Following just one season with its current LMP1 package, an all-new Porsche 919 Hybrid is under development for next year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.
The German manufacturer has confirmed that parts are already in production for the 2015-spec 919 Hybrid, which will take from the lessons learned from its first year back in top-level prototype racing.
“The general car concept is the same, apart from a few areas, but pretty much every component is new,” Porsche LMP1 technical director Alex Hitzinger told Sportscar365.
“We have pretty much redesigned every component to improve it based on what we’ve learned this year.”
While the 919 Hybrids will have a brand-new tub design, as well as refined aero, Hitzinger said it will not be a night-and-day difference between the two cars.
“The differences are really in the detail,”he said. “The car we’re running now, it behaves quite differently to how it behaves at Le Mans. But if you look at it from the outside, it’s just nuances.
“Especially on the aerodynamic side, very small changes can make a big difference. You can make big changes, and they look obvious from the outside, and it’s peanuts.”
Porsche will continue to use its small-displacement V4 turbo gasoline engine coupled with KERS and exhaust gas energy recovery systems, although it has yet to decide which hybrid energy class it will compete in.
A late decision was made this year to go in the 6MJ category following extensive pre-season testing with a 8MJ system.
“We will see,” Hitzinger said. “It’s exactly the same approach as last year. We’ll build the system and test and then we will see what the best category will be based on all tracks.
“It’s a compromise. You don’t want to take too big of a compromise for some tracks just to be better than others. You have to find your sweet spot.”
Porsche enters this weekend’s Six Hours of Shanghai searching for its first victory with the current-gen 919 Hybrid, following Toyota’s dominance on home soil last time out in Fuji.
They currently trail Toyota by 74 points in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, with Audi likely to be only realistic challenger, being 8 points out of the lead with three rounds to go.
