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Porsche ready to pick itself up after Le Mans failure

It's safe to say that things for Porsche didn't go quite as well at Le Mans this year as it might have hoped. After a sixteen-year gap, the winningest manufacturer in endurance racing history returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe this year hoping maybe not for outright victory in its first time back, but definitely a strong finish on which it could build on for next year. All the while it undoubtedly hoped its 911s would hold their own in the GT classes.
Unfortunately for Porsche, neither happened. After racing around the clock, and despite actually leading the festivities for some time, the best its 919 Hybrid could manage was an eleventh-place finish, lagging lamentably behind not only the other LMP1s (like the race-winning Audi) but also a handful of LMP2s. Meanwhile the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am titles went to the factory-backed teams of its arch-rivals Ferrari and Aston Martin, respectively.
Not a stellar result, in other words, but Porsche is taking it all in stride - accepting that it has a ways to go while congratulating its vanquishing rivals in the video below. It's good sportsmanship if we've ever seen it. Next year's race starts now.

Porsche undecided on new 911 GT2 [w/poll]

Fans of hardcore 911s had it pretty good with the last 997 generation. There was the GT3, GT3 RS, GT3 RS 4.0, GT2 and GT2 RS (pictured above). Each one was faster, more powerful and more expensive than the one below it, but what they all shared was what Porsche purists love most: rear engine, rear drive, a manual transmission and little else.
So far with the new 991, Porsche has only released a GT3 version. Sure, there have been other models, but they're all decidedly more luxurious and less performance-focused. And as impressive a machine as the new GT3 is, it has run the risk of alienating some of its most ardent fanatics with technological interference in the form of a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and four-wheel steering. So what those purists have really been looking forward to is a more hardcore GT3 RS or new GT2. But those may not be coming so quickly.
Speaking with 911 project chief August Achleitner, Car and Driver reports that a new GT2 is anything but a foregone conclusion. The reasons may be partially political, but could be technical in nature as well: with 560 horsepower driving all four wheels, the new 911 Turbo S runs the 0-60 in less than three seconds. Give it more power but less traction, as Porsche has done with past GT2s, and you may not end up seeing an actual improvement in performance. A GT2 that's slower than the Turbo S would be difficult to explain.

The 2013 Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona comes down to the last hour [spoilers, w/video]

It took 24 hours to run the race, but it was the last one was stuffed with the high action as four cars were still trying to figure out how to gain victory on the track and in the pits. Along with the obligatory crashes, spins, mechanical issues and retirements had come numerous penalties, a double-digit number of full-course yellows and two hours of fog that turned early Sunday morning into a stretch of parade laps.
The final hour would make up for the morning - drivers who might have been happy just to get on the podium had a shot at victory as the end of the race approached, and that turned into a few gambles that paid off, and at least one that didn't...