Looks like 2018 will be the year when Porsche will show all the cards in their hands as increased LMGTE-Pro efforts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Pro class campaigns in the Blancpain GT Series were already confirmed, with the factory squad and the Manthey Racing team being involved on it.
Following the steps of Ford Chip Gannassi Racing, the Porsche GT Team will combine its FIA WEC and IMSA entries in a four car assault at Le Mans in order to boost its chances in the French endurance classic, with revised lineups confirmed for the 911 RSRs that will compete there.
The No. 91 car sees Gianmaria Bruni go back to FIA WEC after half of a season in IMSA following his departure from AF Corse, alongside Richard Lietz during the Super Season and Frédéric Makowiecki will be the third driver at Le Mans. The No. 92 will feature regular WEC drivers Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen alongside Laurens Vanthoor.
In the IMSA-based entries, the No. 93 will feature Patrick Pilet and the LMP1 champions Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber while the No. 94 sees other two prototype champions in Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas join Sven Müller for the race. These entries wait for confirmation from the ACO to join the grid.
In the GT3 front, the heavier presence of Porsche in GT racing sees them going with a revised 911 GT3R for 2018, with basically aero updates to increase stability, and with a Pro Cup entry from Manthey Racing for the whole Blancpain GT Endurance Cup, with GTE drivers Romain Dumas and Frédéric Makowiecki joining Dirk Werner for the five race series and also for the Intercontinental GT Challenge, starting from the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hours in February.
It will be the first Pro Cup entry for Porsche since the Team75 Bernhard entry that contested the 24 Hours of Spa this year, and the first full season Pro Cup entry since 2013 with ProSpeed Competition, still in the old 997 GT3R.
Heavy presence was also confirmed with Manthey Racing and Team75 Bernhard in the ADAC GT Masters, VLN and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
PHOTOS: Porsche Newsroom, Manthey Racing
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.