Porsche have withdrawn its two CORE autosport GTE entries from this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans due to financial uncertainties amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
It leaves double Le Mans winner and Kiwi sportscar ace Earl Bamber without drive in this year’s French classic which has been rescheduled to September 19-20
Since 2018 Porsche has raced four 911 RSRS in the famous endurance and plans were afoot to once again have its two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars return to Circuit de la Sarthe to race alongside the regular WEC entries.
Porsche’s decision to withdraw two of its four entries means the GTE PRO category has been reduced to just nine entries, with Ferrari now boasting the most cars with three 488 GTEs.
No changes are expected to be made to the remaining two Porsche line-ups leaving the No.93 entry of Bamber, Nick Tandy and Matt Capmbell, and the No.94 car with all-French trio Patrick Pilet, Mathieu Jaminet and Julien Andlauer without a drive.
As reported by Sportscar365.com, the decision to halve the Porsche line-up for the race was made on Wednesday when factory director Pascal Zurlinden informed the ACO of the marque’s decision.
However, the grid is expected to remain at 62 cars as both the ByKolles Racing LMP1 outfit and the IDEC Sport LMP2 squad are set to be promoted from the reserve list.
Main Image: Porsche