Porsche to quit LMP1, will enter Formula E

The German car maker will make its Formula E debut in the 2019-20 season

It seems like Formula E is going to be the next big thing in motorsports in the years to come. Earlier this month, brands like Mercedes and BMW have already announced their entry into the sport, and now, Porsche too joins the bandwagon.

After endless speculations, Porsche finally announced that they will withdraw their LMP1 campaign at the end of this year in favour of a Formula E debut in the 2019-20 season. The official statement from the company also revealed that have already started work on the development of their Formula E car. The Stuttgart-based car maker said that the realignment of their motorsport endeavours has been made in line with the ‘Porsche Strategy 2025’ as per which they will develop the combination of pure GT vehicles and fully electric sports cars.

Speaking about the announcement Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche AG said, “Entering Formula E and achieving success in this category are the logical outcomes of our Mission E road car programme. The growing freedom for in-house technology developments makes Formula E attractive to us. Porsche is working on an alternative, innovative drive concepts. For us, Formula E is the ultimate competitive environment for driving forward the development of high-performance vehicles in areas such as environmental friendliness, efficiency, and sustainability.”

Porsche isn’t the first car maker to withdraw from LMP1. Last year, its sister firm Audi withdrew from its LMP1 endeavours last year. This move also leaves Toyota as the only car maker in the LMP1 class for now. Porsche isn’t the only company to divert its attention to Formula E. Indian auto major Mahindra, recently announced its withdrawal from Moto3 to focus its energies and finances on Formula E too.

Moreover, to make things interesting, Formula E will no longer need two cars per driver – this means drivers will not have to change their cars mid-way into the race. The new cars set to be introduced in season 5 of the Formula E championship feature advanced tech that will allow a single car to complete the full race distance.