Filed under: Motorsports, Porsche
Porsche RS Spyder at Le Mans - Click above for high-res image gallery
No automaker has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans as many times as Porsche. Not Audi, with its ten wins to Porsche's sixteen, or Ferrari's nine. But those were all a long time ago. In fact, Porsche's most recent was with the 911 GT1 back in 1998.
Since then, Porsche has been pussyfooting around at the iconic round-the-clock race. The successor to the GT1 was aborted and turned into the Carrera GT road car. Sure, the RS Spyder (pictured above) has performed admirably in the LMP2 class, and 911s fielded by privateers have dominated the GT classes for years. But it's been over a decade since Porsche has competed for an overall win.
That's about to change, however, as Porsche has announced, through the video and press release after the jump, its intent to return to Le Mans to challenge for the win in 2014. To get there, Porsche plans a new LMP1 car, although it has released little in the way of details on what form that car will take.
If you're wondering where this leaves Audi, which falls under the same corporate umbrella as Porsche, the Ingolstadt-based automaker's team posted on Facebook that the decision was made independently by its Stuttgart-based sister company and that it looks forward to the competition. So we won't expect Audi to be dropping out any time soon for lack of anything to prove, even after ten victories out of twelve years, nor supporting the Porsche entry like it did with Bentley's in 2003.
Watching Porsche take on the likes of Audi, Peugeot, Aston Martin and the other automakers anticipated to be joining the field in the coming years ought to produce some nail-biting race action. But in the meantime, you can scope out the video and press release after the jump and the gallery of high-resolution images showcasing Porsche's rich Le Mans heritage.
Continue reading Porsche gearing up for 2014 return to Le Mans [w/video]
Porsche gearing up for 2014 return to Le Mans [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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