With the above remark he both dismissed categorically the rumours that Porsche would follow Mercedes-Benz and BMW into the Formula One circus and truck terror into those who've been basking in the glory at the top of major sports car racing, the ALMS and Le Mans.

Porsche will be back, and soon, and when it does it will be with the same technological efficiency and determination to win that brought it 16 victories at Le Sarthe and other hallowed places of battle where endurance-racing cars compete.

Wiedeking has done a remarkable job in the past decade of steering Porsche from the brink of financial extinction to such a rosy position that the company paid the $850 million development cost for the Cayenne, up front. " We paid for everything, so when the first car was sold we started putting more money in the bank," Wiedeking said. "At the end of last year we had $2.3 billion in the bank. That's a lot of money and when I go to the bank I'm not asking for loans, I'm asking for the best possible interest rate," Wiedeking added during our chat.

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