23/04/2013
NEWS STORY
Porsche has admitted that it has opted for sports car racing, as opposed to F1, because the so-called pinnacle of motorsport simply isn't relevant to road cars.
Ahead of its return to sports car racing in 2014, when it will contest the LMP1 category, Wolfgang Hatz, the German manufacturer's head of R&D told Autocar: "We are a sports car company. Porsche has always lived for the transfer of racing to production cars. For that reason it was clear two or three years ago that we had to be back in high-level motorsport, and it was a choice between top-flight sports cars or Formula 1.
"The final decision was the only logical one," he continued. "F1 was an alternative, but the road relevance is not there. Also, there is a lot of publicity around politics and tyres, but not so much about the engines and chassis. The aero, too, is incredible, but so extreme that it cannot result in any development in our road car understanding."
The 2014 car will be a hybrid, with Porsche revealing that there has already been technology transfer between it and its Porsche 918 Spyder (road car), which will go on sale later this year and is intended to rival the LaFerrari and McLaren P1.