Porsche, the reigning world champion team, will start third and fourth on the grid for the season’s opening race of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Silverstone (GB) with the two 919 Hybrids. Toyota secured a front row lock out for the start of the six-hour race on Sunday. For strategic reasons, Porsche’s Le Mans prototypes approach the fast Formula One circuit in Britain with significantly less aerodynamic downforce than the track layout actually would require.
Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1 said “It was a very deliberate decision before we came here to focus our aerodynamics completely on Le Mans. It was crystal clear that this meant a disadvantage for Silverstone. This has a smaller impact in the race than for a single fast lap, but it will definitely be a disadvantage tomorrow as well. We fully back the decision and will get through the consequences together. I’m proud on our driver line-up. All six are performing on a very high level and also handle the current situation very well.”
