Porsche fields two special Porsche 911 RSR at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans: The factory-run cars with the starting numbers 91 and 92 will compete sporting the traditional Le Mans liveries of the 1970s and 1980s.
The #91 contender is decked out in the iconic blue-and-white finish with red and gold stripes, reminiscent of the Rothmans sponsor colours of that era. The #92 car adopts the famous “Pink Pig” design of the 917/20 from 1971. Porsche unveiled the two circa 510 hp racers from Weissach on Saturday at the official test for the Le Mans 24-hour race.
By presenting these special designs, Porsche commemorates its eventful history at the prestigious marathon in the Sarthe Department on the occasion of its anniversary year “70 Years Porsche Sports Cars”. Moreover, the two cars are real head-turners for fans. “With these much-loved designs, we want to thank our loyal supporters who have cheered for us both on and off the track at every race, but particularly at Le Mans, where we as record winners with 19 outright victories received incredible support every year,” says Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars.
#lemans24 Watch the unveiling of our vintage design #911RSR celebrating the #Porsche70years anniversary. pic.twitter.com/XHd0fkn2Hd
— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) 2. Juni 2018
Starting number 91
The 911 RSR with the number 91, driven by Gianmaria Bruni (Italy), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France), echoes the Rothmans paintwork of various Porsche race cars. An example is the Porsche 959, which won the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally flying the colours of the British tobacco manufacturer. In circuit racing, the Porsche 956 C and the Porsche 962 C celebrated major successes: Each of these two blue-and-white Group C sports prototypes clinched overall victory twice at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the 956 C in 1982 and 1983, and the 962 C at the 1986 and 1987 races.
Starting number 92
The finish of the number 92 car, shared by race drivers Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), harks back to the Porsche 917/20 that tackled Le Mans in 1971. This one-of-a-kind race car was designed to combine the aerodynamic advantages of the short and long-tail versions of the 917 and thereby ensure that the previously untested car would win the qualification. The 917/20 was dubbed the “Pink Pig” due to its pink paintwork with sections of the car labelled in butcher-style cuts. The idea implemented under the Porsche designer Anatole Lapine caused a stir at the Sarthe. Still today, the 917/20, also known as the “Truffle Hunter”, is one of the most famous Porsche cars ever.
Info
A total of ten Porsche 911 RSR racers will contest this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans – four fielded by the factory and six by customer teams. The two permanent vehicles from the Sports Car World Endurance Championship (WEC) will line up on the grid sporting the custom design; the #93 and #94 works vehicles will compete under the usual white, black and red livery, which from a bird’s eye perspective alludes to the emblem of the Porsche brand. The 86th edition of the Le Mans 24-hour race will be contested from 16-17 June.
Related Content
primaryCategory empty
Motorsports at Porsche
Race series, vehicles, works drivers and more: Here you can find all information about Porsche's motorsports program.
Motorsports
FIA WEC: Porsche GT Team with a podium
After a gripping race at Spa, Porsche has started into the new season with second and fourth place.
History
Putting a legendary factory racer onto the public highway
Road Werks: Claudio Roddaro not only owns a genuine 917, but has made it road-legal.
Motorsports
“Road to Le Mans. The Film” – how Michael Fassbender’s dream came true
“Road to Le Mans. The Film” is a documentary following Fassbender from his childhood dream to the start of Le Mans.
© 2024 Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG.
*All new vehicles offered by Porsche are type-approved according to WLTP. Official NEDC values derived from WLTP values are no longer available for new vehicles as of 1 January 2023 and can therefore not be provided.
Where values are indicated as ranges, they do not refer to a single, specific vehicle and are not part of the offered product range. They are only for the purposes of comparison between different vehicle types. Additional equipment and accessories (add-on parts, tyre formats etc.) can change relevant vehicle parameters such as weight, rolling resistance and aerodynamics. These factors, in addition to weather, traffic conditions and driving behaviour, can influence the fuel/electricity consumption, CO2 emissions, range and performance values of a vehicle.
More information about the differences between WLTP and NEDC is available at www.porsche.com/wltp.
** Important information about the all-electricPorschemodels can be foundhere.
Terms and conditions Porsche Newsroom
1. All information offered on Porsche Newsroom, including but not limited to, texts, images, audio and video documents, are subject to copyright or other legislation for the protection of intellectual property. They are intended exclusively for use by journalists as a source for their own media reporting and are not intended for commercial use, in particular for advertising purposes. It is not permitted to pass on texts, images, audio or video data to unauthorised third parties.
2.Use of Newsroom content for book projects (or similar commercial use) is not permitted, particular with regards to images. Any potential usage must be approved beforehand by Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. To discuss licencing requests for book projects please email:archiv@porsche.de
3. All logos and trademarks mentioned on Porsche Newsroom are trademarks of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (hereinafter: Porsche AG), unless otherwise stated.
4. All contents of Porsche Newsroom are carefully researched and compiled. Nevertheless, the information may contain errors or inaccuracies. Porsche AG does not accept any liability with respect to the results that may be achived through the use of the information, in particular with respect to accuracy, up-to-dateness and completeness.
5. Insofar as Porsche Newsroom provides information concerning vehicles, the data refers to the German market. Statements concerning standard equipment and statutory, legal and tax regulations and repercussion are valid for the Federal Public of Germany only.
6. With respect to the use of Porsche Newsroom, technical faults such as, delays to news transmission, cannot be ruled out. Porsche AG does not accept any liability for any resulting damage.
7. Insofar as Porsche Newsroom provides links to the internet sites of third parties, Porsche AG does not accept any responsibility for the content of the linked sites. On using the links, the user leaves the Porsche AG information products.
8. In agreeing to these rights of use, the user shall be obliged to refrain from any improper use of Porsche Newsroom.
9. In the event of improper use, Porsche AG reserves the right to block access to Porsche Newsroom.
10. Should one or more provisions of these terms and conditions be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.
