MKW:
adding GT4 to GT3 and LMP ....would be quite a strain on Porsche's engineering and mgmt personnel as it is , where unlike the " old days " of some racing lifers , they now all aspire to use competition as stepping stones up the VWAG or other make corporate ladders in this nowadays globalized industry ...so the " unicorn " 960 competing against 488 , Corvette C7, AM , and Ford GT in GTE is really stretching it, since Porsche now has so many , many lines of vehicles and niches within each
LMP1 is a completely separate project in Porsche Motorsport. The main issue is that the 911 is having a real tough time remaining competitive in the GTE class (and Motorsport sales are suffering). Now whilst we porschephiles are happy to see 911's year after year and decade after decade going around the various race tracks, organizers and other race fans are looking for diversity. The 911 is now becoming stale to many, regardless if it gets a slightly different engine, or is a couple of cm's wider, or shorter/longer. It is becoming a victim of its own success. There is a predisposition (perhaps subconsciously) for regulators to "favor" new incoming brands and/or models. We saw this with the BOP/waivers that was/were given to BMW and when Aston came back to GT racing). We will see this with the new Ford GT and with McLaren (if it comes to GTE). As the top GT classes are BOP sensitive and because GTE is the king of the GT classes, it would be "silly" for Porsche (and its eventual customers) not to benefit from the "goodwill" that is provided to newcomers.
(BTW - Porsche asked for a BOP update for Le Mans and was refused. We saw how that turned out)
Porsche now need to "manage" the image of the 911. I'm not sure for how long it can continue to race (un-competitively) in a series with the smallest engine and against carbon fiber monocoque chassis, without running out of the "image capital" that the 911 has accumulated over its long and illustrious racing career.
For me the "960" is not really an option. It is a "necessity" if Porsche want to continue to have a strong foothold in the top GT class and they need to choose carefully where the 911 races.
Porsche of course, has other options: It can concentrate more on the "lower" private entry classes or it can come up with a radical version of the current 911 (kind of like the GT1). What seems to me to be certain, is that under it's current format, the 911 is having a hard uphill slog.
I would hate to see the 911 reduced to a "field filler" or a "also ran".