Webber dumps F1 for World Endurance Championship and Porsche.

• Australian Formula 1 driver joins Porsche factory team for World Endurance Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours campaign, starting 2014
• UK-based Webber has scored nine Grand Prix wins since his F1 debut in 2002
• He also has extensive sports car racing experience, including Le Mans, and was runner-up in the 1998 FIA GT Championship
• Webber joins ex-Formula 1 test driver Neel Jani and long-standing Porsche factory drivers Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas in the new LMP1 sports prototype from Weissach

The Australian Formula 1 driver Mark Webber has signed a contract with Porsche that extends over several years it has been announced today. From the 2014 season, he will compete in the new Porsche LMP1 sports prototype at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the sports car World Endurance Championship WEC.

The 36-year-old Australian has already raced at Le Mans twice. In 1998 he finished runner-up in the FIA GT Championship at the wheel of a sports prototype. Over the course of his Formula 1 career from 2002 until today, Webber has achieved 36 podium places, nine race victories and has started from pole position eleven times.

“It’s an honour for me to join Porsche on its return to the top category at Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship and to be part of the team. Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer and stands for outstanding technology and performance at the highest level,” said Mark.

“I’m very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to drive one of the fastest sports cars in the world.”

“I’m very pleased to have secured Mark Webber for our LMP1 project as one of the best and most successful Formula 1 drivers of our time,” said Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG. “Mark is without doubt one of the world’s best race drivers, he has experience at the Le Mans 24 hours race, and on top of that he’s been a Porsche enthusiast for many years.”

“I learned to appreciate Mark’s qualities when we were both involved in Formula 1,” says Fritz Enzinger, Head of LMP1. “He is one of the best drivers I could imagine for our team. I’m absolutely delighted that we have such an experienced and fast regular driver on-board from 2014.”

Competing in the new LMP1 car – which has been designed and built by the Porsche Motorsport factory team in Weissach, Germany – alongside Webber are the two long-standing Porsche factory drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France), and ex-Formula 1 test driver Neel Jani (Switzerland).

Bernhard and Dumas already joined forces in 2010 to achieve overall victory in the Le Mans 24 hours. In 2007 and 2008, they secured the American Le Mans Series title at the wheel of the Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 sports prototype. Neel Jani has contested the LMP1 class since 2010.