The 919 Hybrid’s Final WEC Season

Porsche announced that it would leave the WEC after the 2017 season. When I saw the 919 Hybrid up close at the WEC race at Fuji Speedway last year, I thought, “So this is the car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times. But this is the last time the 919 Hybrid will come to Japan. I guess this is my final chance to see it.”

(*I got to see the 919 Hybrid up close, even from directly above.)

Then, just the other day, the Porsche 919 Hybrid returned to the track with all WEC LMP1 regulations removed, allowing it to perform to its full potential. Dubbed the 919 Hybrid Evo, the car is embarking on a farewell tour of circuits around the world. The first stop was Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

At 7.004 km long, Spa-Francorchamps is reportedly the longest circuit on the current Formula 1 calendar.

Beating an F1 lap record? Unbelievable.

The 919 Hybrid Evo has now clocked a lap of 1:41.770. That’s 0.783 seconds faster than the circuit record set by Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix—and the fastest lap ever at Spa-Francorchamps.

The V4 engine’s output has increased by 220 horsepower, from 500 to 720. The car also features a DRS (Drag Reduction System) to reduce aerodynamic drag on the straights, and its weight has been cut by 39 kg.

What’s even more astonishing is that it’s reportedly 12 seconds faster per lap than last year’s WEC car. F1 cars are generally around 10 seconds a lap quicker than WEC LMP1 cars at most circuits, so even with the WEC regulations stripped away, shaving 12 seconds off the lap time seems almost unbelievable. The engineers who unlocked so much of the 919 Hybrid’s potential deserve enormous credit—and so does the driver who handled it and set the record.

F1 cars average around 200 km/h, so does a 12-second gap work out to roughly 600–700 meters? (I’m not great at math, so I hope I’ve got that right.) Put that way, all I can say is… wow. (I really need a bigger vocabulary.)

The 919 Hybrid Evo’s farewell tour is taking it around the world, but I doubt it’ll make it to Japan. If it does visit Suzuka or Fuji Speedway, though, I’d love to see it in action, even just once.

Image source: Autoblog, “Porsche’s ‘919 Hybrid Evo,’ freed from racing regulations, clocks a faster lap time than an F1 car at Spa!”