Head of Porsche Factory Motorsport Pascal Zurlinden made himself available for questions to a group of motorsport and automotive writer on the just announced plans for the marque to return to the top tier of sportscar racing both in the FIA WEC and North America.
The announcement, coupled with the confirmation last week of Audi’s return, is a huge fillip for the international racing scene – but just how much detail is Pascal prepared to share at the moment? Read on:
You’ve mentioned the opportunity to race on both platforms in IMSA and WEC.
Is that the intention at the moment?
What can you tell us about the intention of where we will see the cars race and whether or not that would be selected races, or full-season commitment, particularly in North America?
“We intend to run in both Championships with full commitment from 2023.”
Was the compelling argument of LMDh allowing you to race in two arenas crucial to this decision?
“If you are looking at cost, if you need to develop two cars to be able to run in WEC, with our tradition at Le Mans, but also in one of the most important markets for us in the US, that’s a barrier.
“If you can really develop only one car, which is the case with LMDh, and run in all these important events. This is probably a key of the success of this category and for our decision definitely.”
About that predictability of the budget, then we shouldn’t if things go the way it should happen, have these vertical curve of development, has that been an absolute key to the decision getting through the board in these troubled times?
“Definitely, for endurance, race, racing, LMDh was a big step for everyone having BoP in the class, having some common parts, it’s really cost effective. And also, with BoP, you can’t buy performance as we discussed before. So again, if you can’t buy performance, the budget will stay constant and predictable.”
“I would say this is open ended.”
Is the timing of this commitment open-ended or will you evaluate it after a certain number of years?
“I would say this is open-ended.”
Both yourselves and Audi have now confirmed for 2023. We’ve not really had any official confirmation yet that an LMDH would not be accepted in the WEC for 2022.
Have things moved on, and it will be 2023 for everybody? Or is there a possibility that somebody or indeed a development car from Porsche might be seen before 2023 in competition?
“It’s too early to speak about but there is no intention for us to come before 2023.”
What can you tell us at the moment are the intentions of Porsche in regard to customer cars?
“A decision over customer cars is still in evaluation, it will be decided in the next month. So no final decision yet.”
Could it be factory only, customer only or, or perhaps more likely a combination of them both?
“Everything is possible.
“We think that the LMDh vehicle is very attractive for potential customers both in terms of cost, and to run it. And if you look back at the 80s and 90s, there is a long, long success story of also adding customers in just such classes.
“Even if there are Works teams, a customer of Porsche, which wins even if its a customer, it’s a Porsche win! So everything is possible.”
Where might customer teams come from? Budgets are reasonably close to top end GTE Am and LMP2 costs. Where would you expect to get them from? Because of course, these LMP2 teams at the moment are operating, the best of them, at a very high level?
“I would say this is a question really to ask in a few months after the announcement to see who is calling!
“Let’s see who is calling us between the announcement next week and Christmas? Okay, then we can answer to see who is interested. Because this will happen.”
What’s the chances of cost spiralling again, is it going to be difficult to keep this class affordable for manufacturers to compete?
“This was part of our concept phase and our analysis – In LMDh you have some common parts and you have parts which as a manufacturer you need to buy from the LMP2 constructors, Multimatic, Oreca, Ligier or Dallara, these are already significant cost reductions.
“And at the same time, you have the BoP system, which means you can’t buy performance. Performance will be balanced, making sure everyone is able to win the war. These two concepts will definitely help to maintain the cost at the level it should be, which makes the category a cost-effective series.”
With some parts being proprietary parts, the chassis wouldn’t be a Porsche chassis, it would be another manufacturer. Is it still as interesting a class as it can be for you from an engineering point of view, is it still attractive in pushing the boundaries in technology?
“We are fully convinced of this concept. The best way to look at it is by looking at the DPI class in IMSA. You can see outstanding racing at the highest level but for reasonable costs.
“Motorsport at the moment is definitely guided by maximum cost efficiency and in this light, adding some spec parts is an important factor to reduce costs. So the LMDH concept then allows us, Porsche, to continue to showcase the brand’s DNA in endurance racing.”
What do you think this may mean for the hypercar class with the major manufacturers such as Porsche throwing their weight behind this class? Could it be a blow to the hypercar class in terms of other manufacturers?
“We believe is that LMDh is much more cost-efficient, and with a balance of performance, which is a huge work with FIA, ACO and IMSA, but also from all the manufacturers involved, who are working openly and closely to get the closest racing, With that in place, we didn’t see a reason to go for LMH, for us LMDh is the right formula.
In terms of the major technical decisions about which of the four constructors you’re going to work with and what power plant, have those decisions been made as yet.
“Those decisions have not been yet done, this will be the next step to decide – with which (chassis) constructor we will go for. Looking at the powerplant plans – again we have not yet made a decision but if you look at all the vehicles we have at Porsche, including our sports cars, we have many many engines which would fit in this in this car. So we are looking at the concept now and finalising the decisions in the next weeks.”
Will it be a road-based engine? Or could it be a bespoke racing engine?
“This is still a discussion but if you speak always about cost-effectiveness, probably a powerplant based on a road car is more cost-effective.”
Was there discussion about both Porsche and Audi doing this from a VAG perspective?
“If you look at the fights we had between both brands, and Toyota in 2014-2016 I’m sure you’re looking forward to it. The more brands that are in the series, the better it is.”
Any thoughts as yet about drivers?
“It’s too early because the first race will be in 2023. But look at the roster we have and people are always committed to Porsche for the long term and we’ll make the decision who will be our test driver development drivers and race drivers to add on later in the programme.
In the past Porsche has suffered at the hands of BGoP at le Mans as have other manufacturers, the fact that BoP could decide the winner overall, is that a concern at all, you’ve clearly got faith that balance of performance can work for the top class?
“Balance of performance has developed really well in the last few years.
“You can see the commitment of the manufacturers, FIA, ACO, IMSA to work really closely and openly to make the BoP system better year by year, with better and better understanding.
“We are convinced that in 2023, the BoP system will be really transparent and ready to go to have the best racing possible, also between LMH and LMDh, not only within each regulation.”
Will there be significant design input from Weissach with perhaps some aero input from elsewhere?
“This is too early to speak about. We’re going to wait for some months.”
Just a quick word on Formula E after the withdrawals of Audi and BMW. How much of a blow is that to Formula E? And does it doesn’t affect anything you don’t your perception of that series at all.
“I’m sure you read the message from Fritz Enzinger, and that we are fully committed to the series and even if two manufacturers are left, the number of manufacturers involved, is still a high number four, probably the highest of many series.
“The concept fits to our strategy, which has three parts which is internal combustion engine for all our GT cars, going through from our Clubsport and Cup, but also GT3 and RSR cars, then LMDH will cover the hybrid part and Formula E for full electric cars.”
