Yahoo Autos Porsche Parks Two of its Three New LMP1 Champion Drivers
Porsche confirmed news that had been rumored for months: 24 Hours of Le Mans and newly-crowned FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 title winners Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb will stand down from the program once it resumes in 2018.
Only Switzerland's Neel Jani, the third member of the championship-winning No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid team, will continue in LMP1 for the German brand. The Franco-German duo of Dumas and Lieb will be reassigned somewhere else within Porsche's global racing activities.
The peculiar move-to park two-thirds of the driver roster that scored the two biggest honors in sports car racing-is compounded by the retirement of Mark Webber, who earned the 2015 LMP1 championship with teammates Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard in the sister No. 1 919 Hybrid.
With the demotions of Dumas and Lieb and Webber's decision to hang up his helmet, Porsche will head into next season with a 50 percent turnover within its driver roster.
2015 Le Mans winners Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber are tipped to fill two of the three vacancies, making the third opening a source of great interest for many drivers. Audi's Andre Lotterer is widely tipped to join the team after the brand's recent departure from LMP1.
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