The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) has kicked off the 2016 season with the official Prologue. The two-day test at the 5.791 kilometre long Circuit Paul Ricard in Southern France was the first meeting of a major part of the WEC grid.
For the title defender, the 2016 Porsche 919 Hybrid, it was the first appearance in the surroundings of the World Championship as well. The Porsche Team had two cars on site. On Friday car number 2 with drivers Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb was on duty while on Saturday the reigning World Champions, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber, took over with their number one car.
During the two days at the Prologue in Le Castellet, the Porsche Team covered a total mileage of 2,197 kilometres. At the end of each session, it was a Porsche 919 Hybrid leading the time sheets with the overall fastest lap of the Prologue set by Brendon Hartley following a 1:37.44 lap on Saturday.
“It basically was trouble free running for both our new cars”, said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1, “and we have received positive feedback from our drivers. Therefore we are confident for the opening round at Silverstone in April. Only there it will be possible to judge properly on the overall competition and we are expecting this with huge excitement.
“The Prologue is like a first scan of the grid and it is a great event arranged by the WEC, very useful for the teams, for media and enjoyable for spectators who had free access to the track and paddock today.”
If you would like to see the Porsche 919 Hyrbid in action, join us at Silverstone on Saturday, 16th and Sunday 17th April for the opening race of the 2016 FIA WEC season. Club members can enjoy discounted entry and infield entry with a dedicated area to park your Porsche.
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