New Porsche CEO and president Matthias Muller is weighing up a review of Porsche’s motorsport activities – and claimed the sports car brand could re-enter Le Mans with a full factory team, or even F1.
Muller was appointed on 1 October 2010 and has lots on his plate: he’s a VW veteran and is charged with integrating Porsche smoothly into the Volkswagen business empire as Wolfsburg ratchets up its ownership of Porsche. That integration includes motorsport, he told CAR at the 2010 Paris motor show.
Porsche: entering Le Mans… or F1!
Muller said racing was core to the Porsche DNA and that he was working on the sport strategy with his group colleagues. They see little point in competing head to head with dominant Audi in the LMP1 class at Le Mans, for instance, but would consider racing at La Sarthe if Audi changed its strategy.
‘There are two classes at Le Mans and there are two brands – Audi and Porsche,’ said Muller. ‘We do not want to both go into LMP1 as we have to discuss whether it makes sense for one of us to compete in LMP1 and the other go into F1.’
Porsche in Formula 1. Whatever next?
‘If VW won the Dakar next year for the third time maybe it’s time for us to do it,’ added Muller, immediately sparking images of 959s and race-specials in this reporter’s eyes.
It’s clear that Volkswagen’s masterplan is not to have inhouse brands competing in the same race series; in a very Germanic, logical worldview, they would rather have each brand racing and winning in separate programmes.
Muller added that Porsche’s motorsport activities were profitable. ‘We earn money through our motorsport business through private customers.’