Bad News (Porsche and other Rumours)

[rdjones]

Just picked this up from DSC:-

Looks like there will be no new Porsche in the near future.

“There will be no factory Porsche racecars in the near future,” thats what the company's CEO Wendelin Wiedeking said in an interview in the German edition of the Financial Times. Mr. Wiedeking stated that Porsche had been looking at building and campaigning "a sports prototype": all such plans have now been postponed for monetary reasons.

I think thats the news we didn't want to hear

[Pilgrimage]

Not good news, but to be honest i couldn't see Porsche coming back to sportscars in an offical capacity at this stage anyway. Lets hope hope they change their mind though.

[krt917]

I'm very upset! So upset, I'm not going to believe them!! Porsche have to be in Sportscar racing.

[RM40]

Ah, but it only says factory. Still a small glimmer of hope for privateer protypes or atleast Carrera GTs.

[paulzinho]

Bugger, weren't they looking at building a roofed (rooved?) prototype?

[Ken May]

Excellent reading.......

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/gpex/GPEX.v3.ch61.htm

[Magical Trevor]

"Monetary reasons"?
Heh, maybe it'll teach them to stick to sportscars and say "F*** the SUVs!"

[fabvt]

That is really really bad news !
For me, Porsche is the base of my interest for sportscars and GT racing. I first "discovered" Porsche's history and from then Le Mans and other endurance races.
I hope that anyway they will help some privateers to enter great in the most popular races...
Let's remember that Joest-TWR-Porsche which twice won Le Mans was first designed as a factory car before Porsche changed their plan. Team Joest benefited from their effort afterwards... Maybe we will see the same happening again with Carrera GT's.
Time will tell !

[Kurt Maxwell]

I am just so shocked at this news.

The only bigger surprise would be if someone said that one of the Porsche factory drivers announced he was racing one of those Daytona Prototypes in the Grand Am Series.

Will the ACO and Mr. Ratel now give us more bad news and tell us that boring, more "cost efective" GT Supercars like the Carrera GT,Maserati"Enzo" and SV Lamborghinis are to be allowed an even chance for victory at LeMans and in the LMES as well!

I don't think this will have any effect on the ALMS as Don Panoz is still really rich and will do whatever it takes to have a full field of LMP cars -"For the Fans".

BTW-More than six months ago an "insider" who is the editor of a motorsport website said that it was "laughable" that anyone could ever think that Mr.Ratel and the ACO would ever get together on rules and events and throw "Dr". Panoz "under the bus".

This same authority has also suggested that Grand Am would fail while the ALMS would grow.

I have to believe that an expert like this must be right. After all, he is on the internet.

[Adam43]

Originally posted by rdjones
Looks like there will be no new Porsche in the near future.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I've not been this upset since I heard about the Jaguar diesel.

Porsche is Le Mans. What are they messing at?

[weeks]

A small part of me just died

The only bigger surprise would be if someone said that one of
the Porsche factory drivers announced he was racing one of those Daytona Prototypes in the Grand Am Series.

Sascha Maassen will join Brumos Racing for the 6 Heures du Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec.

!!!!!SURPRISE!!!!!

[RacingManiac]

For real? He could probably win overall in a GT3 RS....but in a DP...

[paul-collins]

That's now being discredited as a misquote of Porsche CEO Wiedeking.

The original source of this F1live.com information was the Financial Times Deutschland. A member of the IMSA board says this paper has a less than perfect record for motorsports prognostication.

[cybersdorf]

If that's a misqoute it must be the most elavorate misquote I have ever seen - but for motor racing's sake, I hope it actually is. Sportscars, F1, whatever - a company like Porsche will always play a major role in our sport - if only it participates.

The article certainly made the news in the "German speaking world".

[veeten]

No big shakes about the Maassen deal with Brumos. Remember, Brabham had done the Daytona 24Hr with Multimatic in their Focus DP, as well as Sebring & LeMans with Bentley, so this is more to that direction than anything else.

There's always a bit of "one-off"ing with drivers regardless of the series they normally race in, so don't worry about it.

[Kurt Maxwell]

I won't worry about it. But only if you say not to,Veeten.

When should I worry about it? Maybe if Job runs a DP in G/A next season?

Even then I still promise not worry about it.

[Aysedasi]

Good for you Kurt. We'd all hate you to get overly worried now.....

[Chevyguy]

I guess then, Porsche has just handed their reputation to Audi. Also, who else will build a GTP? The echoes of an all production Le Mans get a little louder, no? If it's truly for monetary reasons, then they can bounce back and start contesting again. Surely they can't hold out against the constant pressure that the public is putting on them. What I beleive, is that Porsche is terrified to go against the manufacturer that increased everybody's pace.

Massen in a DP makes sense. Geoff Bodine to get the NASCAR fans. Scott Goodyear to get the IRL fans. Why not have Massen attract ALMS fans?

[Dauntless]

Wow! I hadn't realised how far Porsche had slid. VW steals a page from Porsche's book (win on Sunday - sell on Monday), and how does the once and would-be king respond? "As for Le Mans, he [Wiedeking] sniffed, it was not what it once was: "It's really just VW with several different brands and some smaller brands."

Yeah, right. And for two decades, Le Mans was just a parade of new Porsche prototypes. How boring...

Sell your Porsches now, guys, before all those long-time afficiandos flood the market with their Porsches as they rush off to join a company with some pride.

[LouisTheShark]

This article seems to deny this report. It is in German.

http://www.racing1.de/web/alms/artik...wsID=5415&sid=

[PascaLM]

Ach, Le Mans 2005 vill bropaply pe a kreat millesime !

[courage]

I can tell you that Porsche is working on a race version of the carrera gt... they are actually working with ratel and he FIA to put their car in the new 2004 regulations... so there will be a new poersche in 2004 but maybe only a semi official team...

[Kurt Maxwell]

The racing version of the Carrera GT only makes sense given the situation.

There won't be too much to do to make it ready as not much is allowed.

Porsche vs Maserati should be fun.

[pitviper]

courage...i was hoping that what i had been hearing as well was true...now that i hear it from you as well, hopefully it makes things a little more valid...

hmmm, let's see...GT's being sped up...more manufacturer interest...bigger fields of beautiful and recognizable (read: marketable) cars...everything points to a Viper winning overall in 2007...awesome.

pit

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by pitviper


hmmm, let's see...GT's being sped up...more manufacturer interest...bigger fields of beautiful and recognizable (read: marketable) cars...everything points to a Viper winning overall in 2007...awesome.

And that's good news?