Porsche may have shut down its LMP1 program, but
don’t think for a minute that it’s given up on racing. Case in point: this
prototype, spotted undergoing testing at Porsche’s on-site test track in
preparation for next year’s calendar of GT racing.
What we appear to be looking at is a new version of
Weissach’s top GT racer: the 911 RSR – a model line which last won the LM GTE
Pro class in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015, but is currently
leading this year’s standings, and won its class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans
earlier this year. The German constructor will surely want to keep that
momentum, so it’s evidently working on the updated version seen here.
Compared to the current iteration, this new model
appears to pack a wider air intake up front, a new hood, side exhausts,
reshaped doors, and what look like stretched rear fenders for a longer, more
streamlined tail – all of which ought to add up to an even faster challenger to
the top production-based sports-car racing class.
That’ll be bad news for rivals like the Aston Martin
Vantage, BMW M8, Ferrari 488, and Ford GT. Each of those challengers has
embraced the benefits of turbocharging. So our biggest question is whether
Porsche will do the same and replace the naturally aspirated 4.0-liter boxer
six with a twin-turbo unit like it has in so many of its road-going 911s.
