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Porsche recommits to Le Mans through 2018

Porsche is back at the forefront of sports endurance racing, and it has no intention of leaving anytime soon. The German automaker announced that it will stay in the LMP1 class of both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship through the end of 2018. So its rivals can look forward to a good three more years of heated competition at least. After winning at Le Mans a record 16 times, Porsche dropped out of competition for top honors in 1998. It returned to the front of the grid last year with the 919 Hybrid, winning the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at the end of its debut season. Its greater victory, however, came earlier this summer when the revised version took a dominant 1-2 finish in the famous French endurance race. That put the team from Weissach in the lead for the World Endurance Championship, which it (spoiler alert!) further extended this weekend with another 1-2 finish in the inaugural 6 Hours of Nurburgring. "Motorsport is an important part of Porsche's brand identity – but not an end in itself. Racing has got to help the technology of future road going sports cars," said Porsche chief Matthias Muller in the statement below. "It was the revolutionary efficiency regulations that convinced us to return to top-level motorsport for the 2014 season. That we have managed to take the crown jewels of endurance racing in only our second year, with a one-two result in Le Mans in 2015 with our highly innovative and complex 919, is an outstanding testimony to the people in the Weissach research and development centre. The competition bears fruits and we see further potential for future synergy between the racing and road car programmes. This is why we have extended the programme." FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and 24-Hours of Le Mans Porsche confirms LMP1 programme up to end of 2018 Stuttgart. Porsche continues racing into the future with the 919 Hybrid: The board of Porsche AG has decided to extend the Le Mans prototype programme until the end of the 2018 season. With its ground-breaking concept – a downsizing turbo engine and powerful energy recovery systems, combined with an extreme lightweight design – the racing car with a performance of around 1,000 hp serves as a research laboratory for future sports car technology. Matthias Muller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, said: "Motorsport is an important part of Porsche's brand identity – but not an end in itself.

Sunday Drive: A tale of old favorites and upcoming challengers

Sedans and crossovers dominated the attention of our readers last week, led by the completely redesigned 2018 Honda Accord. It's the Japanese automaker's flagship, and people are seriously interested in finding out how good the latest Accord is. So interested, in fact, that no other single story came close to the brand-new Accord in Autoblog reader interest. Moving down the list we find the equally new 2018 Buick Enclave. The three-row crossover has a lot to offer a family, especially one looking for a nice, quiet ride. If you're looking for the exact opposite of nice and quiet, but still want enough room for you and your significant others, the Subaru WRX that we tested last week may be the perfect ride for you. Or, if you just want to drive fast and aren't at all worried about space, there's the Camaro SS. See? We offer something for everybody. From there, we look to the future. Who isn't interested in seeing the first fully electric vehicle from Porsche? And who isn't intrigued to see the Mission E testing alongside a gaggle of Teslas? A brand-new Jeep is always a big deal, especially when it's the revival of a classic nameplate like the Grand Wagoneer. And finally, we have something completely different: the Rezvani Tank. As always, tune in to Autoblog next week for a front-row seat to all the happenings worth following in the automotive industry. 2018 Honda Accord First Drive | Feels like home again 2018 Buick Enclave First Drive Review | Fortress of quietude 2018 Subaru WRX Drivers' Notes | Turbo traditionalist 2018 Chevy Camaro SS Drivers' Notes | Demonstrative power, middling interior Porsche Mission E caught testing against Teslas Jeep three-row SUV caught on public roads — Grand Wagoneer, perhaps? Rezvani Tank: It's like a Hot Wheels car brought to life Green Buick Chevrolet Honda Jeep Porsche Subaru Crossover SUV Electric Future Vehicles Luxury Off-Road Vehicles Special and Limited Editions Performance Sedan porsche mission e sunday drive

Supercar 'Holy Trinity' raced at the track, drag strip, and to 186 mph

There was a time when we weren't sure if we'd ever get the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 Spyder on the track together. Now, we've have a multi-part series dissecting how each supercar approaches all kinds of go-fast tasks. Supercar Driver (SCD) looks at their performances around the track, on the drag strip, and on a runway. SCD didn't get any help from the automakers, it used three cars all owned by one British gentleman, Paul Bailey. The first video has British Touring Car Championship driver Mat Jackson running all three around Silverstone. The second video takes the coupes to Santa Pod Raceway to run the quarter-mile. The third video runs them out to Bruntingthorpe Airfield for a drag race to 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph). We found that latter video especially interesting because SCD shows a graph of how fast each car hit speed marks, and it's interesting to see where the winner made up all of its time and the where the third-place getter lost its time. Nota bene, the McLaren is using its fly-paper sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires. You'll find the first video in the series above, the second two videos below. If you still haven't had enough, then check out the Hyper 5 three-part series by Alejandro Solomon filmed at California's Thermal Raceway, starting with the Holy Trinity and adding the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and Pagani Huayra. Chris Harris also did fantastic work around Portimao with the help of Marino Franchitti and Tiff Needell, with assistance from the factories. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Ferrari McLaren Porsche Convertible Coupe Hybrid Luxury Special and Limited Editions Performance Supercars Videos porsche 918 spyder mclaren p1 ferrari laferrari