Your Porsche-centric sports car season starts here…
Porsche Motorsport’s 2018 endurance programme kicks off Saturday week at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. One the toughest and most eagerly anticipated races of the sports car calendar, Daytona is loved by fans and drivers alike for its probing combination of fast infield circuit and banked oval, fought out through the long night of a Florida winter.
The race has a particular importance for Porsche this year, having left LMP1 in the World Endurance Championship. Its GT programme, which includes the IMSA alongside GTE-Pro in the WEC, is now the marque’s competition focus, and the recently developed 911 RSR, with its mid-engine configuration and highly involved aero package, will be looking to find vital extra pace this year to match its already impressive reliability.
Former LMP1 drivers Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber will be competing in the US for 2018, Tandy pairing up again with Weathertech veteran Patrick Pilet in car #911 while Bamber joins forces with Blancpain Series champion Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 sister car.
A successful shakedown earlier this month has left the teams and drivers confident as they head into this celebrated season opener, and their performance here will shine an insightful light on Porsche’s potential for Le Mans this June, where it plans to field all four works RSRs in a redoubled effort on the LM GT crown.
The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona runs from 19.40 UK time in the 27 January 2018. For more information click here.