LE MANS: Webber named 2017 grand marshal

Newly retired Porsche LMP1 driver and 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship P1 title winner Mark Webber has been named grand marshal of June's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Australian, who made five starts at the endurance racing classic from 1998-2016, earned a best finish of second in 2015 and left as the most popular driver in the WEC.

"I'm honored to be asked to be the grand marshal," said the 40-year-old. "I've never done anything like that before. I'll be favoring my beloved Porsche but Toyota will be very hungry to get the outright win, LMP2 is looking good and record entries in GT. It's going to be a cracking event."

The practice of naming a recently retired sports car racing star as the Le Mans grand marshal has become the norm, although from Webber's perspective, his nomination sits in the shadow of those who won the event on multiple occasions.

"What does it mean to follow in the footsteps of Alex Wurz, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, and Henri Pescarolo?" he asked. "I think as a grand marshal, those four gentlemen have a tremendous record at Le Mans; obviously they'd been racing there for a long time.

"I didn't really have the time at Le Mans or the record they had the luxury of having, but what it does signify is the event gives us the opportunity to talk to people in a bit more of relaxed atmosphere and explain to people how important this event is."

The 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place June 17-18.