Porsche Plans Le Mans Return in 2014

German automaker Porsche is seeking to rule the Le Mans series once again, after it has managed to gather 16 overall victories in the renowned competition so far. The company revealed today it is working on a newly-developed race car, which is set to have its first outing in 2014. The sports prototype car in question will compete in the top LMP1 category.

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, run by the factory-backed Penske Racing team in the USA, won the title in the LMP2 category. The RS Spyder sports prototype was also raced in 2010 by several customer teams worldwide.

“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,” stated Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport.

”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.”