[WEC] Porsche GTP / Hypercar: factory and customer

[Spyderman]

A very sad day indeed!

[J Jay]

Marcus Schurig was on MWM last night ostensibly discussing Mercedes' pullout of DTM. When Porsche was put to him he sounded like the decision had already been made, and that the formalities would be done on Friday.

Now will the ACO totally acquiesce to Peugeot's demands (chiefly a reduction to 4MJ of hybrid energy), or do they plow on regardless?

[S griffin]

What a disappointment, we had some great seasons in WEC, now it seems that LMP1 is on borrowed time with no new manufacturers looking to come in

[Mitchi_S]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Marcus Schurig was on MWM last night ostensibly discussing Mercedes' pullout of DTM. When Porsche was put to him he sounded like the decision had already been made, and that the formalities would be done on Friday.

The discussion about leaving WEC apparently has been final since at least Monday (source: a Porsche WEC guy); but obviously things take time before they're made official. Wouldn't be surprised if this decision was pretty much made final a day or two after the ACO dropped the 2020 rules.

[bentley speed 8]

Well that's it then. At least I managed to enjoy this exciting period of racing while it lasted.

[Matt]

Who's ready for a Porsche DPi?

[broadrun96]

Bring on the turbo I4 and Macan styling.



Have to keep the streetcar marketing and that's their top selling vehicle in the US.

[JLGarcia]

Originally Posted by Matt

Who's ready for a Porsche DPi?

I'm ready for the meltdown that would ensue if a DPi w/ any VAG branding shows up.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Bring on the turbo I4 and Macan styling.



Have to keep the streetcar marketing and that's their top selling vehicle in the US.

Hell, they could take the hybrid stuff off the P1 motor and use that, no?

It'll either be styled like a 911 or Cayman though, and either of those would look fantastic on an Oreca chassis.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by jee

Porsche just announced that they are going to leave WEC after this season!

https://de.motorsport.com/wec/news/w...sstieg-934908/

This is NOT an announcement. Looks like a matter of hours or days before it comes though.

[deggis]

More stories:

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/p...-announcement/

http://www.motorsport-total.com/wec/...-17072702.html

http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.d...3b8b43e15.html

Did this get out too soon and now they're forced to make it official? Since there was talk about communicating it officially before Mexico... unless it meant any time before Mexico.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Mitchi_S

Also, Toyota might now be going aswell since they said their involvement in WEC is only happening if there's at least one other manufacturer. I doubt they'll race for themselves in the 24h of Le Mong 2018 and win it (well, it being Toyota, they'd probably **** that up, too, just like this year), just to be the second japanese manufacturer to do so. This isn't the japanese way of doing it.

Quitting and not even attempting to pick up the "easy" win in 2018 would be amazingly dumb. In the history books no one will care whether there was any competition or not.

[Félix]

I'd be OK if they only raced Le Mans in 2018 as a farewell. And if the ACO makes sure Toyota has to fight for race wins in 2018; ie write the rules so that they don't win all the races.

[carbsmith]

This costs me a lot more respect for Porsche than I gained when they came back. They really are just another Volkswagen now.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by deggis

Did this get out too soon and now they're forced to make it official? Since there was talk about communicating it officially before Mexico... unless it meant any time before Mexico.

I think Marcus Schurig's interview on MWM promoted the rumour to open secret and at that point it didn't make sense to try and keep a lid on it. I was surprised he and Hindhaugh were so brazen about it, even Goodwin was typically cautious later on in the podcast.

[JLGarcia]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

This costs me a lot more respect for Porsche than I gained when they came back. They really are just another Volkswagen now.

I'm sure they'll somehow manage to soldier forth.

Seriously, the rending of garments over what's merely another in a long series of manufacturer entrances and exits is remarkable.

[canaglia]

Modern motorsport logic:

Cause:

let's satisfy Porsche and Toyota requests for 2020 regs, even if are more hybrid-centric and expensive that will take out any other manufacturer minimally interested.

Effect:

Porsche withdraws.

[carbsmith]

Originally Posted by JLGarcia

I'm sure they'll somehow manage to soldier forth.

Seriously, the rending of garments over what's merely another in a long series of manufacturer entrances and exits is remarkable.

Obviously my money never mattered compared to all the Macan buyers anyways. But going into LMP1 was supposed to be something of a brand rebuilding exercise to show Porsche still followed its motorsport heritage of passion for Le Mans. Apparently they weren't that serious.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

Obviously my money never mattered compared to all the Macan buyers anyways. But going into LMP1 was supposed to be something of a brand rebuilding exercise to show Porsche still followed its motorsport heritage of passion for Le Mans. Apparently they weren't that serious.

Four years, three Le Mans wins, plenty of WEC round wins. It's like when Matra pulled out because they'd nothing left to prove, or perhaps more historically, akin to Alexander the Great weeping because he had no more lands to conquer.

They've got the 911 in GTE which continues the 'Mission: Future Sportscar' message, there's the likelihood of Formula E. Porsche have departed in the past, I have no doubt there will also be a return at some point.

Don't get me wrong, I'm disappointed, it poses some real challenges for sports prototype racing, but as I've said in other threads, we've been here before and somehow things generally seem to work out.

[carbsmith]

Lets put it this way, Toyota, Audi, and Peugeot have competed in the top class at Le Mans considerably more than Porsche in the last quarter century.

[pdxracefan]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObWrdYQ_6xY

Too damn funny.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by deggis

Quitting and not even attempting to pick up the "easy" win in 2018 would be amazingly dumb. In the history books no one will care whether there was any competition or not.

Reminds me of Audi in the days before Peugeot entered - no real competition but LM was considerably better off for having them around, and those days are quite fondly remembered now.

On the subject of Peugeot, now that the big spenders will be out of the way I wonder if this will help trigger their return, as neither them or Toyota have much interest in 250 million euro LMP1 budgets.

[pdxracefan]

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

Reminds me of Audi in the days before Peugeot entered - no real competition but LM was considerably better off for having them around, and those days are quite fondly remembered now.

On the subject of Peugeot, now that the big spenders will be out of the way I wonder if this will help trigger their return, as neither them or Toyota have much interest in 250 million euro LMP1 budgets.

Yeah, but you have to wonder how deep their pockets are nowadays. It's been reported that their Rally Raid (Dakar) program is on a level with LMP1-H currently. I doubt they can/would do both at the same time.

[chernaudi]

IMO, the best we can hope for as a whole is that the privateer teams can pick up the reigns and give us good racing until 2020. And even then, do the ACO give in to Peugeot's demands (less hybrid tech and other cost cuts) or push though with the 2020 regs?

I wouldn't mind seeing things go back to being like LMP900 and first generation LMP1 for a while when you had a bigger vareity of cars and the cars looked different and had different strengths and weaknesses.

BTW, no official announcement from Porsche yet, but it does seem like the writing is on the wall. The strangest thing is that I don't know to consider this stuff a rumor, or if it got leaked out. You have to remember that the decision was supposed to be (officially) made tomorrow, and be announced sometime in August.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

On the subject of Peugeot, now that the big spenders will be out of the way I wonder if this will help trigger their return, as neither them or Toyota have much interest in 250 million euro LMP1 budgets.

Peugeot's interest wouldn't even go that far, they are on record looking for a reduction to 4MJ of hybrid energy amongst other concessions (RCE this month). That level of reduction seems entirely at odds with Toyota's stated aims for the LMP1 program - even with plug-ins being adopted I can't see TMG accepting 4MJ for long if at all.