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New Porsche 919 Hybrid Enters Extensive Track Testing

Porsche’s first season running the 919 Hybrid race car in the World Endurance Championship was sort of a mixed-bag. The car did score its inaugural victory in the series last year, albeit at the eleventh hour, at the last race of the season in Sao Paulo.

But now, there’s a new Porsche 919 Hybrid ready to roll, and it just began extensive testing at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi yesterday. The car will see its first competitive action on April 12th, at the season opener in Silverstone.

The new Porsche 919 is very much like the old Porsche 919; a mid-mounted, 2.0 liter turbo V4 powers the rear wheels, with a single electric motor to power the fronts. A press release cites two different energy recovery systems, presumably the same braking-regeneration and exhaust-driven generator that were in the previous race car.

What isn’t announced in the release is whether the new Porsche 919 Hybrid has been bumped-up an energy-recovery division; previously the manufacturer had wanted to enter the 8 MJ division, but couldn’t accomplish that level of regen during testing.

We’ll be watching this season closely, especially at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Porsche has decided to field a third entry.

Aaron Birch is an automotive enthusiast and writer/filmmaker from Detroit, MI. As a rule, he only buys cars older than himself.

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