Photo: Porsche
Porsche and Penske Motorsport have finished the first round of tests for the German marque's new LMDh prototype. The race car built by Porsche will compete in endurance racing championships in 2023 and beyond, and the team that developed is happy of how it performance over the combined mileage of over 1,242 miles (ca. 2,000 km), split in several of days of testing.
As you can imagine, developing an all-new racecar is no easy task, and doing it with a spec hybrid setup, which will be shared by all competitors, leads to further complications. With that in mind, the engineering team, along with a pair of test drivers, went ahead and drove the car over 2,000 kilometers on the Circuit de Catalunya, which is located near Barcelona, Spain.
Things started with caution, as the test pilots from Porsche wanted to ensure that everything operates as expected. Brazilian Felipe Nasr was joined by an American, Dane Cameron, to test the 680 PS (500 kW) race car on the Spanish track.
The pace was raised progressively, as it is important to note how the new hybrid system works, especially if all its basic functions are doing what they are supposed to, and only then can the pace be raised.
Porsche and Penske's representatives claim that the car has yet to be driven full-out, but the red brake rotors seen in the photo gallery show that at least the braking system was put through its paces.
All in all, the track had people from Porsche, Penske, Michelin, and Multimatic, among others, just to monitor the progress and offer assistance at a moment's notice.
After all, it was only normal for the test team to adopt a progressive approach to speed, as crashing one of these prototypes in its first stage of testing would be an expensive accident. Just ask Toyota about the latter.
It is worth noting that Porsche will race its LMDh prototype against vehicles made by Audi, Alpine (in 2024), Acura, BMW, and Cadillac, but the team from Weissach is the first to have a 2023 prototype testing on the track.
However, Cadillac and Acura currently have cars racing in the DPi category that will be replaced by the LMDh class, which may explain why they are not hurrying to reveal their prototype's testing process.
Things started with caution, as the test pilots from Porsche wanted to ensure that everything operates as expected. Brazilian Felipe Nasr was joined by an American, Dane Cameron, to test the 680 PS (500 kW) race car on the Spanish track.
The pace was raised progressively, as it is important to note how the new hybrid system works, especially if all its basic functions are doing what they are supposed to, and only then can the pace be raised.
Porsche and Penske's representatives claim that the car has yet to be driven full-out, but the red brake rotors seen in the photo gallery show that at least the braking system was put through its paces.
All in all, the track had people from Porsche, Penske, Michelin, and Multimatic, among others, just to monitor the progress and offer assistance at a moment's notice.
After all, it was only normal for the test team to adopt a progressive approach to speed, as crashing one of these prototypes in its first stage of testing would be an expensive accident. Just ask Toyota about the latter.
It is worth noting that Porsche will race its LMDh prototype against vehicles made by Audi, Alpine (in 2024), Acura, BMW, and Cadillac, but the team from Weissach is the first to have a 2023 prototype testing on the track.
However, Cadillac and Acura currently have cars racing in the DPi category that will be replaced by the LMDh class, which may explain why they are not hurrying to reveal their prototype's testing process.
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