A stronger Porsche

Every initial season for a car in any type of motor racing tends to be considered kind of an experimental season, no matter how much know-how the people involved in the car development have. The level of the competition tends to be an increasing alert factor, as a minimal failure in the car or even lack of pace can be contributing factors to kick them out of competition. But this wasn’t exactly the case for Porsche in its first FIA World Endurance Championship season of its LMP1 program.

Returning to the top class of an ACO ruled racing after a 16 year hiatus, the Porsche Team still proved that a new car can be competitive against the old boys, as the 919 Hybrid model remained competitive for the whole, achieving 6 podium finishes with its two cars, one of them being an overall victory at the 6 Hours of São Paulo with the No. 14 car. And speed is also a thing that the 919 Hybrid and the drivers on it have a lot, as the Stuttgart-based manufacturer captured half of the 2014 season pole-positions. Another highlight moment for Porsche was the competitiveness that the 919 Hybrid had during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the No. 20 car even led the race in the final hours, but problems took out both cars out of contention.

Now that the 919 proved to be competitive, the Porsche guys to step up, making the right moves to mount an even more serious world title challenge and to increase the number of wins at Le Mans,  which the count is in 16 times.

The first move was to get some of the GT program factory drivers to test in the current spec LMP1, suggesting that some drivers would be the chosen ones for a third entry at Le Mans. Later on, the rumors were confirmed, as Porsche secured a third entry for the 6 Hours of Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015. Audi proved that if you want to win at Le Mans nowadays, you need to bring three cars, and Porsche followed their steps.

The second move was the announcement of an all-new 919 Hybrid EVO, as opposed to just upgrading the 2014 model. Much of the base project is based on the 2014 model with some tweaks on it, but the hybrid system will go from the 6 MJ category to 8 MJ.

But the news with most impact that came from Porsche was about the drivers of the third entry. Porsche shocked the motorsport world when they announced in 2013 that former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber became part of the Porsche Team. But in 2014 they shocked even more, as one of the drivers of the third car is no more than Nico Hülkenberg, who drives for Force India in F1.

Hulk addition by Porsche was well received by the motorsport community, not only the sportscar fans but as well by the F1 fans, as he is the first active F1 driver to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans since Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso driver in 2009 that competed in one of the Peugeot 908 models.

Not only it was a move shrouded in doubts and rumors, as the names of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were speculated, but after Porsche’s announcement, it was supposed that Hülkenberg’s participation in the 6 Hours of Spa would be at risk as FIA announced an unreal 21^st F1 race at Korea on the same weekend of the Belgian event. Button and Alonso weren’t announced, as both stayed in F1 only duties, as well the Korean GP plan didn’t materialized.

As a fan like you, dear reader, I recommend you to take a good look at Porsche in 2015, as they can be stronger than in 2014, and strong as in the times of the 911 GT1, the 962 and the 956.

PHOTOS: FIA WEC, Porsche Motorsport