PORSCHE RETURNS TO LE MANS

Happy 4th of July!

Porsche has just announced its return to top-tier motor racing. It will debut a works-run LMP1 sports prototype at the 2014 Le Mans 24 hour event. With 16 overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer at the world’s most famous endurance auto race. The marque’s last overall Le Mans win was in 1998 with the Porsche 911 GT1. From 2006 to 2009 the factory backed the Penske Racing team, which raced the RS Spyder (an LMP2 prototype) with great success in the U.S. The RS Spyder also took class honours at France’s Le Mans in 2008 and 2009, as well as outright victory at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring.

In other recent news, a 911 GT3 RSR won the the 24 hour race at the Nürburgring in Germany last week. Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, and Lucas Luhr piloted their Porsche-Manthey Team RSR to victory in the 39th running of the long distance classic at the legendary Nordschleife, relegating their strong opponents from BMW, Mercedes and Audi to finish down the field.

Also… Jeff Zwart, who drove his competing Porsche 911 GT2 RS on public roads to this years Pikes Peak Hillclimb, sliced 24 seconds from his Time Attack 2WD class record set last year. His all-time record for a street-legal car at Pikes Peak was just 3 seconds slower than the fastest overall time set by the full-blown race car driven by Zwart’s friend and mentor Rob Millen.