Insane Porsche Race Car Does More Miles Than Most Collector 911s

There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on for Porsche in motorsport right now. Both Porsche and Audi will soon be entering Formula 1, though the how is still unknown. The makers of the Porsche 911 also have a new endurance racing car, scheduled to compete at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona at a minimum. The car is still in development, but as of this week, has managed another milestone.

As of now, Porsche’s LMDh racer has more miles on its odometer than a lot of collector-grade 911s. Since its rollout, the car has covered 3,728 miles. The last time we saw the Le Mans hypercar, it had only 1,200 miles on the clock. That was back in February, which means the car has done nearly four times that distance in three months. Impressive.

Most of the driving was done in one of four locations. Testing was conducted at Porsche’s test facility in Weissach, as well as at Spa Francorchamps, Catalunya, and lesser-known Aragon. “As of the beginning of May, our LMDh car has already completed more than 6,000 km in a wide range of conditions,” says Urs Kuratle, Head of Works Motorsport LMDh.

Apparently, the distance also corresponds almost exactly to the distances done by the fastest prototypes that race in the American IMSA series during the 24 Hours of Daytona. That figure doesn’t just include the race, but also any practice sessions, qualifying, and testing runs. We doubt a Formula 1 car could manage that without needing a new engine, and consuming enough tires to cause another shortage.

Porsche says the majority of the work has been centered around a few key areas. Of course, the 700-odd hp twin-turbo V8 needs to work in conjunction with the car’s hybrid system, one that isn’t wholly unlike those used in Formula 1. Porsche has also worked closely with tire supplier Michelin to make sure the car can perform well throughout a race stint.

For those of us in North America, Porsche has also said further testing will be done here, likely at some of the same tracks the LMDh car will be racing at. Perhaps we’ll even get a chance to see the car testing in the flesh soon. We can only hope.