Porsche introduced an all-new car for 2015 and leapfrogged the updated machinery of the opposition to win the World Endurance Championship. Twelve months on, the roles are reversed.
A revision of the LMP1 hybrid that claimed the drivers' and manufacturers' titles, not to mention the Le Mans 24 Hours crown, will carry Porsche's hopes from this weekend's season opener at Silverstone. Rivals Audi and Toyota have gone back to the drawing board in their respective attempts to get on terms with the defending champion.
Porsche jumped to the front of the LMP1 pack with the second-generation 919 Hybrid, a complete redesign of the 2014 original. This time around it has opted for what Mark Webber, who won the last year's WEC drivers' crown with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, describes as a "heavy massaging" of its predecessor.