Porsche will send four cars to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) has confirmed.
Announced with the list of fellow competitors, Porsche will have two 919 Hybrid cars as Porsche Team in the LMP1 class, numbered at #14 and #20, while Porsche Team Manthey will continue to operate the #91 and #92 911 RSR entries in the GTE Pro class.
Timo Bernhard will take driving duties of the #20 car, while Romain Dumas will pilot the #14, meaning that both of the 919s will have an overall winner at Le Mans behind the wheel. There has been no final decision as of yet on which cars the remaining four drivers – Brendon Hartley, Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Mark Webber – will compete in.
“It was an obvious choice to split these two pilots to the two cars because of their special long-distance and Le Mans experience,” said Team Principle Andreas Seidl. “The confirmation of our entry is another milestone on our road to Le Mans. We are all excited to meet our competitors for the first time at the official test at Paul Ricard at the end of March and of course at the WEC season kick-off at Silverstone in April.”
Meanwhile, Porsche Team Manthey will look to defend its 2013 Le Mans victory, taking on the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette and SRT Viper throughout the year. Many of the details on the 911 RSR were upgraded for the final race of the 2013 season ahead of the new year, including modified aerodynamics on the front end and a wider rear wing.
“In the 2013 season, the 911 RSR gave impressive proof of its long-distance capabilities by its double victory at Le Mans,” added Head of Porsche Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “At the 24 hour race in Daytona, we again celebrated a win in a classic long-distance race with the revised version of the 911 RSR – this is certainly a good omen for Le Mans 2014.”
