing 2 races a year until '08 (Sebring and LM), while Champion did the ALMS except Sebring. Practice does make (almost) perfect, and Joest improved rapidly in '08 once they got into the swing of the LMS that season.
The Sebring wake up call and LMS running did make LM '08 possible. And I think that Glickenhaus would've been up you know where without Joest.
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