Porsche sets its sights on a hat-trick

The new Porsche 919 Hybrid for the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship

Scroll down for next page

World premiere in a Royal Park: Today, Friday, Porsche has unveiled the new 919 Hybrid at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (IT). The Le Mans prototype, that delivers a system output of around 900 PS (662 kW), was comprehensively reworked. Porsche aims for a hat-trick with it: Target is to win the Le Mans 24-hours race (June 17/18) as well as the FIA World Endurance Championship titles for Manufacturers and Drivers respectively for the third consecutive time after 2015 and 2016.

Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP, faces the season with a great deal of respect: “Each and every one of the nine endurance races presents a challenge. Reliability is the basic requirement; six hours of navigating around the many cars in the different categories, each driving at different speeds, makes each race unpredictable – and ultimately it is often only seconds that separate the winner from the rest of the field. At four times the duration of the other races, Le Mans forms the pinnacle of the series. This 24-hour race pushes both men and machine to their absolute limits. Toyota is set to be a very strong contender in the top-tier LMP1 category for the 2017 season. We will face up to them with a meticulously enhanced Porsche 919 Hybrid and a team of six first-class drivers.”

The technology of the Le Mans prototype

The 2017 model of the Porsche 919 Hybrid deploys a range of new innovations, particularly in the vehicle’s aerodynamics, the chassis and the combustion engine. Team Principal Andreas Seidl, who continues to serve as acting technical director, reports: “For the 2017 season, 60 to 70 per cent of the vehicle is newly developed. The basic concept of the 919 Hybrid still offers scope to optimise the finer details and further boost efficiency. The monocoque has remained unchanged since 2016, but the optimisation potential of all other components was analysed and, in most cases, adjustments made accordingly.” As in Formula 1, the monocoque is made from a carbon-fibre compound using a sandwich design.