Porsche confident after first tests in Austin

À l’issue des deux premières séances d’essais des 6 Heures du Circuit des Amériques (Texas), c’est Audi qui a affiché les meilleures performances avec ses R18. Les Porsche 919 Hybrid ont terminé dans la même seconde, Brendon Hartley placing the No. 1 seven tenths off the benchmark while Neel Jani finished almost nine tenths behind with the No. 2.

Both crews mainly focused on tire holding while ensuring all drivers completed their mandatory five laps at night.

“Our car works very well on the straights and we used the day testing different points”, confirmed Brendon Hartley.

“It was particularly hot, especially during the first session, and it will be the same when we start at 17 p.m. (local time) this Saturday, said his teammate Timo Bernhard. It's difficult to properly set up the car for the race because most of the event will be run after sunset when the temperatures have dropped. »

The German manufacturer's second crew is also satisfied with the behavior of the hybrid LMP1 on the American track.

“We clearly have a good starting point with our prototype, we now need to refine it as much as possible. If it's this hot for the rest of the weekend, the race will be a battle of men and machines.", warned Neel Jani.

“The car is never perfectly set up for the circuit on the first day of testing but that’s not a problem, recalled Marc Lieb. I really enjoy the fast turns like those in the first sector. We pass them into sixth gear at over 200km/h. »

Results of the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas in Austin