Porsche's LMP1 Racer Named 919 Hybrid

Porsche’sPorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
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2014 LMP1 class racer has been named the 919 Hybrid to give it a spiritual connection to the famous 917Porsche 917Germany, 1969 > 19817 versions
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racecar and Porsche’s latest 918 HybridPorsche 918 Spyder Gen.1Germany, 2010 > present1 Version
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Porsche is still keeping quiet about technical details about the 919 Hybrid. It will use a four-cylinder engine with two forms of energy recuperation – brake force recovery and thermal recuperation from the engine. However, it is still unknown whether the engine is turbocharged or naturally aspirated. There have also been various rumors that the engine is an inline-four, a boxer configuration and even a V4. Porsche has made no comment when asked.

The 919 will be driven by Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Marc Lieb.

Porsche also announced that it purchased a majority stake in Manthey Racing, which ran its GTE Pro racing program in the World Endurance Championship last season. The team will race two Porsche 911 RSRs in the WEC again in 2014.

Porsche’s factory-supported driving squad now numbers 20 drivers, plus four junior drivers, that will be racing in the WEC and Tudor United Sports Car Championship in the United States.

“We’ve never had such a large driver line-up in the history of the company,” said Wolfgang Hatz, head of research and development at Porsche AG.

The next racing season is shaping up to be one of the most important in Porsche’s history.