Porsche has finally confirmed the many rumours, that have been humming for the last few months.
The German car manufacturer will return to the top category of sportscar racing, and will enter LMDh cars in 2023.
The car type will replace the DPi category in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but will go one step further, with a globally acknowledged category, opposite to DPi, which is only approved in the USA.
The cars will all be based on one of the four LMP2 chassis’ from Dallara, ORECA, Multimatic or Ligier, with each car manufacturer choosing a single supplier.
Porsche has not announced who they are teaming up with just yet.
Graphics: Porsche
All LMDh cars will have a spec hybrid system, which basically is a plug-and-play solution for all the cars. The idea is for it to be simple to use, opposite to the current systems that we know from the LMP1 cars, where several engineers are needed to programme and control chose systems.
Porsche reveals, that they are going to be active in both IMSA plus the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 24-hour races at Daytona and Le Mans.
The 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is looking very much like a battlefield for all the giants. Porsche are ready, Audi confirmed an LMDh programme a few weeks ago, Peugeot confirmed almost a year ago, Honda/Acura are rumoured to run a programme, while Toyota Gazoo Racing, ByKolles Racing Team and Glickenhaus are scheduled to have a Hypercar ready for 2021. In addition to those, we have Alpine/Renault in the room too, with them entering an LMP1 car for the 2021 season, having bought the old Rebellion cars, and will run them under their own name. If they have a successful programme, they might very well appear with a modern car too.
Porsche has already confirmed, that they are willing to sell the cars to privateers, so they will return to the same policy as in the ’80s, where the 956/962 model was so popular amongst privateer sportscar teams.
