919 Hybrid Evo Retires to Porsche Museum

Porsche formally rounded off its LMP1 racing chapter with a final run for its record-breaking 919 Hybrid Evo to the manufacturer’s museum in Germany.

2015 FIA World Endurance Champion Mark Webber drove the 1,160 hp prototype on public roads from Porsche’s R&D facility in Weissach to the museum in Zuffenhausen, where it will be put on display.

Webber was accompanied by 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Marc Lieb, who was behind the wheel of the competition-spec Porsche 919 Hybrid that clinched three consecutive WEC manufacturers’ titles.

The 919 Hybrid Evo, which was an unrestricted version of the regulation-based 919 Hybrid, set new overall lap records at Spa-Francorchamps and the Nurburgring Nordschleife this year.

In April, it broke the lap record at Spa with Neel Jani, although its time of 1:41.770 was later eclipsed by Sebastian Vettel in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

At the Nordschleife, Timo Bernhard demolished the 35-year-old lap record held by the late Stefan Bellof with a time of 5:19.546 around the 12.94-mile circuit.

Both of those runs were dedicated record attempts, although it almost broke track records on uncompetitive demo runs at Laguna Sea during the Rennsport Reunion meeting and at Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit during the Festival of Porsche.

“With the 919 Hybrid project we could explore the fields of technology for Porsche and showcase the performance modern hybrid technology provides,” said LMP1 team principal Andreas Seidl.

“Ultimately this was achieved by the lap records of the ‘919 Evo’ on its 2018 ‘Tribute Tour’. At this point, my special thanks go to our partners. Without them, we could not have financed the program.

“The last miles on public roads now close the LMP1 chapter for us and we turn the page: Porsche faces the new challenge of e-mobility for road-going and racing cars.

“We are getting very positive feedback for our Formula E entrance at the end of 2019. This is an extra boost of motivation to once again search for the limits.”

The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo will now go on display in the Zuffenhausen museum, while a commemorative book entitled “Legendary – The Porsche 919 Hybrid Project” will be released in December.