Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Allan McNish has returned to the cockpit of the unraced Porsche LMP2000 25 years after he took part in the car’s solitary test.
McNish, who retired from racing after taking the World Endurance Championship title with Audi in 2013, drove the LMP2000 at Porsche’s proving ground at its Weissach research and development facility last week.
Porsche was marking the 25th anniversary of the LMP2000’s only run after recommissioning the open-top prototype powered by a 5.5-litre normally-aspirated V10 over the course of this year.
McNish, whose only previous outing in a racing car since his retirement came aboard an Audi R8 LMS GT3 in 2014, revealed that the car behaved exactly how he remembered.
“I looked at the test report this morning and the way the car reacted was just as I had described it at the time,” he told Motorsport.com.
“The other thing that came back to me was that everything in the cockpit was exactly where it should be.
“It all came back to me like it was yesterday.
“But one thing I’d forgotten was the engine note: when you open up the throttle, it sounds really nice, really throaty.”
Allan McNish, Porsche LMP2000
Photo by: Deniz Calagan
McNish revealed after the test that his thoughts had turned to the late Bob Wollek, the Porsche veteran with whom he shared driving duties over the course of two days of testing in the LMP2000 at Weissach in early November 1999.
Wollek, who was killed in a cycling accident on the eve of the 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, did the initial laps in the car at the Weissach test.
“Seeing Bob’s name on the side of the car brought back memories,” said McNish.
“He was a very special character and taught young whippersnappers like me a lot.
“The funny thing is that when he drove this car he was more or less the same age as I am now.”
The LMP2000 was developed after Porsche opted not to defend its 1998 Le Mans crown, claimed up by McNish, Laurent Aiello and Stephane Ortelli sharing a 911 GT1-98, with a view to returning in 2000.
It decided to abandon the route it had pursued with the GT1-98 powered by a flat-six turbo, opting instead for an open-top LMP powered by a big-capacity V10 that had its roots in a Formula 1 development project from the mid-1990s.
But a return to Le Mans with the LMP2000 was never signed off by the Porsche board, which opted to stop the programme in the weeks leading up to the November test.
The team at Porsche Motorsport that had developed the LMP2000, codenamed the 9R3, under famed engineer Norbert Singer was allowed to finish one car and give it a short test that stretched over two days at Weissach.
Last week’s run was only the second official appearance of the LMP2000, the first coming with a static display at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Allan McNish, Porsche LMP2000
Photo by: Deniz Calagan
What happened next
No one could have predicted it at the time, but the ‘winningest’ marque in Le Mans history wouldn’t be back at the Circuit de la Sarthe chasing overall victory until 2014.
Porsche returned to the prototype ranks with the US-focused RS Spyder LMP2 programme in 2005, but it wasn’t until the arrival of the 919 Hybrid LMP1 that it would bid to add to its 16 wins.
The 919 would go on to claim a hat-trick of hat-tricks, winning Le Mans and the WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in 2015-17.
McNish had been loaned out to Toyota to race its GT-One at Le Mans in 1999 and had a three-year contract in place with Porsche but, with no chance of winning Le Mans, he negotiated a release and signed for Audi.
The Scot won the American Le Mans Series title in 2000 before returning to Toyota for its F1 entry, undertaking a year of testing in 2001 and then one season of racing in 2002.
He was back at Audi in 2004 and went on to take a further two ALMS titles as well as his second and third Le Mans victories in 2008 and 2013.
Resources at Porsche Motorsport were diverted to development of the Carrera GT: the supercar was powered by a V10 developed from the prototype’s powerplant.