The German manufacturer has revealed that it is working on a new crankshaft for the 4.6-litre, twin-turbo LMDh engine developed out of the normally-aspirated units used in the RS Spyder LMP2 and the 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid road car.
Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh project at Porsche, explained that the marque was now waiting on approval from the sanctioning bodies of the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship before setting out a timeline for racing the updated engine.
“The last discussion point with IMSA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest [which jointly runs the WEC with the FIA] is whether we can introduce it in 2024 and not the following season,” said Kuratle.
“If the answer is no, we are not running it, and [if the answer is yes] we are not sure when we are running it for the first time.
“As we all know, changes like crankshafts have a massive lead time that takes months to get these things on the cars, and we must have the first pieces to do endurance testing.
“Definitely we will not run it at any race before Le Mans; if we introduce it in Le Mans we are not sure yet – we simply don’t know.”
Source: Autosport