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PSA: Mark Webber can't text and drive and neither should you

Texting and driving is dangerous. You shouldn't do it. We really can't stress that enough. But if you won't listen to us, maybe you'll listen to Mark Webber. The Australian driver is one of the most accomplished in motor racing. As Sebastian Vettel's former wingman at Red Bull, he won nine Formula One grands prix and scored over a thousand championship points. And now as the headline driver in Porsche's endurance racing program, he and his teammates behind the wheel of the 919 Hybrid are currently in the lead to win the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship with just one round to go. Suffice it to say, then, that he knows a thing or two about the concentration it takes to drive. And it doesn't involve looking at your phone while doing so. To drive that point home (so to speak), he and Porsche put together this little public service announcement. It shows a distracted Webber piloting a 911 GT3 Cup around the Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates, messing up his racing line, missing his apices, spinning out, and nearly trashing the thing. Does the idea of looking at your phone while lapping a race track strikes you as ludicrous? Well, it should. But then, at the risk of coming across as preachy, so should the idea of texting while driving. Because if a racing driver should know better, so should you. Don't take our word for it, though... take it from Mark in the video above.

Mark Webber hospitalized as Porsche takes first WEC victory, Toyota wins championship [UPDATE]

It was a mixed bag for the Porsche team at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo this weekend – the last race of its first season in the FIA World Endurance Championship. On the one hand, the German team took its first win since launching its LMP1 effort at the start of this season. On the other, its star driver suffered a massive crash that left him in the hospital. The crash occurred with less than half an hour to go when Mark Webber, who was running sixth in the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid, lost control at Turn 14 at the Interlagos circuit – the same spot where he crashed his Jaguar F1 car during the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix – and crashed tail-first into the barrier. Both Webber and Matteo Cressoni (driver of the #90 Ferrari 458 Italia with which Webber collided) were evacuated to the trackside medical center and were then taken to the nearby Hospital Bandeirantes. Both were reportedly conscious throughout but are undergoing further testing, described as being in "satisfactory" condition by the FIA medical official on the scene. The occurrence of the crash so close to the end of the race, and the time it took to clear the wreckage, meant there was not enough time for a restart, so the race was completed under the safety car. But when the field did cross the finish line, it was the #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Mark Lieb that took the checkered flag – marking the first time that Porsche has won an endurance prototype race since 1989. Of course, that solitary victory was not enough for Porsche to take the title, which went to the Toyota TS 040 driven by former F1 drivers Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson, who finished the race in second place ahead of the Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro driven by the retiring Tom Kristensen and his co-pilots Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval. Top honors for the season in LMP2 went to Sergey Zlobin for SMP Racing in the Oreca-Nissan, while Ferrari took the GT title. UPDATE: Mark Webber released the following statement on his condition: "I'm quite sore this morning, am pretty bruised and have got a stinking headache. I've got no recollection of the accident or how it happened. The team is looking into the details to find out more.

Porsche 911 GT1 Evo up for grabs in Monaco valued at $3M

On paper, Porsche didn't do a flagship supercar in between the 959 and the Carrera GT. In reality, it did. Sort of. It was the strassenversion of the 911 GT1, a homologation special based on a spectacularly successful racing car. And RM Sotheby's has a standout example consigned for its upcoming sale in Monaco. What you're looking at is a 911 GT1 Evolution that served as the mid-point in the GT1's development, following the original and followed in turn by the GT1-98 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year. One of just fourteen 911 GT1s held in public hands, chassis number GT1 993-117 won the Canadian GT Championship three years running, and is the only GT1 Evo that was ever registered for use on public roads. RM Sotheby's anticipates that it will fetch between $2.9 and $3.25 million when it crosses the auction block in May, marking the first time that this particular example has come up for auction. That would make it considerably more valuable than the GT1 Evo Gooding & Company sold at Amelia Island in 2012 for $1.26 million, according to Sports Car Market. Of course, the Porsche isn't the only notable item the auction house has lined up for the sale during the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique weekend. There's a pair of 1930s German convertibles – one Mercedes 540 K and one Horch 670 – valued at about the same level as the 911 GT1, a Tucker 48 (~$1.6m), and Niki Lauda's debut March 711 grand prix racer (~$550k). Those are some tempting sets of wheels, and we'll be watching to see how they fare two months from now.