Possibility of 2022 Race Entry “Interesting Option” for Porsche

Porsche’s Head of Motorsport Thomas Laudenbach has described the recently-confirmed eligibility of LMDh cars in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship as an “interesting option” for the manufacturer.

The FIA on Saturday announced that LMDh cars will be allowed to enter 2022 WEC rounds on a “race-by-race” basis as part of their development ahead of the platform’s full inclusion next year.

Any appearances would likely be made with cars running in their pre-homologation state and the FIA has stated that no championship points would be awarded.

Porsche is currently working on the development of its new LMDh hybrid prototype developed in conjunction with Multimatic.

Testing took place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last month where the publicly unnamed Porsche racked up more than 1,200 miles over multiple days.

It’s understood that the manufacturer’s next test will take place in Europe before it looks to send its LMDh car to a track in North America later this year.

A Porsche LMDh appearance during the 2022 WEC season would depend on how the rest of the development work progresses.

“We welcome the decision of the FIA World Motor Sport Council,” said Laudenbach in a statement provided exclusively to Sportscar365.

“It could be an interesting option for Porsche. We will take a close look at this possibility and decide at a later date based on the development status of our LMDh car.”

While IMSA has confirmed a homologation timeline for cars racing in its GTP class, the WEC has been tight-lipped on the schedule for LMDh in the Hypercar category.

IMSA has set up two sanction tests in October and December for LMDh and LMH manufacturers wanting to homologate cars for the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January 2023.