• news

A short news item from Porsche celebrating the delivery of Mark Webber’s personal 918 Spyder, just in time for his 39th birthday on 27th August 2015.

Webber’s car, chassis #605/918, features the iconic ‘Salzberg Racing’ livery worn by the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans winning 917K. Standard in the lightweight ‘Weissach Pack’ fitted to this car is a full-body wrap which would otherwise contribute 2.3 kg of the total 41 kg stripped out of the standard car. Interestingly Mark’s opted to forgo that saving by having one of the available wrap schemes painted on his car instead.

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• collections

Some insight into Webber’s collection of contemporary Porsches, soon be joined by some classics from the sound of it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly:

“Probably my biggest prize possession is the 997 GT3 RS 4.0-litre…”

Webber is one of many F1 drivers known, as this article confirms, or rumoured to have a 997 GT2 RS lurking in their garages.

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• motorsport

Peter Windsor:

“…here, in Mark’s own words, are some pen-portraits of some of the key figures from his career.”

We’ll miss cheering on MW when F1 rolls around next year, though the prospect of him returning to the grid at Le Mans in a factory Porsche is epic.

• motorsport
• interview

Answering some direct questions on why he’s leaving F1 for Le Mans:

“Le Mans is one of the most famous circuits in the world and to be honest, I still see it as unfinished business and I want to do well there. Le Mans can be cruel as we’ve just seen, but it’s incredibly rewarding and that’s part of the allure.”

• motorsport

Mark Webber:

It’s an honour for me to join Porsche at its return to the top category in Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship and be part of the team. Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer and stands for outstanding technology and performance at the highest level.

I’m very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world.”

After so many rumours for such a long time it’s so great to finally get this out in the open.

With Porsche’s factory tilt at the WEC and Le Mans, Mark’s vacated seat at Red Bull Racing stirring up more than a few line-ups in F1 and the wholesale technical changes in F1, 2014 is shaping up to be a vintage year for motorsport.