Porsche has announced that it will extensively support childrens charities as a result of its return to the premier class at Le Mans in 2023.
The Stuttgart manufacturer, competing in the Hypercar class at the Circuit de la Sarth in June, will be donating €750 for each racing completed by the three factory-backed Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s. The company has forecast that, under ideal circumstances, the three Porsche 963s could accrue a total of 1,140 laps, meaning that its donation would amount to €855,000.
Porsche will be distributing the funds amongst three organisations: Kinderherzen Save eV, Interplast Germany eV and the Ferry Porsche Foundation.
KInderherzen eV was founded in 1989 to work to provide children with heart defects get a better chance as having the same life expectancy as their healthy friends. The charity is building the world’s first modular, self-sufficient and mobile cardiac surgery unit to enable its surgeons to operate on children with a congenital heart defect at the highest level of care. Kinderherzen plan to provide surgery for 50 children within its mobile clinic over the next 12 months, increasing to 200 by 2026.
Interplast Germany eV provide plastic surgery on a voluntary basis and treat children from crisis regions suffering from injuries, burns and congenital or acquired defects. The Interplast Germany eV team has recently been working in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Brazil, amongst many others.
The Ferry Porsche Foundation, founded in 2018 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Porsche brand, supports charitable projects in the areas of environment, education and science and culture and focuses in children and young people in the regions where Porsche AG has company sites.
Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board, Research and Development, Porsche AG said:
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one the biggest sporting events in the world and the greatest challenge in endurance racing. For Porsche, Le Mans is one of the most demanding proving grounds for new technologies that will eventually flow into series production.
“On the occasion of the 100th anniversary at Le Mans, we want to convey a message and call attention to selected organisations that are particularly committed to social issues.”
The 100th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway on Saturday June 10 with a full week of practice, qualifying and support races leading up to the flag dropping for the race start at 4.00pm on the 10th.
