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Porsche ready to pick itself up after Le Mans failure

It's safe to say that things for Porsche didn't go quite as well at Le Mans this year as it might have hoped. After a sixteen-year gap, the winningest manufacturer in endurance racing history returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe this year hoping maybe not for outright victory in its first time back, but definitely a strong finish on which it could build on for next year. All the while it undoubtedly hoped its 911s would hold their own in the GT classes.
Unfortunately for Porsche, neither happened. After racing around the clock, and despite actually leading the festivities for some time, the best its 919 Hybrid could manage was an eleventh-place finish, lagging lamentably behind not only the other LMP1s (like the race-winning Audi) but also a handful of LMP2s. Meanwhile the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am titles went to the factory-backed teams of its arch-rivals Ferrari and Aston Martin, respectively.
Not a stellar result, in other words, but Porsche is taking it all in stride - accepting that it has a ways to go while congratulating its vanquishing rivals in the video below. It's good sportsmanship if we've ever seen it. Next year's race starts now.

Porsche to expand range, Ferrari fighter a possibility

Porsche has something new on the way; not just the Cayman GT4 or 911 GT3 RS from the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, but a completely different, seventh model line. Unfortunately, the company is keeping mum about what exactly it has on the way. Porsche chairman Matthias Muller (pictured above) snuck the announcement into his speech during the brand's recent press conference. "For example, in the not too distant future we will present a seventh model series. But I am not yet able to tell you exactly when this will happen. There are already promising plans, but no board decision yet." Separately, Muller also indicated that the brand didn't want to set targets too far beyond 2018, which hints when this new vehicle might be unveiled. To lend one more possible clue, the boss said, "the high-speed high-tech laboratory of the 919 Hybrid will benefit all our future vehicles." With the absence of any more facts, speculation is filling the vacuum. Bloomberg posits that this could be Porsche's rumored competitors against Ferrari or Tesla. An electric model is rumored for 2019 with up to 600 horsepower and 300-mile range. "Tesla has built an exceptional car," Muller said, according to Bloomberg. "They have a very pragmatic approach and set the standard, where we have to follow up now." The model could also be the once-confirmed and reportedly-canceled Ferrari challenger to slot between the top 560-hp 911 Turbo S and sold-out, 887-hp 918 Spyder. There is a hole in the lineup in that niche with the latest Ferrari 488 GTB making 661 hp. Of course, there's also the already-spied Pajun four-door as yet another possibility. It's also rumored to hit the market in 2019. Although, some speculation postulates that that this smaller vehicle and the Tesla competitor are actually the same thing. Show full PR text Matthias Muller ? Annual Press Conference 2015 ? March 13, 2015 Ladies and gentlemen, After looking at business year 2014 in detail, I would now like to put my focus on 2015 and the medium-term future. The new business year started extremely well for Porsche. We were able to follow up on the success of the previous year with good delivery figures. By the end of February, we had already delivered 31,000 new vehicles to our customers worldwide. This is approximately a third more than the first two months of 2014. These figures are particularly pleasing because the global environment has not improved and is anything but easy.

Leno steals Porsche 918 from The Quail for latest Garage episode

Just because he's a famous celebrity doesn't mean Jay Leno got to take it easy at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance earlier this month. Having already spent some time with the gorgeous Cadillac Elmiraj Concept and Ed Welburn for a recent episode of Jay Leno's Garage, the late night talk show host also got to put a few miles on a prototype version of the Porsche 918 Spyder.
Like a usual episode of JLG, Leno first goes over the details of the car with Frank Walliser, head of the 918 Spyder's development, before taking it out for spin. Check out the full episode, which is posted below, to hear what Walliser has to say about the car. More importantly, though, crank up your computer's volume and let the car's high-revving engine and amazing exhaust note do plenty of talking for itself.