The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, faster than an F1… but with a catch

Porsche has “dusted off” its winning Porsche 919 Hybrid from Le Mans and has broken the lap record at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, beating the pole time set by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes F1 W07 last year. How did they do it?

More than once you’ve probably wondered which is faster, an LMP1 from Le Mans or a Formula 1 car. Comparisons are odious, especially in this case. An LMP1 prototype would have no chance in a Formula 1 race… and a Formula 1 car wouldn’t come close to catching up over 24 Hours of Le Mans. Simply put, it would have nothing to do in any of the races of the WEC World Endurance Championship, not even the shorter ones, which last 6 hours.

But in Porsche, in a brilliant marketing move, they have decided to keep getting value out of the 919 Hybrid, the dominant car at Le Mans for the last three years, after the German brand withdrew from this competition to focus, among other things, on Formula E. And they have done so by beating the lap record at a legendary circuit like Spa-Francorchamps.

The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo versus the Mercedes F1 W07

The benchmark to beat was the time Lewis Hamilton set for pole position in the Formula 1 race held in August 2017: 1:42.553 minutes. The Porsche driver, Neel Jani, stopped the clock at the wheel of his Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo at 1:41.770 minutes, cutting Hamilton’s time in the Formula 1 single-seater by 0.783 seconds.

The top speed reached during the lap was 359 km/h, with an average of 245.61 km/h. Porsche also provides the weather conditions in which the record was set: ambient temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, and asphalt temperature of 13 degrees Celsius.

Of course this record has a catch. The Porsche 919 Hybrid used to achieve it carries the “Evo” suffix. What does this mean? Simply put, the car is not the same one the brand raced in the WEC. “We wanted to show how far the Porsche 919 Hybrid could go without being subject to the championship’s regulations,” explain Porsche officials.

And they certainly have shown it. Perhaps more significant than the 0.78-second advantage over the Formula 1 car is the following figure: compared with the competition Porsche 919 Hybrid that raced at Spa, the “Evo” cuts lap time by no less than… 12 seconds! We will never know for sure, but it would be interesting to see what a “de-limited” Mercedes F1 W07 is capable of, without having to comply with FIA regulations on engine or aerodynamics. But you can bet it would be faster than the LMP1.

Hybrid engine without limits: 720 CV of power

Porsche reveals that the main changes to the 919 Hybrid Evo focused on aerodynamics, using an evolution of the 2017 car prepared for the 2018 WEC, before the brand decided to withdraw from this competition. The hybrid propulsion system remained unchanged, with the turbocharged V4 engine and two energy recovery systems. Of course, without the efficiency limitations imposed by the WEC, and equipped with the corresponding management software, the 500 CV of the 919 Hybrid’s combustion engine in its race version rose to 720 CV for the record-setting car.

But that’s not all. While under regulations, at the 2017 Spa race the energy recovery system could only manage 6.37 megajoules, without restrictions this Evo version was able to use 8.49 megajoules on its lap. This means the power of the hybrid part also increases, in this case from 400 to 440 CV.

And as a result of the aerodynamic modifications made, the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo features 53 percent more aerodynamic downforce than the car used in qualifying at Spa 2017. Weight was reduced to 849 kg (39 kg less) by removing the air conditioning, windshield wipers, lights and other sensors required in competition. Michelin was responsible for manufacturing the specific tyres for a car capable of generating more downforce than a Formula 1 car, using new compounds that provided the necessary grip without compromising safety.

Image gallery Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo