Smooth start for both Porsche 919 Hybrids in China
Stuttgart. Intense set-up work for the two Porsche 919 Hybrids was the major task in the first free practice sessions at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Porsche team is preparing for the penultimate round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the six-hours of Shanghai which will start on Sunday at 11:00 hrs local time (04:00 CET).The first two 90-minutes practice sessions went smoothly for both 919 Hybrids. Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU), sharing car number 17, came third in FP1 and set the fastest lap time of the day in FP2 (Webber, 1:45.111 minutes). In comparison: in 2014, Neel Jani had set the fastest lap time of the entire weekend in qualifying by lapping in 1:47.036 minutes. The number 17 trio is currently leading the drivers’ world championship by a single point ahead of the Audi car number 7 crew. The Porsche sister car of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) was fourth fastest in the first practice session and came second in the afternoon. Track conditions were consistently dry with ambient temperatures of around 18 degrees Celsius.
Thanks to an advantage of a 53 point margin ahead of Audi in the constructors’ standings, mathematically Porsche could secure an early title win on Sunday in China. It would be the first Constructors’ World Championship title since 1986 for Porsche and the 13th in the brand’s endurance racing history.
Quotes after free practice:
Alexander Hitzinger, Technical Director: “Our first day here went according to plan. We started with a base-line set-up and then checked the various options. Generally our car is the same specification here as it was at the previous race in Fuji. Therefore it is just fine tuning what we do. Everything went smoothly and the long-runs were good.”
Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 17
Timo Bernhard (34, Germany): “Free practice one already proved the huge progress we have made compared to last year. The Porsche 919 Hybrid’s driveability and balance are much better now. But, naturally, we drivers always ask for more and it was amazing how quick the team got the changes in place for FP2. In the afternoon I did 35 consecutive laps and this was efficient as well.”
Brendon Hartley (25, New Zealand): “From the first to the second practice we managed to improve the set-up in many ways such as aerodynamics, hybrid management and four-wheel-drive handling. The result is positive as the lap-times show.”
Mark Webber (39, Australia): “We have had a very smooth and positive first day. Timo did a good long-run which is encouraging for the race. Brendon and I did shorter runs today. Our lap-times are a lot quicker than last year as they need to be because the Audi is still there and strong.”
Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 18
Romain Dumas (37, France): “I’m not happy. In the second session I was only for a few laps in the car and the traffic was terrible. I hardly can say anything.”
Neel Jani (31, Switzerland): "There are a lot of rubber marbles on the track that the tyres pick up. This obviously affects the car’s behaviour and I think this could turn into a major topic during the weekend. In FP2 I did 30 laps on a single set of tyres. In the beginning I had such a high amount of grip that I couldn’t use it all, but then the pick-up was constantly changing the balance. It was an important experience and we now have to draw our conclusions from that.”
Marc Lieb (35, Germany): “For me our car feels pretty good but we are slower than the sister car. So we now have to find out where and why we lose time.”
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GO
Holger Eckhardt
Communications, Sustainability and Politics
Spokesperson Motorsports LMDh, GT, Customer Racing
+49 (0) 170 / 911 4982
holger.eckhardt@porsche.de文本
英語 (Porsche AG)
已归档
M15_5083
M 212/15
2015-10-30
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- 赛车运动
- 2015赛季
- World Endurance Championship LMP1
- 最新消息
- China \ Shanghai
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- 赛车
- 919 Hybrid
FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), LMP1, Round 7, Shanghai (CN), Free Practice: Smooth start for both Porsche 919 Hybrids in China