What can Porsche's Le Mans comeback achieve?

Porsche is playing down its chances of winning races straight out of the box when it ends its absence from top-flight sportscar racing with its new petrol-electric LMP1 car in next year's World Endurance Championship.

The target for the new coupe, which is Porsche's first challenger for outright honours at the Le Mans 24 Hours since the winning 911 GT1-98 design of 15 years ago, is to finish races and be competitive against rivals Audi and Toyota. Head of the LMP1 programme Fritz Enzinger explained that it is unrealistic to expect Porsche to start winning straight away after such a long absence.

"People are expecting victories, because we have won Le Mans 16 times," he said, "but we shouldn't forget that the last one was in 1998. Everything is new for us: we have new facilities, a new group of people and new technology to understand.

"Our only target for next year is to have a competitive car and to finish races, first the six-hour races and then Le Mans. Only when we go on track with Audi and Toyota will we know if anything more is possible."

Porsche has stressed that the new-for-2014 rulebook, which limits performance by giving each car a set amount of energy and puts renewed focus on energy-retrieval systems, means that LMP1 is now on a par with Formula 1 in terms of technology.

"That makes it a massive challenge," continued Enzinger, who pointed out that his company's rivals have a two-year head start in the development of their hybrid systems.

TEST PROGRAMME

Porsche last won Le Mans with an LMP1 15 years ago © LAT

Testing of the Porsche LMP1 hybrid, which began at the German manufacturer's test circuit at its Weissach research-and-development facility in mid-June, has so far focused on one chassis. Enzinger believes that this is the best way forward in the early development stages.

That will be increased to two cars when the test programme resumes after the Christmas break. It will take two of its hybrids, which will by then have a name or type number, to Bahrain in search of good weather. The first test in mid-January, at which Mark Webber will drive the Porsche for the first time, is scheduled to be followed by a second multi-day test at the same Sakhir track in February.

An endurance run is then planned for March in the US at Sebring, a circuit that rival Audi has used as an essential part of its Le Mans preparations since 2000.

"It is such a hard circuit: we think a test at Sebring is necessary if you are going to be successful in endurance racing," said Enzinger. "If you complete a 12- or 24-hour test at Sebring, you know your car is OK."

In addition to its tests at Weissach, the Porsche has run at Lausitz, Aragon and Magny-Cours. The programme resumes at Monza at the end of this month and will include further multi-day tests at Paul Ricard and then the Algarve circuit.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Along with the name of its petrol-powered challenger, Porsche has also yet to reveal technical details. These are all expected during the next month and a half.

Porsche is yet to reveal tech specs

The only detail revealed so far is that one of the energy-retrieval systems on the car - two are allowed under the 2014 regulations - will be driven off the exhausts.

Enzinger explained that the system was similar in principle to the MGU-H (motor generator unit-heat) systems to be used in Formula 1 next year, which confirms that the engine will be turbocharged.

"For a manufacturer this is the right way, because we can talk about this for road cars in the future," Enzinger said.

Everything points towards the Porsche's engine being a small-capacity four-cylinder turbo, but this has yet to be confirmed, along with the means of energy storage and from which axle or axles it will recuperate.

DRIVER LINE-UP ALMOST SET

The two remaining seats in Porsche's six-man driving squad look set to be filled by long-time Porsche GT driver Marc Lieb and former Red Bull junior Brendon Hartley. Both will test the LMP1 car in the coming weeks and are then likely to be confirmed for the programme before the end of this year.

Marc Lieb © LAT

Enzinger confirmed that Lieb's place in the squad was dependent upon him making a successful transition from a GT car to a high-downforce prototype.

The 33-year-old German never raced the Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 car and has little relevant downforce experience from his single-seater career after joining the Porsche junior programme straight out of Formula Renault.

"This is an important point," said Enzinger. "He will do the tests and we will compare the data with the other drivers. If he fits in well and he is fast, he will be confirmed as the fifth driver."

It is unclear whether the seat for New Zealander Hartley, who has impressed at the wheel of the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan LMP2 car over the past two years, is dependent on his test performance.

THE FUTURE

Porsche has ruled out the possibility of running three cars a la Audi at Le Mans next year, but it is something that is under evaluation for 2015.

That is the season when Porsche has targeted victory, not only in regular WEC six-hour races but also in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Asked if Porsche can win in 2015, Enzinger replied: "That, I think, is a necessity."