As for Porsche being rusty and out of practice yes, giving up on Porsche no, I want to see what they got, is Porsche still Porsche.
Explain to me how the world's most dominant race car manufacturer is "rusty and out of practice"? Just because they haven't had a car in the top class at Le Mans in a decade.
Perhaps we need to look at Porsche's history of race cars' debut years at Le Mans & how many of them took wins in them?
-Porsche introduces the 936 in 1976. It wins first time out & '77. Coincidentally, Porsche introduced the 935 this year as well; it took its class win & 4th overall (it's K3 variant would also win its debut year, but technically still a 935). The 936 would manage 1 more win in '81 before her 956 successor debuted.
-Porsche introduces the 956 in 1982 to comply with new Group C regs & wins 4 years straight with multiple 1-2-3+ finishes.
-The 962C debuted in 1984 with a DNF & finished 3rd in 1985, so not technically a first time winner, but still gave Porsche its last 2 of a record breaking 7 consecutive wins in '86 & '87 for a car built as an evolution of the 956.
-The WSC-95 debuts in 1996, & wins and in 1997.
-The 911 GT1 debuts in 1996 as well, but finishes 2nd & 3rd giving the car a debut 1-2 GT1 win & Porsche a full podium victory with
2 different classed, brand new cars. '97 was a fluke, but still Porsche victory overall with WSC. '98 was the GT1's golden year with another 1-2 GT1 & overall finish giving Porsche it's last 3 consecutive titles with respectively new race cars.
Any of the cars beyond the 936 naturally did not capture such immediate success since it wasn't until the 917's 2nd year that Porsche finally won a Le Mans, but most of them made damn good attempts at dethroning Ford by finishing right behind in all but '67 & Ferrari in its final years.
Now I'm sure most of this isn't new to you, but it must have been forgotten because it means Porsche is far from "rusty and out of practice" when it comes to introducing new cars at Le Mans. And it's because Porsche A) has a giant history book of what has worked & hasn't worked with the winners above & B) a 911 is always out there racing for Porsche to develop more racing knowledge, whether technological or strategical. Again, I will say Porsche's chances of winning are against them because the odds are always against a new car, but out of everyone, Porsche has had the greatest success with Le Mans & the majority of it from completely new cars. And there is no doubt Porsche will be taking every bit of knowledge from what made those new cars so dominating & applying it to the LMP1 next year, which means Porsche has never been rusty or out of practice as long as history provides them with recipes for success.
Will Audi have the advantage of winning again & be hard to conquer? Naturally, but no one should forget that Peugeot & Toyota were still able to bring a fight to Audi & neither have Porsche's unmatched record. Remember, in the 5 years Peugeot ran, they had a car finish 2nd in 4 of the 5 races. Toyota finished 2nd & 4th this year after the retirements of last. That's not bad, & much of those losses came to Audi carrying a bit of luck on their side. I really see the only thing stopping Porsche from winning next year are the technical issues that ultimately throw the odds against new comers. If those issues subside or Porsche knock them out fast, Audi's luck literally may run out of being able to stay far enough ahead of the competition til' the finish.
Of course, luck or no luck, it is Audi & they may bring something completely new of their own that neither Toyota or Porsche will anticipate.
