Slideshow: Porsche Campaigns 2 Throwback RSR Racers at Le Mans
It was another successful 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche as the company's number 91 and 92 911 RSRs competed wearing historic Rothmans and Pink Pig liveries.
One-Two Finish
The 86th running of the Le Mans 24-hour, held this year from 16-17 June, is in the history books. Porsche came away with historic wins to celebrate it's "70 Years of Porsche Sports Cars" as Porsche scooped up its 106th and 107th class wins at the event. Out of a field of ten Porsche 911 RSR racers, the factory fielded four, with car number 92—wearing '70s-era "Pink Pig" colors—finishing 344 laps to claim first place in the GTE-Pro class. The car, driven by Kévin Estre of France, Laurens Vanthoor of Belgium, and Michael Christensen of Denmark, led its class for almost the entire race to claim Porsche's 106th class win. Sister factory car number 91, in classic Rothmans livery and driven by Richard Lietz of Austria, Frédéric Makowiecki of France, and Gianmaria Bruni of Italy, finished just behind, taking second in class. The one-two finish helps Porsche to further extend its lead in both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ 2018 FIA WEC world championship race.
Class victory number 107 came in the GTE-Am group at the hands of Matt Campbell of Australia, Christian Ried of Germany, and Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer of France, driving a 911 from privateer team Dempsey-Proton Racing. The win marks 18-year-old Andlauer as the youngest class winner ever at Le Mans.
Pink Pig
The number 92 car competed in the “Pink Pig” paint scheme, the colors famously covering a 917/20 during the 1971 season. The graphics, complete with "cut here" lines and the names of the cuts of pork printed in period typeface, made it ridiculously easy for fans to follow the RSRs progress throughout the 24-hour contest.
Rothmans
While non-vegan foodstuffs advertising is still legal—for the time being, but don't expect to see it on electric vehicles any time soon—tobacco advertising has been banned across large swaths of Europe since the 1980s, so although the number 91 car wore British tobacco manufacturer Rothmans' blue-and-white finish with red and gold stripes, the company's name was implied rather than illustrated.
For Your Pleasure
The two RSR racers from Weissach were unveiled in advance of the 24-hour race, during the official test sessions at the Sarthe. Porsche had fans in mind with the special throwback designs for their 510+ hp entries. "With these much-loved designs, we want to thank our loyal supporters who have cheered for us both on and off the track at every race, but particularly at Le Mans, where we as record winners with 19 outright victories received incredible support every year," said Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche's Vice President of Motorsport and GT Cars.
Pink Pink Redux
The number 92 RSR's "Pink Pig" graphics date back to the 1971 running of Le Mans and the one-of-a-kind Porsche 917/20 that ran that year. The 917/20 featured an aerodynamic design that combined the best of the earlier 917 K short-tail and 917 LH long-tail shapes that, according to Porsche would, "thereby ensure that the previously untested car would win the qualification." The butcher-cut decorated 917/20, also known as the "Truffle Hunter," was created under the direction of Porsche designer Anatole Lapine and stood out in an era of outstanding designs, joining the psychedelic long-tail and Gulf colors 917s in achieving legend status.
Rothmans Redux
The number 91 RSR recreates the Rothmans tobacco paint scheme worn by a multitude of Porsches from an era when Porsches virtually owned endurance racing—a Rothmans-sponsored 959 winning the Paris-Dakar rally in 1986, and Rothmans-liveried 956C models winning the 24 hours of Le Mans outright in '82 and '83, and again in '86 and '87 with 962C models.
Going Forward
Of the non-retro-look 911 RSRs in play at Le Mans this year, factory cars numbers 93 and 94 did less well. Car 93 lost a crucial 25 minutes overnight repairing "technical problems," though it still managed to finish in 11th place. Nine-eleven number 94 succumbed to suspension damage after completing just seven hours on the 13.626-kilometer long racecourse. The twin victories of the class-winning 911 RSRs mark the model's first such placing since their double victories in 2013. Maybe it was the paint. We're sure engineering, preparation, support, and driving all played a part, but we'd recommend another couple throwback-style cars for next year's running of the 24 Hours just to play it safe.