NewMan Retro Livery for Absolute Porsche at Suzuka

Absolute Racing has revealed a Suzuka 1000km livery inspired by the classic NewMan colors seen on the 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Joest Porsches of the mid-1980s.

The No. 7 Porsche 911 GT3 R will feature the same fondly-remebered yellow, black and white scheme that took back-to-back Le Mans victories with Joest’s Porsche 956s in 1984 and ’85 for the revived Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture on Sept. 12-14.

In an additional homage to the original, ‘Absolute’ is rendered in a font similar to that used by fashion company NewMan on the roof, bonnet and engine cover.

Sharing driving duties at the wheel of the car will be two of the German marque’s FIA World Endurance Championship stars, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre, plus one of Absolute’s regular GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS drivers, Patrick Pilet.

Absolute team principal Fabien Fior said: “We are delighted to return to Asia’s premier GT3 endurance race. Competing with a trio of world-class drivers, in collaboration with Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific and in an iconic Porsche customer racing livery, provides the team with huge motivation.

“This entry brings not only excitement, but also a clear sense of responsibility. Suzuka holds special memories for Absolute Racing, and we are fully committed to building on our past successes and delivering a strong performance once again.”

Vanthoor and Estre have been teammates in the WEC since the start of the Porsche Penske Motorsport LMDh program in 2023, and have Suzuka experience from the inaugural IGTC race at the Japanese venue, the Suzuka 10 Hours, in 2018.

Pilet knows the famous figure-of-eight track from his 2023 GTWC Asia campaign, and previously drove together with Vanthoor and Estre in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa last year for another Asian Porsche customer, HubAuto Racing.

Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific managing director Alexandre Gibot commented: “As one of our long-standing customers, we’re delighted to be teaming up again with Absolute Racing at the Suzuka 1000km, a race they have enjoyed success at!

“The driver line-up of Laurens, Kevin and Patrick is very competitive, and we know how professional and competitive the team is at every event it attends.

“I can’t wait to see that iconic yellow and black livery on track and will be keeping a close eye on their progress!”

The classic NewMan color scheme is the second retro Suzuka 1000km livery to have been revealed this week following fellow Porsche squad Phantom Global Racing’s ‘Pink Pig’-inspired design, which was unveiled on Wednesday.