Porsche and Penske Motorsport have announced a change of plans for the next year’s motorsport season. The Stuttgart company will drop out of the World Endurance Championship at the end of the current season. Crucially, it means it will miss the 24 Hours of the Le Mans next June, among other WEC events.
No official reasons have been given for this decision, but Michael Steiner, Porsche’s Executive Board Member for Development, hinted that “the current situation led to this.” Our best guess is that the automaker began struggling with staying afloat after investing heavily into electrifying its upper model range. Maintaining a WEC hybrid race car is a costly affair, especially so in a market teetering on a crisis.
Porsche still seems committed to electrification in general, developing new powertrains and planning to stay active in the Formula E series. Racing in the Formula E helps it create viable powertrains for mass-produced electric cars, multiple representatives have said. The company also plans to continue its participation in the IMSA series in the United States, including the famous 24 Hours of the Daytona. If anything, it looks like the U.S. market bears a strategic importance for the brand that Europe cannot currently match.
With 19 Le Mans victories to its name, Porsche is in no way a runner-up in the endurance marathon, but it did yield the first place to Ferrari this year, coming just 14 seconds behind it.
