Porsche Explains Background of Suzuka One-Off Liveries

Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific has explained on the background behind the Weissach marque’s trio of special one-off designs for this weekend’s Suzuka 1000km.

In the run-up to the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season, PMAP took the covers off a trio of special color schemes for its three Pro-class 911 GT3 Rs run by Phantom Global Racing, Absolute Racing and Origine Motorsport.

Respectively, they pay tribute to the famous ‘Pink Pig’ Porsche 917 that raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971, the Le Mans-winning NewMan Joest Racing Porsche 956s of the mid-1980s, and the 1981 Suzuka 1000km-winning Kremer Porsche 935.

Gibot explained that PMAP wanted to make a major effort with the liveries due to the importance of the revived Suzuka 1000km, and worked with each of its teams individually to find the best-suited color scheme from Porsche’s extensive archive.

“We wanted to do something special to commemorate the return of the Suzuka 1000km,” Gibot told Sportscar365. “We started to discuss ideas with the teams, and through a combination of that and Porsche’s heritage in sports car racing, we thought we could do something that could also give more exposure to the event.

“The choice between the different liveries was up to the teams. For Phantom Global, they straight away wanted Pink Pig because this is something really popular in China.

“I can tell you that on the Porsche Lifestyle website, the top sales in China, everything is related to Pink Pig. Since it was brought back for the RSR at Le Mans [in 2018], it’s been very popular, so for them it was the obvious choice.

“Then for Absolute, they have a history with Le Mans, having entered with an RSR twice, and one of the team co-owners [Fabien Fior] is French.

“We looked into it and we realized NewMan had not yet been revived. It was nice to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the win at Le Mans, and it’s a super-cool design.

“For Origine, we were scratching our heads; we had many ideas, but in the end we decided to do something more specific to the event and started searching the archives. The original livery is from Team Italia and it did all the big races, including Le Mans.

“It creates a bit of general excitement around the event, beyond just entering the cars with Pro drivers. That was the base, but out of this we did something really cool.

“Having all 11 cars lining up for the group photo at the final chicane at Suzuka, it was a special moment that we will remember forever.”

Major Logistical Effort for 11-Car Suzuka Porsche Fleet

Porsche has the largest presence of any individual manufacturer on the grid at Suzuka this weekend, and PMAP has approximately 14 staff members on-site at the Japanese circuit to support its various teams, including support engineers, sporting specialists, parts managers, marketing staff, a physio and an osteopath.

Although the number of cars is comparable to the its presence for regular rounds of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, Gibot explained the number of pro drivers, including the likes of FIA World Endurance Championship stars Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, and the format of the race called for an even bigger effort than usual.

“Partly because of the number of cars, but also because it’s an endurance race, and we have full Pro entries,” said Gibot. “It’s only one of three events that we have full Pro entries along with Bathurst and Macau, so it requires additional effort.

“For us it’s one of the major events in the region, and on a more global level, we can also support the brand to score good points for the IGTC classification. It’s also big opportunity to develop our customers and go into more international events.”

As well as the trackside support, Gibot highlighted the example of Origine driver Laurin Heinrich’s recent meeting with racing legend Henri Pescarolo as an example of what the additional marketing clout of PMAP can yield.

“The product and service is very well received,” continued Gibot. “We are not just sending one engineer and bringing a parts container.

“For a team like Origine to be featured on the official Porsche website, with the livery and also the Pescarolo story, it’s a great achievement. This team didn’t exist three or four years ago and now they are being recognized by headquarters.”