Porsche 919 Hybrid named

Porsche has revealed the name of its new Le Mans racer, the 919 Hybrid, but is still keeping the visual details of its new prototype sports car a secret with psychedelic camouflage paint.

Drawing inspirations from and creating close ties with the limited-edition super-hybrid 918 Spyder road car, the 919 Hybrid is powered by a four-cylinder direct-injection petrol engine augmented by an electric motor and a pair of energy scavenging systems.

The name of the 919 Hybrid -- which will compete in the 2014 World Endurance Championship (WEC), the most important event in which is the Le Mans 24 Hours in June -- also draws inspiration from the Porsche 917 race car, which made its debut in 1969.

The 917 was the first Porsche to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race a year later in 1970 and also backed it up in '71.

Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG, said the name of the new car payed respect to the past and present.

"The vehicle name 919 Hybrid follows on from the tradition of the Le Mans-winning 917, but it is also with a view to the 918 Spyder, and acknowledges the company’s embarkation into the hybrid future.”

Porsche has several road-going hybrid cars, including the Cayenne, Panamera and 918 Spyder, and many more are planned.

Porsche's R&D chief explained that testing new hardware and software in its race cars was an ideal way to improve the technology in its road cars, and another compelling reason to throw buckets of cash at its racing program.

"To continue leading the way in the future and to merge sportiness with sustainability, we need to keep learning. Maximum efficiency in energy consumption is the directive of the new WEC regulations for the works-entered Class 1 prototypes [LPM1] – and that is also the direction for the automobile future," stated Hatz.

The full driver line-up for the Porsche 919 Hybrid has also been announced, with six drivers hoping to be part of history next year by winning the top two prizes of international sports car racing, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 2014 WEC.

Although he wasn’t present at Porsche’s ‘Night of Champions’ event in Weissach on the weekend because he remains contracted to Red Bull until the end of this month, leading the charge will be Australian ex-Formula One driver Mark Webber.

Webber, 37, is the team's most high-profile driver and arguably one of the most experienced having previously raced sports cars for Mercedes.

He will be joined by young New Zealand gun Brendon Harley (24), long-time Porsche works driver Marc Lieb (33) from Germany as the final two drivers to be signed.

Names already attached to the Porsche 919 Hybrid campaign include Timo Bernhard (32) from Germany, Romain Dumas (36) from France and Neel Jani (30) from Switzerland.

"We are very proud of our strong international driver line-up," said Hatz during the unveiling of the full six-member driver team at the Porsche 919 Hybrid naming ceremony.

Porsche's LMP1 project leader, Fritz Enzinger, said getting the right drivers to coax the Porsche through several gruelling endurance races would be vital for success.

"We had a substantial number of applicants from all classes for the two 919 Hybrids," said Enzinger.

"We were looking for experience, sheer speed, technical understanding, and we wanted team players because this is more important in endurance racing than in any discipline," he said.

The 2014 WEC begins in the UK at Silverstone in April but the jewel in the series' crown is the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Porsche's main rivals will be the just-launched Audi R18 and Toyota's TS030 -- both hybrids.

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