Porsche's LMDh Le Mans mission

On a sunny early January day in the Black Forest a new era began in earnest for the king of sports car racing. The car that will carry the aspirations of the most successful marque in long-distance racing on both sides of the Atlantic was lowered onto its wheels. A new Porsche prototype set off on its first reconnaissance laps, just like so many of its illustrious forebears, at the Weissach test track 20 or so miles west of company headquarters in Zuffenhausen.

It was a significant moment in the history of a brand with 19 outright wins to its name at the Le Mans 24 Hours because this new LMDh car will give Porsche the chance to add not just to its Le Mans tally but also its Daytona 24 Hours one, where it’s currently 18 and counting. That hasn’t happened since the days of the 962 Group C and IMSA GTP car.

The Porsche prototype, which for the moment has neither a name nor number, is the first of a new breed of racing machine due on the grid next year. The arrival of the LMDh hybrids in both the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship looks sure to herald a golden era of sports car racing.

Over time the two series will start to bulge with manufacturers as the LMDhs go up against machinery built to the Le Mans Hypercar regulations that
came on stream in the WEC in 2021. Already competing or signed up for this brave new world are Porsche, Audi, Toyota, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, Cadillac, BMW, Acura and Alpine. And more look set to go down the cheaper LMDh route.

Porsche has been lured back by a set of regulations that give it the chance to race in the two arenas on either side of the Atlantic at reasonable cost. Budgets measured in hundreds of millions are now a thing of the past: Porsche will probably be spending a third or a quarter of the annual figure from the days of the 919 Hybrid LMP1 that took a hat-trick of hat-tricks in 2015-17, victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours and the WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in each of those years. And it will be shooting for glory in IMSA as well.

Porsche was an early adopter of the new category announced on the eve of Daytona in 2020. It outlined its support for the class there and then, at a time when it was far from clear that LMH machinery would be able to compete in IMSA. That wasn’t confirmed until the summer of 2021. By then, Porsche had long since stated its intention to develop an LMDh, its news coming in mid-December 2020.

The German manufacturer wasn’t the first marque to go public on its commitment to a new category that allows a manufacturer to fashion a top-class prototype out of one of the next-generation LMP2 chassis under development by four licensed constructors. Sister marque Audi, which was also due to return to the top of the sports car tree, beat it to the punch. Much to the chagrin of Porsche, by all accounts.

Porsche relation Audi will share its chassis spine, developed by the Canadian Multimatic Motorsports organisation, as well as the powertrain with the Porsche, but the project has been led from the start from Weissach. It’s correct to say shares, because the car was almost finished, but the programme has almost certainly been cancelled.

Porsche confirmed the long-rumoured tie-up with Multimatic in mid-May last year, which followed the announcement of Team Penske as its factory partner for twin attacks on the WEC and the IMSA series. The company’s motor sport top brass had already indicated an intent at that point to have the LMDh up and running before the end of the year.

That was thwarted by what Porsche described as “supply-chain issues” linked to the car’s hybrid system. The Weissach shakedown was set back at least twice before the car turned its maiden laps in January with long-time driver Frédéric Makowiecki at the wheel.

Later in the month, Porsche revealed that the new car is powered by a twin-turbo V8. That’s all it has revealed, save that it can produce between 473 to 512bhp in line with the regulations, revs to 10,000rpm and weighs a minimum of 180kg, again as per the rules. The rear-axle hybrid element of the powertrain is provided by Bosch, Williams Advanced Engineering and Xtrac. They are suppliers of the motor generator unit, battery and gearbox of the one-make system to be run by all LMDh cars. The origins and capacity of the engine remain unconfirmed, but Porsche suggested that the race engine has its roots in a road car unit.

“We were spoiled for choice with the engine for our LMDh prototype”

“We were spoiled for choice with the engine for our LMDh prototype, because the product range offers several promising baseline units,” said new Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach. “We decided on the V8-biturbo, which offers the best combination of performance characteristics, weight and costs.”

If it is truly a production engine then it is presumably based on the 4-litre direct-injection twin-turbo found in both the four-door Panamera and the Cayenne SUV, Porsche’s only V8 turbo. More likely its lineage can be traced to the normally aspirated 3.4-litre V8 that powered the Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 prototype that took a trio of American Le Mans Series class titles in 2006-08. This engine, still in normally aspirated form, was the basis of the 4.6-litre unit that powered the 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid built between 2013 and ’15.

Testing of the Porsche LMDh continued at Weissach through January before the car hit the race track proper at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona in February. The car completed more than 1200 miles over a five-day test described as an “enormously important step” by Laudenbach. The Porsche LMDh “made great progress from day to day”, according to Jonathan Diuguid, who is heading up the sports car programme at Team Penske. “The feedback from the drivers, the engineers and the team was consistently positive.”

“Purely looking at the data, Dane and Felipe are top of the class in all the metrics we looked at”

Testing is continuing in Europe-only until the summer, after which the development programme will expand into North America as Porsche and Penske move towards homologating the car ahead of its race debut at Daytona 2023. Diuguid, who is managing director of a team that will race under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner in both the world and Stateside arenas, is expecting the first development runs in the USA to come in early July.

Porsche confirmed only that Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, who were announced as the first drivers for the LMDh programme in December, got behind the wheel of the new contender in Barcelona. Cameron was a stalwart of Penske’s last sports car programme with the Acura Daytona Prototype international in IMSA in 2018-20, while Nasr competed against them with the Action Express Racing Cadillac squad. Cameron and Nasr won the IMSA DPi title in 2019 and ’21 respectively.

The expectation is that they will be joined by a selection of new signings and familiar names from Porsche’s roster. Makowiecki looks likely to find a role in the LMDh programme; it might be remembered that he was set to drive the 919 that ultimately triumphed at Le Mans in 2015, only to be gazumped for the seat alongside Nico Hülkenburg and Nick Tandy by Earl Bamber. Kevin Estre, the stand-out driver in Porsche’s GTE Pro WEC squad, is also expected to be given a chance. Diuguid insists that driver-selection is entirely data driven and that it is a “true partnership approach” with Porsche. “Purely looking at the data, Dane and Felipe are top of the class in all the metrics we looked at,” he explained. On ex-F1 driver Nasr, he says: “If you can’t beat them, make sure they are on your team!”

Cameron and Nasr will not only be testing the new Porsche through this season, they will also be racing a Penske-run prototype. Porsche is entering the WEC in the LMP2 class this year to gain experience of the series before the arrival of the LMDh. The programme will, significantly, take Penske back to Le Mans for the first time since 1971 and its assault with the Sunoco-liveried Ferrari 512M driven by Mark Donohue and David Hobbs.

“Absolutely necessary,” says Diuguid of the P2 programme. “Obviously our group knows how to go racing and to be successful, but there is a lot to learn outside of making the car competitive.”

“One of the main focus points is the difference in race strategy between the two championships.”

He points to the virtual safety cars employed in the WEC, where they are known as Full Course Yellows, and the slow zones at Le Mans where the cars’ speed is limited to 50mph in defined areas of the Circuit de la Sarthe. That contrasts with IMSA’s sometimes trigger-happy use of the safety car, which bunches up the field and creates an entirely different strategic environment.

Cameron and Nasr will drive an ORECA-Gibson 07 P2 together with former Porsche factory man Emmanuel Collard, who was an occasional driver with Penske in the RS Spyder era and part of the crew that triumphed at the Sebring 12 Hours in 2008 ahead of the Audi and Peugeot LMP1 turbodiesels.

The P2 sporting regs only allow for a pair that might be termed full-professionals with a platinum or gold rating under the FIA’s system of driver categorisation. The third driver must be rated silver or lower. Collard, a runner-up at Le Mans with Pescarolo Sport in 2005, is from this year a silver, something he owes to his age. He turned 50 last April, which meant he was eligible for a downgrade.

Penske has opted for an ultra-experienced silver on the way down rather than a young hotshot on the way up in order, says Diuguid, “to help fulfil the goals of the programme. The approach goes back to our aims: we want to be successful, but at the same time we want to learn by participating in as much of each of the races as possible,” he explains. “‘Manu’ comes with a wealth of experience, he understands the championship [he’s won titles with Ferrari in GTE Am in 2016 and 2019/20] and knows when to take risks and when not to take risks. He will help us to complete every lap.”

Penske will begin its first season of world championship motor racing since it withdrew from F1 in 1976 at Sebring in March, in the 1000 Miles WEC fixture on the eve of the 12-hour IMSA round. After that the ORECA will move across to Europe to Mannheim, Germany, where a new new state-of-the-art racing facility is being established adjacent to a Porsche dealership within the Penske group. It is from here that the WEC LMDh assault will be masterminded, with the sister base for the IMSA campaign being at company HQ in Mooresville, North Carolina.

This year’s WEC is about getting “live-wire experience” to ensure that the Porsche LMDh is best-placed to continue the rich traditions of the marque. The intention is to hit the ground running as Porsche bids for victories number 20 and 19 at the Le Mans and Daytona 24-hour classics.

Porsche’s Le Mans rivals from 2023

Toyota

The Japanese make is already competing in the WEC, sweeping up the big prizes in the championship and at Le Mans in the first edition of the WEC run to LMH regulations with its GR010 Hybrid in 2022.

Glickenhaus

The small independent American marque with big aspirations impressed after a delayed start to its WEC campaign last season and was in the fight for a podium at Le Mans with its Pipo-engined 007 LMH developed in Italy.

Peugeot

The avant-garde 9X8 is already running and Peugeot has two WEC entries, but it won’t be at Le Mans this year. It’s always said it won’t blood the car in competition until it’s ready. Expect a debut at Monza in July.

Ferrari

The biggest news of all was provided by Ferrari when it announced in February 2021 that it is returning as a factory to the pinnacle of endurance racing. Its challenger should be running by July ahead of a 2023 WEC assault.

Audi

Its LMDh was just weeks away from running when the project was axed, though Audi is saying that it is merely on pause. The move fuelled rumours of resources being diverted towards a potential entry into F1.

Cadillac

The General Motors brand is continuing its involvement in the top class of IMSA with a machine developed in conjunction with Dallara, but the big news is that it will also bring the car to the WEC from next year.

BMW

A return to top flight sports car racing was announced by the winner of Le Mans in 1999 last June. It has paired with Dallara and should be testing in the summer ahead of an IMSA-only entry with the Rahal team in 2023.

Acura

Another marque with a long-standing commitment to IMSA signed up for LMDh in January 2021. It is continuing with ORECA for what will be an IMSA-focused entry with the Wayne Taylor and Shank teams.

Alpine

The Renault brand confirmed its intention to build an LMDh for a WEC campaign late last year. It has partnered with ORECA, but the car isn’t due to race until 2024. For this year it is sticking with its old ‘grandfathered’ LMP1.