Motorsports: Hartley making Porsche proud

Brendon Hartley driving his way to a podium finish for the Porsche factory team in the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone over the Easter weekend 20 April 2014 durin

Motoring press has zeroed in on the new LMP1 so the pressure is on

The second race of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) this weekend at the iconic Spa Francorchamps track will be the second time New Zealand works Porsche driver Brendon Hartley gets to race the new LMP1 919 Hybrid.

Hartley, along with teammates Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, has already made Porsche proud by finishing on the podium at the opening round at Silverstone. It had been 16 years since an official Porsche works team competed in an endurance event, and to finish third in an entirely new, un-race tested, highly technical hybrid car is no mean feat.

Porsche and Hartley are at pains to say though, that this weekend at Spa Francorchamps is a bit of a leap into the unknown as everything about the 919 Hybrid is new. The team will take some solace from knowing they got one of the new cars through an arduous six hours of racing at Silverstone in trying conditions.

Being part of one of the most successful endurance racing teams, especially at Le Mans, comes with some pretty hefty baggage when re-entering the WEC. The world's motoring press has zeroed in on the new Porsche LMP1 so the pressure is on. It bodes well for Hartley, that the factory thinks the young Kiwi, along with his co-drivers, has the goods to deliver and he's dead chuffed to be part of the adventure.

"Obviously the expectations are going to ramp up each time we drive the car," said Hartley. "We know we still have a lot more to learn but getting the car on the podium at Silverstone at the beginning of the programme was mega. "I'm pretty optimistic we will have a better package at Spa as we'll still be in working with a Le Mans aero package."

In this day and age endurance racing is all about getting the best mileage out of a tank of gas, which means every little thing in and on the car makes a difference. High downforce means the car can corner faster but needs more gas to push it down the straight. Therefore, the longer the straight the more fuel used.

Porsche's focus is on the Le Mans 24 Hour, and rightly so as it is the most prestigious long-distance race on the planet. It's also a track where less downforce means higher speed down the long straights of the Circuit de la Sarthe. "It's going to be a really tough race at Spa this weekend but I think we can take it to our competitors because the track will suit our aero package better than Silverstone.

"It's sort of the dress rehearsal for Le Mans and our preparation for it. We're taking it one step at a time and I'm quietly confident we can put up a bit of a fight to get on to the top steps of the podium.

"I've had a lot of experience at Spa and have been on the podium there before. It's one of my favourite tracks and just being able to drive the Porsche 919 around that place is going to be really special.

"In fact, my very first endurance race was at Spa in LMP2 where I finished on the podium [2012]. The famous Eau Rouge corner requires a lot of respect and we will see whether we can take it at full throttle, or not and it's a corner where your stomach ends up nearly in your mouth," said Hartley.

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Belgian Ardennes has several things in common with the Le Mans track: a relatively long lap (7.004km) and impressive full noise sections. "I think every driver loves Spa and I do as well. It's one of the best tracks in the world. The straights are not quite as long as in Le Mans, but we will see very impressive speeds there," said Hartley.

The three of them - Hartley, Webber and Bernhard - already know they work well together having finished third at Silverstone in a brand new car.

The details

WEC 2014 championship
• 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps - May 3
• 24 Hours of Le Mans - June 14-15
• 6 Hours of the COTA - September 20
• 6 Hours of Fuji - October 12
• 6 Hours of Shanghai - November 2
• 6 Hours of Bahrain - November 15
•6 Hours of Sao Paulo - November 30