Porsche are entering the final stages of preparing the all-new 919 Hybrid ahead of its FIA World Endurance Championship debut in April.
The team conducted a three day test over March 24-26 at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France, marking the first time the LMP1 cars have appeared in their final livery on track. They will also take part at the WEC Prologue, starting on Friday at Paul Ricard, where all of the WEC machines will meet for the first time in 2014.
All six drivers of Porsche’s LMP1 works drivers were in action at the Paul Ricard test, with Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb behind the wheel of the #14, while Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber shared the cockpit of the #20. While technical gremlins hampered some of the progress, the team were pleased with the outcome of the test that saw night running and a plethora of pit stop practices.
“This test was a very challenging one for the entire crew,” said Team Principle Andreas Seidl of the test which saw the team cover 4,756km.
“For the first time we were running two cars at the same time, which was demanding in terms of logistics and team coordination. The other target was to simulate a race weekend in order to prepare for the two six-hours races that are coming up. This was a very important experience for us.
“The test taught us that we have to improve in terms of reliability. With regards to the way the crew and drivers worked together as a team, we are going in the right direction. The next two days of testing here in Paul Ricard, during the Prologue, will be used to fine tune both the car’s set up, as well as the race specific processes.”
