The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) has kicked off the 2016 season with the official Prologue. The two-day test at the 5.791 kilometre long Circuit Paul Ricard in Southern France was the first meeting of a major part of the WEC grid. For the title defender, the 2016 Porsche 919 Hybrid, which was unveiled just before the Prologue, it was the first appearance in the surroundings of the World Championship as well.
The Porsche Team had two cars on site. On Friday car number 2 with drivers Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb was on duty. On Saturday the reigning World Champions, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber, took over with their number one car.
During the two days, the since 2015 significantly-revised prototypes of the Porsche Team covered a total mileage of 863 kilometres. At the end of each session, it was a Porsche 919 Hybrid leading the time sheets. The overall fastest lap of the Prologue was achieved by Brendon Hartley in 1:37.44 minutes on Saturday.
“It basically was trouble free running for both our new cars