Porsche LMP2 delayed

[Dino Scuderia]

Crap! Was looking forward to seeing the debut at the Petit Le Mans.

Porsche North America reported Tuesday that Porsche AG’s all-new RS Spyder prototype car for the American Le Mans series will be delayed due to the need for additional testing. The car is meant for Porsche customers who compete in the Le Mans Prototype 2 class of the American Le Mans Series, and was scheduled to debut at the Petit Le Mans endurance race at Road Atlanta. Now, the car will be handed off to Porsche Partner Penske Motorsports for the final six-week bout of testing before a decision is made about entering.

http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000893056877/

[Jack_Bauer]

Hmmm, never a good sign when the debut of a new racecar is delayed. Smacks a bit of, "Well, we tested it and it was rubbish, so don't want to race & have our asses handed to us!" Just look at Ferrari's F2005 for proof!

I hope it is worth the wait though, if for no other reason than it'll shine some media attention on the severely flagging LMP2 classes, and will hopefully improve the competition.

[Matra et Alpine]

Was announced a few weeks back.

"Any completely new racecar requires a considerable amount of testing to acquire performance and durability," commented Hartmut Kristen, director of motorsport for Porsche AG. "By now, our RS Spyder has the speed, but not the stamina to finish a 1,000-mile race like Petit Le Mans. We hope, with the additional planned testing by Penske Motorsports, it will be ready to make its test race debut at the four-hour Laguna Seca contest."