TWO SPORTING ICONS UNITE IN A CELEBRATION OF HORSEPOWER Under starter’s orders: Porsche and Ascot announce new relationship 14th June 2017 (embargoed for broadcast until 04.00am and for print and social media until 10.00am) As the most successful marque in the Le Mans 24 Hours with 18 outright wins, the race circuit is familiar territory for Porsche. Now, the paddock and winners’ enclosure at Ascot will echo to a different kind of horsepower with the announcement that the Porsche Cayenne will be the Official Car at the renowned racing venue in an arrangement set to run initially for three years. As a spectacle of world-class racing, pageantry and high fashion, Royal Ascot (20 – 24 June) is one of the greatest sporting and social events in the world. Later in the summer, King George VI Weekend (28 – 29 July) combines world-class Flat racing with style and modern fashions in a quintessential English garden party atmosphere. The headquarters of Porsche Cars GB is located in Reading, Berkshire, just 30 minutes from the racecourse. Porsche will be bringing further dynamic flair and excitement to the world-famous Ascot schedule with an exciting agreement that sees the Stuttgart based sports car manufacturer present for all Ascot racedays through the year. A highlight of the relationship will see the Porsche Cayenne on stand-by in support of the raceday medical and veterinary teams, providing a business shuttle service for the VIP audience arriving in some 1,000 helicopters during Royal Ascot week and collecting guests such as trophy presenters from their London hotels. Classification: Public The performance, dynamism and versatility of the four-wheel drive, four door Porsche in any situation make it a particularly appropriate choice for the raceday safety vehicles. On Saturday 29 July, alongside the prestigious King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Sponsored by QIPCO), Porsche will sponsor The Porsche Handicap Stakes, live on ITV1. The companies will also work together closely on a number of special initiatives, including cross-promotions at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone, the purpose-built driving facility featuring dedicated Porsche tracks. In a unique twist to celebrate the relationship, Porsche and Ascot have commissioned a sculpture to be placed close to the Parade Ring. The design showcases ‘Fascination Sports Cars’ and resembles the Porsche signature sculpture in front of the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. It is five metres tall and features the icon 911 Carrera, together with the 718 Cayman and the 918 Spyder hybrid super sports car. It is expected to become an Ascot landmark over the coming years. And in a further nod to the Porsche tradition, the sculpture is designed by Gerry Judah, the celebrated British artist responsible for the dramatic, soaring display that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 911 at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, and also that which welcomes visitors to the Porsche Museum in Germany. Ragnar Schulte, General Manager, Marketing, Porsche Cars GB, commented; “From the beginning of our discussions, we have felt that Porsche and Ascot have much in common. Both are iconic, luxury brands but at the same time very accessible in their wide ranging appeal. It will be a pleasure to share the Porsche experience on site with the Cayenne and we hope the fascinating sculpture will bring as much pleasure to racegoers as it does to us.” Juliet Slot, Commercial Director at Ascot Racecourse, added; “To link with such a prestigious, globally renowned car brand is very exciting for us. Our VIP guests will want for nothing with our new concierge service and we are thrilled to be working with Porsche on a range of initiatives to cross-promote our businesses in the future." Ends Classification: Public Appendix: Race Days with Porsche involvement in 2017 Royal Ascot: 20-24 June Summer Mile Racing Weekend: 14-15 July King George VI Weekend: 28-29 July Festival of Food and Wine Racing Weekend : 7-10 September (Racing only on 8 and 9 September) Fireworks Spectacular Raceday: 4 November For more information, please contact: Ashley Morton-Hunte, Corporate & Racing Communications Manager, Ascot Racecourse [email protected] 01344 878508 Elizabeth Waddup Press Office Assistant Email [email protected] Tel 0118 916 5050 Rob Durrant Porsche Carrera Cup GB Press Officer E-mail [email protected] Tel 0118 925 2855 Mobile 07342 084 853 Rob Punshon Senior Press Officer E-mail [email protected] Tel 0118 925 2733 Mobile 07881 008950 Nick Perry Product Affairs Manager Email [email protected] Tel 0118 925 2721 Mobile 07775 860 291 Angus Fitton Head of PR Email [email protected] Tel 0118 925 2720 Mobile 07824 623 874 Press website press.porsche.co.uk Press email [email protected] Classification: Public Press Twitter @PorscheGB @CarreraCupGB Porsche News newsroom.porsche.com Editors’ Note: Porsche can claim more than 30,000 race victories in almost every motor sports series worldwide, and while many of these successes have been achieved with immensely powerful specialist race cars like the evocative 917 and 956, the iconic 911 sports coupe is the bedrock on which the peerless racing reputation of the Stuttgart marque has been built. The 911 demonstrates perfectly the Porsche philosophy of not only building sports cars in order to win races, but also to gain development know-how that can be incorporated into the evolution of its road cars. Successive generations of the rear-engined 911 have been honed on the race circuit since its debut in 1963, with customers benefitting from continuous improvements in key dynamic areas such as engine performance, braking and aerodynamics. Porsche is the world's largest manufacturer of racing cars; the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car competes in the Mobil1 Supercup, the world’s fastest international one-make Championship, which supports Formula One Grands Prix. The 911 GT3 Cup also entertains spectators around the world racing in the many domestic Carrera Cup Championships in Germany, Asia, France, Italy, Japan, Scandinavia and Great Britain. The GT3 R is the first step for drivers moving up to GT racing, while the all-new for 2017 911 RSR is the standard-bearer for the Porsche Works teams in IMSA and the WEC, contesting international blue riband sports car events like Daytona and the Le Mans 24 Hours. With a record number of overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans history. In 2014, Porsche returned to Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the factory-run 919 Hybrid sports prototype race car in the top LMP1 category, and scored its first outright victory in its debut WEC season in the final race in Brazil. In 2015, Mark Webber (AUS), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Timo Bernhard (D) clinched the Drivers’ World Endurance Championship, and the WEC Manufacturers’ Championship, for Porsche. The Stuttgart company also triumphed at Le Mans, with the 919 Hybrid of Britain’s Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber (NZ) and Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenburg (D) scoring an emotional triumph, and leading the sister car of Webber/Hartley/Bernhard across the line for a 1-2 finish. Classification: Public Porsche scored its 18th and most recent success at the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours in June when Romain Dumas (F), Marc Lieb (D) and Neel Jani (CH) took the chequered flag in their 919 Hybrid LMP1 after 24 hours of flat-out racing vs rivals Toyota. This trio went on to clinch the WEC Drivers’ Championship, and the Porsche Team also won the WEC Manufacturers’ title for the second year in a row. For the 2017 season, Nick Tandy will contest the complete WEC season in the 919 Hybrid LMP1 full-time, joined by Neel Jani and André Lotterer in car #1. Team mates in car #2 are Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber. The season highlight of Le Mans takes place at the renowned French circuit on 17 – 18 June. Classification: Public .