The Le Mans winning Porsche team heads to the Nürburgring with a new aerodynamic package for its 919 Hybrid. On the track in the Eifel mountains, the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) holds its fourth of nine rounds from July 22 to 24. As it heads into the six-hour race the Porsche Team is leading the manufacturers’ championship ahead of Audi and Toyota. The Le Mans winning drivers, Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE), are leading the drivers’ world championship. The crew of the sister Porsche 919 Hybrid, Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU), has three unlucky races behind it and is more than keen to repeat last year’s race win at the Nürburgring.
“I’m very much looking forward to racing again at the Nürburgring,” Hartley commented. “The season has not gone to plan for our number 1 car so far, but our goal is to spray Champagne on the weekend. Nürburgring marked what was our first win together in the WEC and it’s a track that we all enjoy. We have a new downforce package for this race, which we believe will be another performance boost for Porsche. I cannot wait!”
A field of 33 race cars will compete in the Eifel. Prototypes and sports cars are divided into four classes, with the 919 Hybrid belonging to the top class for Le Mans Prototypes (LMP1). 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).
“We have had intense weeks since the breathtaking finish in Le Mans,” said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1, “with lots of appointments and events for the drivers. For example, the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the new Porsche Panamera’s world debut. Right after winning Le Mans Romain Dumas flew straight to the United States and went on to win the famous Pikes Peak hill climb in Colorado. At the same time, we were working flat out in Weissach to further improve the Porsche 919 Hybrid. Our target for the remaining six rounds is clear: We want to defend our titles in both the manufacturers’ and the drivers’ world championships.”
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