Porsche Debuts Updated Aero Package on 919 Hybrid

Photo: Porsche

Porsche has rolled out with aero updates to its 919 Hybrid ahead of the second half of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

The German manufacturer completed a three-day test this week at the Eurospeedway Lausitz, racking up more than 1,200 miles between drivers Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Mark Webber.

Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Marc Lieb, meanwhile, took part in a test at Paul Ricard last month and logged a similar amount of milage.

“The target is to systematically improve the 919 Hybrid’s performance,” team principal Andreas Seidl said. “That wasn’t possible before the Le Mans 24-Hours as we had to focus on reliability and had to freeze the car specification.

“Nevertheless we saw the car’s potential and learnt a lot during the first three championship events. Now we are working our way through the job list.”

The biggest update to the car since Le Mans has been the aero, which now sees the gasoline-powered hybrid run in high-downforce configuration.

It ran in a low-drag, Le Mans-style trim in the opening three rounds of the FIA WEC.

“We have successfully tested here with improvements in all areas of the car,” Seidl added. “The introduction of our new aero update was important. It provides a higher downforce level and should help to improve the 919 Hybrid’s race performance for the remaining rounds of the championship.

“The team did an excellent job in preparing and conducting the test. Thanks to this we were able to complete our program in its entirety and are really pleased with these three days.”

Porsche has an additional test scheduled prior to next month’s Six Hours of Circuit of Americas on Sept. 20, which kicks off a stretch of five races over 11 weeks, concluding at Sao Paulo in late November.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John