Tomorrow Porsche will begin the initial testing of with their 2015 Le Mans LMP1 contender, the second generation of the Porsche 919 Hybrid Le Mans prototype. The venue for this test is Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Circuit, which offers a nice and warm escape from the cold and wet of Europe.
The 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid has only been out of the workshop once before this, during a shakedown at Porsche’s private test track at Wissach. So the real work, which includes several performance and endurance tests, will begin in Abu Dhabi and continue right until the World Endurance Championship (WEC) season opener on April 12 at Silverstone, Northamptonshire.
The tests are designed to put special stress on the 919’s fascinatingly complex power train, which consists of a 2-litre V4 turbocharged petrol engine, supplemented by an electric motor powering the front wheels, and two energy recovery systems. One gets the feeling Porsche does not car much about success at Le Mans, and is more interested in testing these systems in the world of motorsport for use in their future production models.
