Friday 1st July 2011

Porsche Aims For Top Le Mans Honours Again

Brand new LMP1 racer will contest the 24hrs in 2014

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The last Porsche winner...

Porsche is returning to Le Mans with a works-run LMP1 racer - but don't get over-excited yet, it won't be run in anger until 2014. Oh, and it's going to be a hybrid.

"Motorsport was always an essential part of the Porsche brand," enthused Matthias Müller, President of the Executive Board at Porsche AG, in a press statement yesterday. "So for us it was only a matter of time before we returned as a factory to the top league of racing. The success of Porsche at Le Mans is unrivalled.We want to follow up on this with the 17th outright victory."

"With the RS Spyder we proved that our motorsport engineers in Weissach are at the forefront," says Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG. "For instance, we were the first to run a high-revving race engine with direct fuel injection, DFI, setting new standards in performance and efficiency. Recently, with the 911 GT3 R Hybrid, we adopted a completely new drive technology for racing purposes and achieved a considerable reduction in consumption."

...and one from 1970. Legend!

Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport is quoted thusly: "We're looking forward to the task of developing new technologies and to continue on with the success of the Porsche RS Spyder. After the conclusion of our works-supported sports prototype programme in the American Le Mans Series we have kept up with the latest technological advances. Now we will begin with detailed research in order to evaluate the various concept alternatives for our new car. These obviously depend on how the regulations for the year 2014 look in detail. In principle, these regulations are interesting for us because the integration of our hybrid technology in the vehicle concept is one possible option."

So there you have it. If we're lucky the Aston Martin LMP1 car may be sorted by 2014 too, so we can all pile over for a classic Anglo/German confrontation. (Don't tell 'em your names, etc...)

PS. For the benefit of the 'Race What Race' crowd - With 16 overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans. Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood claimed the first overall victory for Porsche in 1970 with the legendary 917 short-tail. The 16th and by now last overall win was secured by Laurent Aiello, Stéphane Ortelli and Allan McNish in 1998 with the 911 GT1. In the years 2008 and 2009, the Porsche RS Spyder sports prototype won the title in the LMP2 category.

[glm1977]

its not going to be a re-branded R18 tho is it?

still will be interesting to see the tussle between the big car companies

[VladD]

[LayZ]

Hopefully it won't be a diesel.

[Fetchez la vache]

LayZ said:

Hopefully it won't be a diesel.

It states in the first para it's a hybrid.
LayZ by name...

[Parabola]

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...

[LayZ]

Fetchez la vache said:

It states in the first para it's a hybrid.
LayZ by name...

Surely the two aren't mutually exclusive? Don't know the ins and outs of the current ACO regs but at the moment but it seems like if you want to win LMP1 it has to be diesel?

[JMC1]

About time too.
I guess that Audi will be announcing their withdrawal to coincide with the Porsche entry as they are both part of VAG can't see them being allowed to compete against each other.

[McSam]

VladD said:

Excellent

[Mark-C]

JMC1 said:

About time too.
I guess that Audi will be announcing their withdrawal to coincide with the Porsche entry as they are both part of VAG can't see them being allowed to compete against each other.

According to a quote given to SpeedTV .... “This is the decision of Porsche company, a decision in which Audi is not involved. Audi relishes the prospect of every strong new opponent at Le Mans and in the new FIA Sportscar World Championship. Porsche’s entry into the LMP1 class is evidence of the high level of attraction of sport prototypes”

[Antj]

further proof that le mans still is and always will be the main 24hr race

[ureile]

Antj said:

further proof that le mans still is and always will be the main 24hr race

After having been to the "Ring" this year I wouldn´t be too sure about that.

[Ipelm]

Mark-C said:

JMC1 said:

About time too.
I guess that Audi will be announcing their withdrawal to coincide with the Porsche entry as they are both part of VAG can't see them being allowed to compete against each other.

According to a quote given to SpeedTV .... “This is the decision of Porsche company, a decision in which Audi is not involved. Audi relishes the prospect of every strong new opponent at Le Mans and in the new FIA Sportscar World Championship. Porsche’s entry into the LMP1 class is evidence of the high level of attraction of sport prototypes”

But will that hold true once the details are hammered out at board level, both on a rationally strategic business level, and more importantly once all of the individual ego's and the corporate food chain has been taken into account?

I hope so but........

Edited by Ipelm on Saturday 2nd July 11:08

[Shaun350z]

Would be awesome if Audi were allowed to race against the Porsche, add in Peugeot and hopefully a decent Aston, could be one of the best years yet.

When is it too early to start looking forward to a Le Mans 24hrs?

[therealpigdog]

Shaun350z said:

Would be awesome if Audi were allowed to race against the Porsche, add in Peugeot and hopefully a decent Aston, could be one of the best years yet.

When is it too early to start looking forward to a Le Mans 24hrs?

Nobody is allowed to race against Peugeot - did you not get the memo from the ACO?

[wackojacko]

Good

[Veeayt]

Actually , the LMP1 Porsche can turn out to be a rebadged Audi, as it happened with Speed 8.