Two-time Le Mans winner Allan McNish feels Porsche has been away from the top level of sports car racing for too long, ahead of the German marque's 2014 LMP1 program.
The Scot, who took Porsche's most recent Le Mans win in 1998, has welcomed the news that the manufacturer will do battle with Audi and Toyota at the pinnacle of sports car racing.
"They are back, which is excellent news," McNish said at AUTOSPORT International. "It's been a long time – far too long that they have been out of it. They had the RS Spyder [LMP2] program [in the ALMS], but in reality they want to be fighting at the top for outright victories.
"They are a good company, they're strong, and they have an excellent tradition. And we are going head to head."
Audi and Porsche are both part of the Volkswagen Group, and VW motorsport chief Wolfgang Durheimer told AUTOSPORT this week that the two manufacturers could be set for a long-term rivalry. Durheimer said Audi and Porsche "will race each other very hard," and McNish believes the battle between the sister marques can be fierce.
"The nice part about it is the head-to-head aspect with Audi," he said. "It's a bit like we are internally at Audi when we are allowed to race.
"Porsche will come in with a different philosophy, just like Toyota has, and if they have a different philosophy to us then that makes it all the more interesting on and off track."