Raised expectations for Porsche – Hartley

Brendon Hartley says expectations will be raised for Porsche’s second year in the World Endurance Championship, the German marque having surpassed all their goals upon its return to top-line sportscar racing last year. After winning the final race of the season in Sao Paolo, having already led the Le Mans 24 Hours and set four pole positions across both cars – the same number as World Champions Toyota – Porsche swept every session in the two-day Prologue at Paul Ricard and will be determined to continue where they left off at this weekend’s Six Hours of Silverstone.  

“I think we exceeded our expectations last year; the team won their final race, we had pole positions, we led the Le Mans 24 hour mark at the 22 hour mark, so obviously expectation is going to be high this year,” said Hartley, who will share the no. 17 919 Hybrid with team-mates Timo Bernhard and Mark Webber. “We need to manage that expectation because obviously our competitors have been working hard too. But we’ve grown as a team and we’re in a much better position than we were at this time last year.”

Porsche were quick in testing at Paul Ricard and will be expecting
big things in their second year back in the WEC (Adrenal Media)

The 919 Hybrid has undergone extensive revisions over the winter break and will join the eight mega-joule class for the first time, allowing them to deploy more hybrid electric energy through the front axle. First impressions have been very promising, but Hartley is hesitant to draw conclusions too early, with Toyota and Audi also making progress over the winter.

“I think 90% of the car or maybe even more is completely new,” he said. “It’s the same concept as last year and visually from the outside it looks similar with obviously a few aero updates, but we’ve got a new monocoque and everything has been evolved. It’s very bold and in typical Porsche style.

“We stuck to our programme and did a lot of laps, did lots of long runs. I think we were all surprised by the qually lap performance; was an impressive step forward compared to this time last year, but our competitors also look very strong, so we’ll be expecting a very tight and hard-fought race at Silverstone.”

The changes also come on the driver front; for round two at Spa-Francorchamps and the Le Mans 24 Hours, Porsche will join Audi in running a third car for Formula One star Nico Hulkenberg and newly-promoted Porsche GT aces Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber to give itself the best mathematical chance possible of winning at La Sarthe for the first time since 1998.

“Structurally from the team’s point of view it’s a big challenge, already last year to go from one car all the way through testing to two cars at the first round was a big task; it takes a lot of people to run these cars, but we’re up for the challenge,” he added. “Obviously having three cars on the track for Le Mans can only be a good thing; as we all know, 24 Hours is a long time and lot of things can happen in the race. We just had our briefing and having nine drivers there was a bit surprising, but it’s nice because we all get on well; everyone’s good friends and there’s a really nice team spirit.”