BY: BRADLEY BROWNELL
Porsche’s new prototype race car doesn’t make its racing debut until next year, but it’s been making some testing appearances out in the world. Porsche first showed it off in photographs just a few weeks ago, but this is our first indication of what the car actually sounds like when given the full beans. This is always an important part of a Porsche race car.
This one is different because it’s a twin-turbocharged V8 engine based on street car architecture, so we’re guessing it’s the 4-liter from the Cayenne and Panamera Turbo. In the LMDh prototype it sounds a whole lot rowdier than any Cayenne or Panamera ever has, and for that we are thankful. It’s not quite Porsche race car sounds, but it’s certainly race car sounds.
A nice big and loud booming exhaust note is pretty great when it comes from a low and lithe shape like this prototype. Get used to the sound, because we’re going to be hearing a lot of it in the next few years. Hopefully from the top step of the podium.
In this test at the newly revamped Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, Porsche managed to get in some significant pre-launch testing. The car will do battle on both sides of the Atlantic, running in the top flight IMSA championship GTP category here stateside, and the FIA WEC’s LMDh category internationally. In both cases the Porsche will fight directly against Hypercar and LMDh competition from Toyota, Peugeot, Glickenhaus, Ferrari, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, and more. It’ll be pretty exciting to see factory-backed efforts from the Penske Racing organization, as well as potential privateers running at all our favorite North American tracks again.
This could be the resurgence of the heyday of IMSA racing, throwing it back to the massive and competitive grids of the 1980s and 90s, which, as you’ll likely remember, Porsche absolutely dominated with the 962. Here’s hoping that specific part of it comes back, too!