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Motorsports Porsche Video

Remembering the Porsche 911 GT1

2014 Geneva Motor Show

With 16 outright victories at Le Mans you’d reckon knowledge of Porsche’s success was pretty well established. But with its return to La Sarthe later this year Porsche took its most recent winning car, the 911 GT1-98, to the Geneva Motor Show to remind us of its race winning heritage all the same.

Finding archival footage of the 911 GT1 on the Tubes is not the easiest thing. Especially if you’re trying to find a decent clip of the car winning the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans.

We’ve assembled the best we could get our hands on, including a clip from the 1998 Petit Le Mans, and now see the pedigree which attracted Mark Webber to sign with Porsche. He should feel right at home!

There’s also a clip from Evo‘s Henry Catchpole talking about his time behind the wheel of a 911 GT1 strassenversion.

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Porsche WEC

“Porsche Team” confirms WEC LMP1 entry

Porsche 919 hybrid

At the ACO’s 2014 season launch last week Porsche officially confirmed its eagerly awaited return to top flight endurance racing in the LMP1 category.

Known simply as “Porsche Team”, two 919 Hybrids will be entered which will carry the numbers 14 and 20. The drivers assigned as the official entrants are former Le Mans winners Romain Dumas (#14) and Timo Bernhard (#20).

Porsche is yet to rubber stamp the driver lineups for each car, but earlier reports suggest Marc Lieb and Neel Jani will join Romain Dumas, leaving Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley to partner with Timo Bernhard.

Quietly buried in the press release below is confirmation from Porsche the 919 will be powered by a “small capacity” supercharged V4 engine at the rear and an electric motor driving the front wheels. These will be complemented by two energy recovery systems.

Defending its 2013 Le Mans victory in the GTE Pro class Porsche Team Manthey will return with a pair of 911 RSRs which have been revised for the 2014 season. The changes obviously worked too judging by Porsche’s recent class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

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Motorsports WEC

Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 launched with new logo

Le Mans 24 hours logo

Like Formula 1 the 24 Hours of Le Mans is entering a new era thanks to a series of new regulations. The ACO has taken the opportunity to rebrand the race with a new logo and slight reordering of the official name to be called the Le Mans 24 Hours.

At the same event the official entries for the 2014 race (14–15 June) were announced. You can see more in the videos and text below.

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Audi WEC

2014 Audi R18 e-tron quattro revealed

2014 Audi R18 e-tron quattro

Following its track test at Sebring earlier this week Audi has given us more information on its 2014 WEC LMP1 challenger, the 2014 R18 e-tron quattro.

Powered by a V6 TDI and dual hybrid systems Audi is keen to push its record of transferring race technology to the road. Technology we take for granted now, such as TFSI petrol engines, advanced diesel engines and LED headlights, are just some of the technologies Audi has taken from its LMP1 program to its production lines.

New regulations for the 2014 season have seen Audi further develop its R18 concept and motorsport boss, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, tells us the result is a shift in thinking: “The principles of the LMP1 regulations have fundamentally changed. The idea behind this is to achieve similarly fast lap times as in the past with considerably less energy. Making more out of less: a forward-thinking approach.”

More photos and a host of press material awaits after the break giving us a good run down of what to expect in the 2014 WEC season.

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