The last crusader (for now)
IT’S OFTEN claimed that the profitability of the Cayenne gives Porsche the money to build its beloved GT roads cars and go racing with the 911 – yet it was the Cayenne that killed Porsche’s Le Mans challenge in the late ’90s. Cash was needed, so its LMP2000 prototype was canned at the last minute and never got to race. And while an enlarged version of its V10 engine lived on in the Carrera GT, Porsche was absent from the top-level prototype category for the next 15 years, watching from the sidelines as Audi dominated.
It was a rule change that finally bought Porsche (and Toyota) back. The revised regulations focused on fuel usage, but the flipside was fewer engine restrictions. Just as importantly, the amount of energy that could be recovered and deployed from the hybrid system was dramatically increased. Come 2014 there were three different manufacturers on the grid, all with different engines and different energy recovery systems.
Toyota went for a petrol V8 and Audi stuck with what it knew, its trusty large-capacity diesel V6. Porsche, meanwhile, started from scratch. Fritz Enzinger was employee No 1 for Porsche’s Le Mans return, but at the end of 2011 the new boss started with no staff and no facilities. His brief? To build a Formula 1 car with a roof. Two years later he had over 200 people working for him (and a roof over their head).
Not that Porsche was sure what it was working on. Even once the project was underway, the regulations weren’t set in stone. A couple of different powertrains were tried. ‘There were two possibilities for the engine, so we built both,’ Enzinger tells CAR. ‘There were different hybrid solutions for each engine, too. It was the most difficult decision we made.’
The final choice was a single-turbo, direct-injection 2.0-litre in a compact V4 layout. It revved to 9000rpm and generated over 500bhp, and Porsche went with it because the regulations had an in-built bias towards having a big hybrid system and a small engine, rather than vice-versa. The hybrid side of the package was made up of two energy-recovery systems. The first was an electric motor on the front axle, which charged a lithium-ion battery under braking, and redeployed its power through the front wheels under acceleration – for temporary all-wheel drive.
The second system took advantage of the turbo engine. Instead of a wastegate, exhaust gases drove a second turbine, which drove a generator. This meant the 919 was the only car on the grid that recuperated energy under braking and acceleration, producing the electrical equivalent of around 400bhp and reducing fuel consumption by 20 per cent.4
‘The drivetrain was the most advanced element of the 919,’ says Brendon Hartley, who raced for Porsche for four years. ‘Porsche was very ambitious, and the technology was incredibly advanced.’
It was this aggressive approach that would eventually give Porsche an advantage, but it wasn’t smooth sailing at the start. The V4 was a stressed member of the chassis, and for the first six months of testing the vibrations either made the 919 undriveable or plain broke the car. An engine redesign solved the problem, but other issues forced Porsche to homologate the car in the six-megajoule category rather than top-spec 8MJ class.
Its first season wasn’t one to be remembered. With testing curtailed by those vibration issues, the 919 raced too soon. It finished outside the top 10 at Le Mans, over 30 laps behind, and only came good for its first win at the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Then Porsche got in its groove. For 2015 it trimmed 30kg out of the car, allowing it to take full advantage of the downsized engine and run in the 8MJ class. This unlocked more electrical power and took the total output to approximately 1000bhp. The 919 broke the lap record in qualifying at Le Mans, started 1-2-3, and finished 1-2.
It was Toyota’s heart-breaking mechanical failure with a lap to go at Le Mans in 2016 that gave Porsche its second win in a row; to finish first, first
WITHIN WEEKS OF ITS 19TH OVERALL VICTORY, PORSCHE ANNOUNCED IT WAS ENDING ITS PROGRAMME
you have to finish… Which was true again in 2017: a fiasco in the pits and a collision with an LMP2 prototype ended the race for both Toyotas and put Porsche into lead. But out in front by 13 laps, it too lost a car, meaning that for the first time in history the race was led by an LMP2 car.
Porsche wouldn’t be beaten. Its second car, having had problems early, re-joined 19 laps down. At 7.35pm on Saturday evening it was in 54th place; at 12.50pm the following afternoon it was back on the lead lap; 17 laps later it was out front; and 20 laps after that it took the chequered flag.
‘We drove our hearts out in that race, and the team in the garage worked so hard too,’ says Hartley. ‘I had tears in my eyes when I finished my stint and passed the car on to Earl [Bamber] and Timo [Bernhard]. It was such a special moment to be part of. We hadn’t even won the race at that moment, but Le Mans means so much.’
It was a bittersweet victory, though, as within weeks of its 19th overall victory, Porsche announced it was ending its programme a year early – it was switching to Formula E. It’s a seemingly sad end to Porsche’s history at Le Mans, because this latest chapter started from nothing, rose to beat Toyota and end the dominance of Audi, before fizzling out abruptly.
Then again, it would take a brave punter to bet against Porsche one day returning for that 20th overall win.