WEC: Porsche downplays test crash

A shunt that temporarily halted Porsche's latest test in Abu Dhabi was not a major setback to the World Endurance Championship-winning squad's development schedule, says LMP1 team principal Andreas Seidl.

The team lost one of the four days of testing after Marc Lieb damaged a suspension mounting point on the monocoque of the updated Porsche 919 Hybrid when he crashed at Turn 19 on the Yas Marina circuit on Tuesday.

That forced Porsche to fly in a new tub around which to rebuild the car, which allowed the test to resume on Thursday.

"We had a one-day break and then were testing again on Thursday," said Seidl. "It was not ideal, but we were able to make up for the lost day."

The development 919 completed a little more than 1250 miles over course of a test at which Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas drove. The car was running close to its 2016 specification, according to Siedl, though with last year's aerodynamics.

The 919 has been running since the end of last year with its 2016 powertrain. Testing will resume in Abu Dhabi in the third week of February before Porsche moves to Europe to begin its endurance simulations.

Toyota has now completed two tests - one at Aragon and one at Paul Ricard - with its new TS050 HYBRID.

Audi is due to resume track testing this month with the all-new 2016 R18 e-tron quattro, having concentrated on development at its Neustadt test factility since a test at Sebring in December.

Originally on Autosport.com