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Seidl: Porsche's 919 Evo LMP1 car will have Formula E carryover

Porsche's unrestricted 919 Hybrid Evo LMP1 car will have "carryover" into its Formula E programme that begins in 2019/20.

The manufacturer ended its participation in the World Endurance Championship at the end of 2017 to prepare for its entry into FE.

Porsche will develop its Gen2 FE car in the same electric lab that it developed for its WEC programme.

But inspired by Penske and Porsche's successful closed course speed record attempt in 1975 with Mark Donohue aboard the Porsche 917-30 at Talladega, the manufacturer was convinced to free its LMP1 car from the WEC's regulations and take on a number of records in 2018.

After completing its farewell tour, the Evo was driven on the streets of Stuttgart on its way to retirement in Porsche's museum.

Porsche's LMP1 boss Andreas Seidl says the the 919 Hybrid Evo's legacy means it will have carryover into FE.

"For sure there is a lot of carryover, not just from the Evo, but from the 919 Hybrid," Seidl told Autosport.

"Everything we have learned on the hybrid system side, the gearbox side, the suspension side, as there is some area for development in the rear axle of suspension.

"We are using the same guys that are developing the project for Formula E.

"There is a lot of carryover."

Seidl added that the Evo was "low cost" because "the project has been financed by partners, sponsors" and that it had also used some planned 2018 WEC developments, leaving only the aerokit as an expensive development.

There has been speculation that Volkswagen could be tempted into giving its I.D. R Pikes Peak-winning car the chance to take on Porsche's Nurburgring Nordschleife record.

The Evo's Spa-Francorchamps record, set by Neel Jani, has already been beaten by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in qualifying for the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix.

But Seidl says the Evo's records being beaten will not tempt it into bringing the car back to the track.

"No, that was a one-off," Siedl said. "In the end it was about records as well, but even more we wanted to show what a modern hybrid sportscar can do in terms of performance.

"We set targets for lap times and tracks we wanted to go and we hit those targets. That's it, no temptation to go back.

"It's very encouraging to see this big echo [in coverage] we got from the fans and the internet, it shows people like raw, unlimited performance on a traditional race track."

Zdroj: autosport.com