Porsche has taken its return to endurance very seriously. Although the choice of the LMDh path instead of the LMH path raised some doubts, the test program of the prototype with the Multimatic chassis of the Stuttgart firm has rooted out any type of suspicion. Porsche is going for it all and will have an official program with two prototypes in the WEC premier class and two other prototypes in the IMSA main category, in both cases under the management of Team Penske. Nevertheless, the commitment of the German brand goes further.
In fact, the forecasts of the German firm go through having up to four LMDh prototypes in the hands of private teams, beyond the quartet of cars that will have their official structures in the WEC and IMSA. This has been confirmed Thomas Laudenbach in statements to the specialized media ‘SportCar365’, explaining that this is the limit number of LMDh that Porsche can supply in its first season in the category if it wants provide adequate technical and operational assistance.
«We had to set a restriction. The first decision was that we wanted to offer our LMDh to client teams from the first season, even if this was a challenge. We will compete with two cars per project together with Penske in the first year. The other restriction is that at most there would be two cars in IMSA and another two in WEC and this also applies to cars in the hands of customers. If it’s just one and one or another distribution, we’ll see, it depends on what the customers want, but it won’t go beyond four» has stressed Thomas Laudenbach.
«It is not Porsche’s goal to sell as many LMDh cars to customers as possible. Our idea is that if we provide a prototype to a client, we can also give it the support it deserves in an appropriate way. There is a certain expectation when Porsche sells cars like the 911 GT3 R, but every time we sell a car we have to support it. It is not about selling a car and another and another. We want that, if there is a car on the grid, it can do it with a certain level» added Laudenbach.
Finally, the boss of Porsche Motorsport has indicated: «There could be more prototypes after the first season. We haven’t decided on that yet, but I wouldn’t rule it out. If there are teams that want to do it and if these teams have the ability to do it, it is something to value. I will not exclude that option. There is great interest, but it is difficult for us to judge how far that interest goes and to decipher between the possibilities. There is great interest from many teams, so we will see what the result will be.
Source: SportsCar365
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Photos: porsche motorsport