Porsche leaves LM P1 for Formula e

The rumor is no longer a rumor. As we mentioned in issue 2123 of AUTOhebdo, and again yesterday on our website, Porsche confirmed this Friday morning the end of its LM P1 program in WEC at the end of this season and a reorientation of its Motorsport program towards Formula e in 2019-2020.

The German brand has decided to turn to the growing discipline, as evidenced by the successive arrivals of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes, and let Toyota only manufacturer currently present in LM P1 in 2018.

“Seizing the opportunity of Formula e and succeeding in this category is the logical continuation of our Mission E project (creation of a fully electric road car), Explain Michael Steiner, Member of the Board of Management of Porsche AG, responsible for Research and Development.

The increasing freedom of internal technological developments makes Formula e attractive to us. Porsche works with alternative and innovative driving concepts. For us, Formula e is the ultimate competitive environment to advance the development of high-performance vehicles in areas such as usability, efficiency and sustainability. » The first work for the arrival in the discipline has already been started.

The RSR and the GT3 R in the spotlight

Porsche, however, specified that the programs featuring its GTEs (WEC and IMSA) and GT3 would clearly remain active, with a strengthening of its commitment. « The diversity of manufacturers and the quality of the WEC and IMSA have allowed us to strengthen our commitment and focus our energies on the 911 RSR, continues Steiner. We want to be number one. Building the Le Mans team from scratch was a huge challenge, comments Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LM P1. Over the years, we have developed an incredibly successful and professional team. This will be our foundation for our future. »