Porsche unveils three Le Mans liveries for its 919 Hybrid LMP1 racers
On the eve of the FIA World Endurance ‘Prologue’ test day at Paul Ricard, Porsche revealed not one, not two but three different liveries for their trio of Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 racers.
While the two full-season entries (the no. 17 and no. 18 cars) will run in white liveries at all the six-hour FIA WEC races, Porsche has unveiled special designs for the three 919 Hybrids that will tackle the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
The no. 17 car, driven by Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard will compete at La Sarthe in a red-and-white livery reminiscent of the Porsche Salzburg 917K that Richard Attwood and Hans Hermann used to take Zuffenhausen’s first overall Le Mans victory back in 1970.
Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas will drive the no. 18 car in a black-and-white livery, which Porsche claims is inspired by the black 918 Spyder test car that broke the production car lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 2013.
The third Le Mans entry, the no. 19 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Nico Hülkenberg, Earl Bamber and Total 911 columnist, Nick Tandy will compete in Porsche Motorsport’s now traditional white-and-grey colour scheme. This is the livery that both 911 RSRs will run in the GTE-Pro class of the FIA WEC.
This is particularly apt given both Bamber and British ace, Tandy have been promoted to the 919 LMP1 team after impressive performances in Porsche’s fastest 911 racing car.
Porsche also confirmed yesterday that the 919 Hybrid will run in the 8MJ sub-class. This means that it will have the most powerful hybrid power unit of all the LMP1 competitors (Toyota is in the 6MJ class, Audi has stepped up to 4MJ for 2015, while Nissan is planning to enter in the 2MJ division).
This means that Weissach’s racer will be using less fuel per lap than all its competitors, showing just how far Porsche’s electric motor development has come since its forays into hybrid vehicles a few years ago.
Which is your favourite Porsche 919 Hybrid Le Mans livery? Join the debate in the comments below.
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