Porsche to enter a third 919 Hybrid LMP1 race car for 2015 Le Mans

Porsche recently announced that they will introduce a third 919 Hybrid LMP1 race car that will compete in the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours which will take place on June 13-14, 2015. As a rehearsal and practice for the endurance race, the third LMP1 race car will join the Six Hours World Endurance Championship which will be held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium on May 2, 2015.

“In 2014 we have been competitive immediately with the most complex and innovative race car Porsche has built so far. To date we have achieved five podium places, three pole positions and two record laps, in Shanghai and Bahrain. These are outstanding results. But this LMP1 programme doesn’t just produce success on race tracks, but also on the engineering side. The target is the highest performance with maximised efficiency in ever growing dimensions. This is why we will take on the challenge with three Porsche 919 Hybrids in 2015,” said Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Board, Research and Development, Porsche AG.

Final driver lineup for the third car has not yet been decided by the German automaker but they did state that the drivers for the 2 cars will still remain the same. The drivers mentioned are German nationals Timo Bernhard and Marc Lieb, Frenchman Romain Dumas, New Zealander Brendon Hartley, Swiss Neel Jani and Australian Mark Webber.

Matthias Muller, Chairman of the Board Porsche AG said that their decision to include another LMP1 race car in the competition expresses the company's commitment in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Muller also stated that joining the the competition contributes directly to the development of their future technologies and future sports car for the roads. As for the testing of Porsche's future hybrid systems, Muller simply said that you can't ask any harder test bench than the World Endurance Championship, especially the 24 Hours Le Mans.