The 2017 FIA WEC season is just around the corner with The Prologue currently underway at Monza. Both Porsche and Toyota used this moment to debut their 2017 LMP1 challengers, the Porsche 919 Hybrid and Toyota TS050 Hybrid.
WEC rules for the 2017 season are tougher than before, particularly on the area of speed. The downforce is much lower than and cars will corner at lower speeds, thereby increasing the lap times. That said, expect to see slower lap times than the previous season by up to 4 seconds per lap.
Teams will only have two aerodynamic packages as opposed to three, tire sets have also been reduced to three per race. All this has resulted to drastic measures, forcing each team to come up with ways to make up for the slow speeds as well as building more enduring cars. The use of two aero packages instead of three is also a cost effective measure in favor of all teams.
The Toyota TS050 has received an overhaul for 2017, all parts are new besides the monocoque. Toyota’s last major win came in 2014 when the won the FIA WEC title, but the most heartbreaking moment was during Le Mans last year when their car stopped just moments away from the win. Porsche eventually went ahead to win the race. The Japanese manufacturer together with Toyota Gazoo Racing hope to benefit from the new rules, which forced them to also optimized the aerodynamics to a greater extent.
The 2.4L V6 teams up with an 8MJ hybrid system to develop a total of 1000hp.
