Three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Allan McNish returned to the cockpit of a non-racing Porsche LMP2000 25 years after participating within the automobile's lone test.
McNish, who retired from racing after winning the world endurance title with Audi in 2013, drove the LMP2000 at Porsche's proving ground at Porsche's research and development facility in Weissach last week.
Porsche celebrated the twenty fifth anniversary of its one-off LMP2000 series after relaunching an open-top prototype powered by a 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V10 engine earlier this yr.
McNish, whose only race automobile trip since retiring was in 2014 in an Audi R8 LMS GT3, revealed that the automobile performed exactly as he remembered.
“I looked through the test report this morning and the car's reaction was exactly as I described it at the time,” he told Motorsport.com.
“The other thing that jogged my memory was that every part within the cockpit was exactly where it ought to be.
“Everything got here back to me as if it were yesterday.
“But I forgot one thing: the sound of the engine: when you open the throttle, it sounds really nice, really throaty.”
Allan McNish, Porsche LMP2000
Photo: Deniz Callagan
After the test, McNish revealed that his thoughts returned to the late Bob Wollk, the Porsche veteran with whom he shared driving duties during two days of LMP2000 testing at Weissach in early November 1999.
Wollek, who died in a bicycle accident on the eve of the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2001, drove his first laps in a automobile throughout the Weissach test.
“Seeing Bob's name on the side of the car brought back memories,” McNish said.
“He was a singular character and taught young whippersnappers like me so much.
“The funny thing is, when he drove that car, he was about the same age as I am now.”
LMP2000 was created after Porsche decided to not defend the 1998 Le Mans crown, which McNish, Laurent Aiello and Stephane Ortelli shared in a 911 GT1-98, with the intention of returning in 2000.
He decided to leave the route taken by the turbocharged six-cylinder GT1-98, opting as an alternative for an open-top LMP powered by a large-capacity V10 engine that had its roots in a Formula One development project from the mid-Nineties.
However, Porsche management never agreed to the return of LMP2000 to Le Mans, which decided to discontinue this system within the weeks leading as much as November testing.
The Porsche Motorsport team that developed the LMP2000, codenamed 9R3, under the leadership of famous engineer Norbert Singer, was allowed to finish one automobile and put it through a brief test that lasted two days in Weissach.
Last week's edition was only the second official appearance of the LMP2000, the primary being a static display on the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Allan McNish, Porsche LMP2000
Photo: Deniz Callagan
What happened next
No one could have predicted it then, however the “winningest” brand in Le Mans history would only return to the Circuit de la Sarthe in pursuit of overall victory in 2014.
Porsche returned to the prototype ranks with its US-focused RS Spyder LMP2 program in 2005, however it wasn't until the arrival of the 919 Hybrid LMP1 that the corporate attempted so as to add to its 16 wins.
The 919 scored a hat-trick of hat-tricks, winning the Le Mans and WEC Drivers' and Manufacturers' titles from 2015 to 2017.
McNish was loaned to Toyota to race the GT-One at Le Mans in 1999 and had a three-year contract with Porsche, but with no likelihood of winning Le Mans, he negotiated a release and signed with Audi.
The Scot won the American Le Mans Series title in 2000 before returning to Toyota for F1, where he did a yr of testing in 2001, followed by one season of racing in 2002.
He returned to Audi in 2004 and won an additional two ALMS titles, in addition to his second and third Le Mans wins in 2008 and 2013.
Porsche Motorsport resources were dedicated to the event of the Carrera GT: the supercar was powered by a V10 engine developed on the premise of the prototype's powerplant.
