Porsche reveals its new car for 2017 factory GTE Pro WEC return

The photographs show the all-new 911 RSR undertaking a shakedown at Porsche's Weissach test track at some undisclosed point over the past month.

The car is based on the facelifted 991-shape 911 road car, which has hit the market this year, but no further technical details have been released.

Porsche is not revealing whether the new GTE contender will be normally-aspirated like the existing 911 RSR introduced in 2013 or turbocharged.

The first GTE class 991 carried over the four-litre normally-aspirated flat-six engines of its 997-shape predecessor rather than adopting one of a new generation of direct-injection powerplants introduced in the road cars.

A Porsche spokesman said that no further technical details would be communicated until the official launch of the car towards the end of the year.

The 2017 911 RSR has already been tested by a number of Porsche's roster of GT drivers at Weissach and has already started its development programme away from the research and development facility.

Marco Ujhasi, overall project manager of GT works motorsport, said: "It is definitely unusual to put several drivers behind the wheel at a rollout.

"But since all of our works drivers are involved in the development of the new car, the ones who could fit it into their schedules came to Weissach and turned a couple of laps."

Porsche, which won the GT drivers' and manufacturers' titles in last year's WEC, withdrew its factory squad from the series this season.

It made it clear at the time that it needed to take a sabbatical to divert resources into the development of an all-new GTE racer built to a revised set of regulations introduced for this season.

Porsche has yet to confirm its WEC return, but its spokesman suggested it was on the cards alongside a continued presence in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America.

"The big events in GTE are the Le Mans 24 Hours and the WEC and IMSA series, and if you build a new car, you want to race it in the most important races and series," he said.

"But our programmes for 2017 are not decided."

Porsche has maintained a presence in GTE Pro with a 2015 car updated to this year's rules fielded by the Proton team on a works-assisted basis for factory drivers Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen.

It will also run two full factory GTE Pro cars in the Le Mans 24 Hours next month under the Porsche Motorsport banner.