MOTORSPORT: Porsche to pull plug on WEC

UPDATE 28/07/2017 3:30pm: Within hours of this report being published, Porsche has confirmed it will indeed quit the LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the end of 2017 and enter Formula E with a factory team from 2019.

---------------------------------------

Porsche is about to quit the World Endurance Championship (WEC), according to a new report, in a bid to save more than $400 million each year.

Following in the tyre tracks of Audi, which withdrew from WEC last year, the Volkswagen Group-owned sports car maker is set to announce its decision to withdraw 'imminently', says German newspaper, Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung.

It's thought the pressure for both Audi and now Porsche to pull the plug on its motorsport activities has come from its parent company in a desperate attempt to cut costs in the wake of Dieselgate.

Perhaps confusing matters, the decision to leave WEC coincides with the Volkswagen Group announcing half-year operating profit of €8.9 billion ($A13 billion) – €1.4 billion ($A2 billion) more than the same period in 2016.

Adding salt to the wound for diehard WEC fans, despite the cost-cutting, there are credible rumours that suggest Porsche is considering entering Formula 1 from the 2021 season, once engine regulations change.

Porsche is also reportedly considering entering Formula E to help neatly tie-in its billion-dollar investment in pure-electric car technology, ahead of the Mission E's launch in 2019.