How Porsche is kicking the WEC when it’s down

To: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
Porscheplatz 1, D - 70435 Stuttgart

Cc: Andreas Seidl
Porsche Motorsport
Porschestrasse 911, D - 71287 Weissach

I am writing to inform you that I was disappointed - and subsequently a little bit depressed - by the Porsche LMP1 team's conduct at the recent Mexico City round of the World Endurance Championship. I feel you were mostly to blame for a largely boring race that did a disservice to the championship.

We could not have predicted that Toyota would have been quite so uncompetitive, particularly after the promise it showed around its bogey circuit at the Nurburgring in July. But it was evident pretty early in the weekend that your 919 Hybrid had a clear advantage at altitude in Mexico. Your only rival wasn't a threat, so why not let your two cars race each other?

I feel shortchanged after trekking across the Atlantic to attend a sham of a race. I'm sure the locals who paid for their seats and anyone who switched on their TVs around the world that Sunday felt the same way to differing degrees. Or maybe the TV viewers just switched off and the fans went home - the grandstands looked nowhere near as full at the finish of the race as at the beginning. I had to stay to the end.

Your insistence on the championship-leading trio of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber winning meant it wasn't a really a race at all. Or at least the drivers of your other car - should we now start calling it your 'second' car? - weren't allowed to race.

You reversed the order at the Nurburgring, too, though the cars did race, or at least swap positions out on track. Your able LMP1 team principal, Mr Seidl, has told the world's media that Porsche will continue to invoke team orders until you have sewn up both the drivers' and manufacturers' championships.

I understand that the trophies handed out at the end of the season and the indelible entries in the record books are important to a manufacturer. But so, too, is its reputation, the way your famous brand is perceived by anyone with even a remote interest in the WEC.

Porsche should be helping the WEC in its hour of need, not putting the boot in when it is down

Is this the way you want to be remembered as you bow out of front-line sportscar racing at the end of this season? Porsche has a long and rich tradition in the highest echelons of endurance racing. I feel you are somehow sullying that with your actions right now.

I don't remember Porsche invoking team orders in days of old.

Think back to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1983. You had two cars out front, both in trouble. The engine of the leading 956 was on its last legs and the chasing car needed new brakes. But they were allowed to race when the next best car - admittedly a privateer Porsche - was six laps in arrears.

The situation could easily have been manipulated to make sure of a victory for one of the factory cars, even to ensure a 1-2, but the powers that be in the pits thankfully remembered that it was a motor race. And that's why that edition of the great race is your Le Mans victory from the 1980s that everyone still talks about.

The way any team of sportsmen or women goes about its business is important. Those that are remembered for years are the ones who win with style and flair, not the clinical automaton.

The irony is that right now you have two crews that are more evenly matched than at any time during the past two, three or even four seasons. Andre Lotterer, Nick Tandy and Neel Jani have proved that they are more than capable of matching your championship leaders, so why not let them race, particularly when there is no challenge from Toyota?

That could change, of course. I'm not expecting the TS050 HYBRIDs to be quite so uncompetitive over the remainder of the season. But are you betting on them challenging you in each and every one of the four remaining races, starting this weekend in Austin? I wouldn't put money on that.

There's little doubt in my mind that Timo, Brendon and Earl are going to win the championship. The 50 points they won at Le Mans will see to that.

They are now 41 points ahead with only 104 up for grabs over the remaining four races. You might argue that a retirement for the championship leaders could change the picture at the front of the championship pretty quickly. If that were to happen, that would be the time to start reaching for the pitboard, not now when you have such a healthy lead in the championship and a clear advantage on the race track.

I know that Toyota is playing the team orders game as well. But perhaps you could both take a leaf out of Audi's book. For the majority of its time in the prototype ranks, it allowed its drivers to race each other - and race pretty hard. The only proviso was that they were not to run into each other.

Can I also point out that Porsche has a vested interest in the WEC. You may be leaving LMP1, but your great marque will continue in the GTE ranks, hopefully for a long time to come.

The WEC needs all the help it can get in this period of uncertainty as it heads into the brave new world of the 'superseason' and a new-look calendar finishing at Le Mans. You should be helping the WEC in its hour of need, not putting the boot in when it is down.

I hope you can see it from my perspective as an ageing hack. I waited for 15 years for an end to what I call the interregnum - because you were and are truly the kings of Le Mans and sportscar racing - and you've only been back at the top of the endurance tree for a quartet of seasons.

If you take another 15 seasons out, I'm unlikely to be around the next time you are challenging for outright victories at Le Mans and - presuming there is one - in a world championship. At least, I'm probably not going to travelling the world reporting on races.

So come on, give me something to remember you by. Go out with a bang, not a whimper. Let your boys race!

Yours hopefully,

Gary Watkins
Journalist and motor racing fan