Mark Webber has announced that he will leave Red Bull and F1 at the end of this season.

Webber has signed a contract with Porsche that extends over several years. From the 2014 season he will compete in Porsches new LMP1 sports prototype at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the sports car World Endurance Championship WEC. where lines up with Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard.

The 36-year-old Australian has already raced at Le Mans twice. In 1998 he finished runner-up in the FIA GT Championship at the wheel of a sports prototype. Over the course of his Formula 1 career from 2002 until today, Webber has achieved 36 podium places, nine race victories and has started from pole position eleven times

Webber  "Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer and stands for outstanding performance and technology at the highest level.

"I'm very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world."

 Wolfgang Hatz, Porsche's board member for research and development, said the firm was thrilled to get Webber on board."I'm very pleased to have secured Mark Webber for our LMP1 project as one of the best and most successful Formula 1 pilots of our time," said Hatz."Mark is without doubt one of the world's best race drivers, he has experience at the Le Mans 24 hour race and on top of that he's been a Porsche enthusiast for many years."Porsche LMP1 programme chief Fritz Enzinger added: "I learned to appreciate Mark's qualities when we were both involved in Formula 1."He is one of the best pilots I could imagine for our team. I'm absolutely delighted that we have such an experienced and fast regular driver onboard from 2014."