Photo: D.R. Porsche

 

Porsche selected the Motorland Aragón circuit in Spain for a five-day series of tests on the 919 Hybrid which will be officially launched on 26 March, the day before the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet, France. The program’s two new recruits, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy, took part in the sessions alongside Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.

The six drivers notched up almost 7,600 km over the five days, including night-time sessions, taking the total distance covered over the three legs to just under 20,000 km.

Team Principal Andreas Seidl said: “The most important new components were an updated aerodynamic package; it is the spec we are going to run at the first two six-hour races in Silverstone and Spa. The days in Aragon were a mixture of endurance and performance testing for those two races. We also focused on tire testing with Michelin, operational practice for the crew, such as pit stops and driver changes, as well as increasing our new drivers’ experiences with the 919. We have continued our intensive testing programme seamlessly and were able to give all the drivers a good amount of mileage. While ticking off the boxes from the job list, we have gathered lots of data which will enable us to take the next steps on further improving the 919’s performance. To demonstrate the reliability for Silverstone and Spa we have completed our first race simulations with the new car. With regards to the 24 Hours of Le Mans we have identified some weak points which we will be sorting out now.”

Porsche, like its rivals Toyota, Audi and the newcomer Nissan, will be heading to the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet on 27-28 March for the official pre-season tests. Admission is free to the public on the second day of the tests. Tickets can be booked here.

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translated by David Goward (quote taken from the Porsche press release)