Positive debut for the Porsche 919 Hybrids at the Prologue in Monza

The Porsche LMP Team is pleased with its performance in Monza. Almost the entire 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship field met for a joint two-day test weekend at the Italian high-speed circuit near Milan. The so-called “Prologue” with 27 cars present, saw the public debut of both the new 919 Hybrid of the world championship title defender Porsche as well as the new Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Both manufacturers ran two cars. The 2017 duel of the two class 1 prototypes is eagerly awaited, especially at the Le Mans 24-Hours as the season’s highlight.

At the Prologue, Toyota set the overall best lap time. Neel Jani (CH) recorded the fastest lap for a Porsche 919 Hybrid on Saturday when lapping the 5.793 kilometre long track in 1:31.666 minutes. The reigning world champion shares the 919 Hybrid with Porsche’s newcomer André Lotterer (DE) and Nick Tandy (GB) who returned to the LMP1 squad inside the Porsche family. Together the trio of the number 1 car covered 331 laps (1,906 kilometres) in two days.

At the wheel of the number 2 Porsche it was Earl Bamber (NZ) who set the fastest lap in 1:31.823 minutes. Just like for the sister car, this was achieved during a qualifying simulation on Saturday evening. Bamber took over Mark Webber’s seat and teams up with Timo Bernhard (DE) and Brendon Hartley (NZ). The number 2 car crew completed a total of 329 laps (1,894 km) during the Prologue in Monza.

“The guys at Porsche have done great development work to the 919,” commented Bamber. “During the Prologue here in Monza, we have learnt a lot again about the car, especially when driving in difficult conditions. During the Saturday night session we had a thunder storm and it’s very useful to get track time in the rain.”

“We felt very ready when we came here,” said Hartley. “We wish we were lining up for a race rather than for a test because Monza is a great track with a good atmosphere and a lot of fans even on a test day. I hope in the future we can race here. In all conditions it was very close with the Toyotas, so it’s clearly going to be a tough and close fought championship. Also it was good to get used to traffic again as at the previous tests we felt very lonely.”