Porsche will be fielding four Porsche 911 RSRs in the GTE class at this year's 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two of them are equipped with a special livery: The works cars with starting numbers 91 and 92 will be sporting traditional Le Mans liveries from the 1970s and 1980s.
Number 91 is covered in the iconic blue and white design with red and gold stripes, reminiscent of the sponsor at the time, Rothmans.
The number 92 picks up on the famous "sow" design of the 917/20 from 1971.
Porsche presented the two 510 hp racing cars from Weissach to the public last Saturday as part of the official pre-test for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.
With the special designs, Porsche is commemorating its eventful history at the prestigious marathon on the Sarthe in its anniversary year "70 years of Porsche sports cars". At the same time, the two vehicles are real eye-catchers for fans. "With these popular designs, we would like to thank our loyal fans in particular, who keep their fingers crossed for us on and off the track at every race, but especially at Le Mans, of course, where we experience unique support every year as the record winner with 19 overall victories," says Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Motorsport and GT Vehicles.
Rothman's Porsche - a winning look
The 911 RSR with the number 91, driven by Gianmaria Bruni (Italy), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France), is based on various Porsche racing cars in Rothmans livery. For example, the Porsche 959, which won the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally in the livery of the British tobacco manufacturer.
The Porsche 956C and the Porsche 962C celebrated their greatest successes on the circuit: the two blue and white Group C sports prototypes each took overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice - the 956C in 1982 and 1983, the 962C in the 1986 and 1987 races.
The design of the starting number 92, driven by Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), goes back to the Porsche 917/20 that came to Le Mans in 1971. The design of the one-off was intended to combine the aerodynamic advantages of the short and long-tail versions of the 917 and helped the previously untested car to win the qualifying. According to rumors, the extra-wide and fat-looking 917 was torn apart by the French press and ridiculed for looking like a fat pig. The car was then quickly turned into a "pig" overnight by giving it a pink paint job with meat sections drawn in. The idea, implemented under Porsche designer Anatole Lapine, caused a sensation at the Sarthe. To this day, the 917/20, also known as the "truffle hunter", is one of the most famous Porsches ever.
A total of ten Porsche 911 RSRs will compete in the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans, four factory cars and six entered by customer teams. While the two regular cars from the WEC Sports Car World Championship will be sporting the special designs, the additional works cars number 93 and number 94 will be running in the usual colors of white, black and red, which are reminiscent of the Porsche brand emblem in their arrangement on the vehicle from a bird's eye view. The 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place from June 16 to 17, 2018.
