The next race for the Le Mans winning Porsche 919 Hybrid provides entirely new challenges. On September 3rd the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will make its debut at Mexico City’s Grand Prix circuit. The six-hour race at the multi-million population metropolis is the fifth of nine rounds of the 2016 WEC. The 4.303 kilometre long track lies 2,250 metres above sea level, which means thin air for men and machines. Furthermore, September is one of the rainiest months in the region. At the end of every lap at the “Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez” the drivers arrive at a right-left-hander to dive into a baseball stadium that can accommodate 26,000 spectators – fiesta Mexicana on steep grandstands.
“I have never been to Mexico, but from all I have seen the circuit looks great and the people really seem to love our sport,” commented Brendon Hartley. “It will be interesting to experience racing at high altitude and I will maybe go a couple of days early to acclimatise.”
Having won in Silverstone, Le Mans and at the Nürburgring, the Porsche Team leads the manufacturers’ world championship with 164 points ahead of Audi (129) and Toyota (97). In the drivers’ world championship, the trio of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) is leading. The Le Mans winners have 106 points to their tally, the second placed Audi trio has a total of 73 points. The Porsche sister car’s crew of Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU) currently ranks eighth with a score of 28.5 points. The reigning World Champions were unlucky in the first three rounds, but struck back by winning the six-hour race at the Nürburgring in July.
Thirty-two cars are registered for the venue between the Sierra Nevada and the twin volcanoes of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuati. The field of prototypes and sports cars is divided into four classes. The Porsche 919 Hybrid belongs to the highest category of the class one Le Mans prototypes (LMP1). In the LMP2 class four Mexican drivers are competing: the brothers Ricardo and Roberto Gonzáles jr as well as Alfonso Diaz Guerra and Luis Diaz.
The 919 was developed in Weissach and produces a system power of over 900 HP (662 kW). Its combustion engine is a futuristic downsizing motor: the very compact two-litre V4 turbocharged petrol engine drives the rear axle with almost 500 PS (368 kW). Two different energy recovery systems – brake energy from the front and exhaust energy – feed a lithium ion battery that, on command, passes on the energy to an E machine to power the front axle with an extra boost of over 400 PS (294 kW). At the Nürburgring the new aerodynamic package for high downforce passed its baptism. It is the 919’s third aero spec this season and, necessarily, its final one, because the regulations don’t allow for more in the exercise of cost cutting. Nevertheless, there is always some freedom in set-up for different circuits and various climatic conditions. For safety, the rules also permit extra cooling in Mexico.
“The race in Mexico is a huge challenge for drivers as well as also in terms of technology and logistics,” said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1. “But we’re very pleased about having the new destination on the calendar. This circuit breathes motorsport history and the successes of the brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodríguez, after whom the track is named, remains unforgotten at Porsche. It was outstanding when Pedro Rodríguez became sports car world champion with the 917 in 1970. For our team it’s not long ago that every circuit was new territory to us, we’re only in our third year. I have full faith in the team to manage the special tasks that come from the altitude and get a little closer to our goal of the title defence.”
Team Principal Andreas Seidl added: “In the technical preparation for the Mexican race a chain of what is out of the ordinary comes into play. First the altitude. Compared to normally aspirated engines, our turbo charged engine loses less power, but cooling is an issue because of the thin air with less oxygen. This goes for the powertrain as well as for the brakes. Necessarily drag is a lot lower. This makes it difficult to provide the downforce you want in the corners, but on the 1.2 kilometre straight we will see high top speeds. The circuit has a high full throttle percentage and the grip level will increase significantly unless it rains, which is something to expect as well.”
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