Porsche reveals 2015 spec 919 Hybrid

The familiar white and black livery will be back on car #19 this season, but joining it will be a distinctive red and black version to complement the German manufacturer's three-car assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The three eye-catching cars will race in these colours at Le Mans. For the rest of the FIA WEC races at Silverstone, Spa, Nurburgring, COTA, Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain the cars will revert to the usual white paint work.

The most significant aspect of today’s announcement is that the manufacturer has chosen to go to the maximum 8MJ energy retrieval sub-class this season.

The lighter and more rigid 2-litre V4 turbocharged petrol engine will see the energy/fuel use formula for one lap at Le Mans as 4.76 litres of petrol per lap. Porsche will continue to use the engine to power the rear axles.

Nearly a whole new car

"The 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid is approximately 85-90 percent completely new, " said team boss Andreas Seidl.

"We took our time on going 8MJ as we had to validate what we had seen on the simulations. Of course we do not know what our competitors will be like on the all-round pace of the package.

"The stint performance will be enhanced in 2015 for sure," said Seidl. "We have a lot more data from the circuits we were not that familiar with.

"This experience gained in 2014 will be significant for us to build on for our aims and targets this season."

Porsches previously used centralised exhaust tract has been replaced by a twin exhaust-pipe system in order to improve output and optimise the vehicle's aerodynamics.

An electric motor with over 400hp will drive the front wheels and generate electricity from two energy recovery systems.

Porsche R&D board member, Wolfgang Hatz, was in attendance at the launch and said: "The mission for the second generation of the 919 Hybrid was: be more efficient, more powerful, but at the same time easier to drive, lighter and more robust."

Hatz also stated that the objective for 2015 was to win more races and then to challenge for the FIA WEC title in 2016.