Top speed at the foot of Mount Fuji

The traditional Fuji Speedway has been fundamentally modernised in the past decade and is famous for its long main straight. It stretches a good 1,500 metres and should allow the Porsche 919 Hybrids to reach top speeds of around 300 km/h. But as desirable as low drag might appear for this long straight, a high price would be paid for it on the remainder of the lap.

The race car has to be an all-rounder

The fast corners in the middle sector require high downforce, while the last sector is narrow and winding. The race car has to be an all-rounder. In year one especially of Porsche’s return this is not an easy task for the Porsche Team, which enters the most innovative and complex prototype in the WEC field, and in which every circuit means a journey of discovery into unknown territory.

In the GT-class, Porsche Team Manthey fields a two-car entry with the Porsche 911 RSR. In 2012, Porsche won on the demanding circuit at the foot of Mount Fuji. Last year, however, torrential rain saw the race stopped early after several attempts to restart behind the safety car.

First outing with the new Porsche Motorsport boss Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser

The works-entry at round five of the Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC is the first outing with the new Porsche Motorsport boss Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser at the helm: “I’m looking forward to the first race in my new role. At Austin recently, the team put in a strong showing and I hope we can turn that good performance into a top result in Fuji. In any case we’ll do our very best to keep improving our position in this exciting fight for the title.”

With a lap time of 1:29.021 minutes on the 4.563 km long circuit car number 14 was fourth after the first session and finished third in the second session (1:28.441). Car number 20 came sixth in both free practice sessions (1:29.829 and 1:29.672). In total the two Porsche 919 Hybrids covered 170 laps on the first day in Fuji.

In the cockpit of the #91 Porsche 911 RSR, Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) join forces for the first time in the hotly-contested GTE-Pro class. Frenchmen Frédéric Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet share driving duties in the number 92 cockpit. In the GTE-Am class, two customer teams run the Porsche 911 RSR, with Porsche junior Klaus Bachler (Austria) competing for Proton Competition.

For comments on the free practice sessions and the race in Fuji, please have a look at the press relase ("Download" on the left).