Porsche has, officially, taken the wraps off its new 919 Hybrid challenger for this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.
The new LMP1 car tested in a camouflage livery from the fall through the winter, and as part of a combined livery with the factory GTE Pro car, there will be a unified branding image highlighting Porsche Intelligent Performance.
Along with the livery reveal, the GTE Pro class lineup for the WEC was confirmed. Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet rejoin after 2013, with Marco Holzer (raced in U.S. last year) and new factory driver Fred Makowiecki (raced with Aston Martin) completing the lineup. Specific pairings haven’t been revealed.
Richard Lietz and Nick Tandy, who co-drove with Pilet to the GT Le Mans class victory in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship opener, the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, will round out the Porsche Team Manthey lineup at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In other sports car news…
- OnRoak Automotive has taken the wraps off its new Ligier JS P2 coupe. It will be raced through 2017, and can take an HPD, Judd or Nissan engine in the back. It will make its debut later this year, likely at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with OAK Racing, and not before.
- The DeltaWing Racing Cars team has confirmed Gabby Chaves will return for the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring as third driver alongside Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge. Chaves made his debut as a last-minute add as fourth driver at the Rolex 24.
- Action Express Racing has confirmed Jon Fogarty as third driver of its No. 9 Corvette DP for Sebring, alongside brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle. Fogarty has a ride after the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team announced it would withdraw for the rest of the season. “It’s an unfortunate situation we found ourselves in after Daytona, but the opportunity to go and participate at Sebring with Action Express Racing in such a big and historic event is great,” he said in a release.
- Continental Tire’s “Through the Driver’s Eyes,” hosted by Dario Franchitti, will air Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, in a bit of ancillary TUDOR Championship program. Here’s a teaser of the show as released by Continental earlier Tuesday.