WEC, ACO respond to Porsche exit

The ACO, promoter of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and its partners at the FIA World Endurance Championship have expressed their views on Porsche's upcoming departure from the LMP1-Hybrid class and how they anticipate the category will look once 2018 arrives.

The opening statement offers a blended farewell and jab at the German marque for leaving sooner than expected.

"[The ACO/WEC] regrets this precipitous departure, as it does the abruptness of the decision from one of endurance racing's most successful and lauded manufacturers," they said in a joint statement.

The loss of Audi and Porsche in less than a year has left LMP1-H with a single representative in Toyota to carry on against privateer LMP1-L cars next season. The fast but lower-tech, non-hybrid, non-factory LMP1-L cars will be beneficial when it comes to populating the grid. Despite the clear reduction in technology and advancement with the spec-engine 2018 LMP1-Ls, the partners felt compelled to overamplify the technological merits of what's to come.

"However, the ACO and the FIA, guardians of the existence and quality of the FIA World Endurance championship, have immediately set to work to put forward to everyone involved in endurance racing the outline of the 2018 season – a season which promises to be quite exceptional thanks to the introduction of new innovations," they said.

"Clearly, the reduction of costs and stability, but also inventiveness and audacity, will be vital in making it possible to stage an increasingly spectacular and attractive championship with the sport of endurance racing at the forefront."

The ACO/FIA closed with a statement that should prove to be correct, even without a healthy number of cutting-edge LMP1-Hybrids: "This unprecedented 2018 World Championship will, without doubt, excite and enthuse competitors, partners and fans of endurance racing alike."