Porsche preparing for Le Mans exit

Porsche is set to end its LMP1 Hybrid program at the end of the 2017 FIA WEC season, with an announcement expected within the next day.

RACER.com sources and multiple German outlets are reporting that Porsche's withdrawal from Le Mans and the WEC was approved at board level on Wednesday. How much of the more than $200 million that it spent annually on its Prototype program will be redirected into other motorsport activites remains to be seen, although RACER understands that there is a desire within Porsche to join fellow German manufacturers BMW, Audi and Mercedes in Formula E.

The news comes after Audi pulled the plug on its LMP1 Hybrid program last year, and leaves Toyota as the sole manufacturer in the LMP1 H class.

Porsche's LMP1 program made its debut in the FIA WEC back in 2014, and since then has won Le Mans three times, and the FIA WEC LMP1 Manufacturers' and Drivers' titles twice. It is also poised to win the FIA WEC Drivers' and Manufacturers' World Championship this season, currently leading both title races after wins at Le Mans and the Nurburgring.