LMP1 party is now ready

From this Wednesday (23), discovering what would be present alongside Audi in the LMP1 class for the 2016 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, as Porsche and Toyota officially showed their weapons.

Porsche will come with an updated version of the 919 Hybrid, not changing that much the approach that made them champions as a team and with their drivers in 2015, reviving the glorious times of the manufacturer at Le Mans. Making use of the online social media outlets, Porsche revealed a base white car white big black details and with slight changes in its shape, like a more prominent front section, and outside of that, just some tweaks here and there. The 919 Hybrid will have three different aerodynamic kits for the season: two high downforce ones, to be used before and after Le Mans, and the specific low downforce package for La Sarthe.

Under the bodywork, the 919 Hybrid also received significant updates in the winning package, still a 2.0 liter petrol-powered V4 powerplant along with the combination of a front axle electric motor and lithium ion battery based energy recovery system.

Drivers of the pair of cars will be as follows:

No. 1: Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber

No. 2: Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb

From the Toyota side, a new car came to light to try to improve their fortunes and forget the lack of competitiveness shown during the whole 2015 season. It's not only the TS050 Hybrid, it's also about new colors, ditching the blue from the scheme, and a new competition name, as all Toyota operations will be under the Toyota Gazoo Racing name. Body-wise, the TS050 Hybrid shows a revamped front section with strategic improved details compared to the TS040, like a more flat area between the engine cover and the wheels as well in the sides of the car.

As what happened with Audi, Toyota incorporates lithium ion batteries as the base of the energy recovery system, replacing their signature supercapacitor ERS since 2012 in order to be competitive, as they hinted some months ago. Joining the changes, the naturally aspirated V8 engine says goodbye as a 2.4 liter, twin turbocharged V6 engine takes place in the new machine. This monster package is expected to develop 1000 horsepower combined.

Toyota's driver lineups are as follows:

No. 5: Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima

No. 6: Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi

PHOTOS: Toyota Motorsport, FIA WEC