How Porsche's top class comeback lends prestige to the 2023 Le Mans battle

By:

Gary Watkins

Jun 7, 2023, 9:11 AM

Porsche’s return to the top flight of sportscar racing, just five years after its last withdrawal from the LMP1 arena, means a marque that has won Le Mans 19 times dating back to the 917 is back with a shot at 24 Hours glory with the 963 LMDh

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When Porsche announced that it was quitting LMP1 at the end of 2017, the first question was obvious: what’s going to happen to the World Endurance Championship now? The second was, when are we likely to see the German manufacturer shooting for outright honours at the Le Mans 24 Hours once more? The answer to those questions turned out to be inextricably linked.

The WEC has survived, despite limping on without Porsche and any other serious manufacturer opposition for Toyota through the dying days of P1 and into the Hypercar era. But now, as the championship enters a new age with multiple car makers duking it out at the front of the field, Porsche is there among them with a successor to its line of Le Mans winners, from the 917 through the 956/962 and on to the 919.

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Gary Watkins

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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.