Success for Porsche Motorsport and Chopard at 'Six Hours of Silverstone' opening FIA World Endurance Championship 2015

Silverstone – England, United Kingdom – April, 12th 2015

Chopard started its second year as official timing partner of Porsche Motorsport. The season started at the Six Hours of Silverstone 2015, where the two Porsche 919 Hybrid cars led by Mark Webber and Romain Dumas campaigned again for victory.

After 30,000 kilometres of testing, the Porsche 919 Hybrid began with strong expectations in pole and 2nd start positions on the grid. The Porsche 919 Hybrid led by Romain Dumas finished 2nd in the LMP1 championship and the Porsche 911 RSR teams finished 2nd and 7th in the GTE Pro Class race.

Race Start Le Mans style

Since 2012, the World Endurance Championship has been the ambassador for Le Mans-style endurance racing around the world. One of the most famous moments every year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the traditional start procedure where the cars line up alongside the pit wall facing the grand stands.

In 2015, the WEC will be using the Le Mans-style start procedure at every round, providing a unique experience for racing fans, bringing to Silverstone the spirit of Le Mans.

Silverstone

The Silverstone race track is known a technical battleground with the Teams considering it one of the fastest circuits of the season. Built on an old airfield, it is a mixture of high and low speed corners with some long straights, making it physically demanding for the drivers. Overtaking is notoriously difficult.

Mark Webber, the new Chopard ambassador confirms: “Silverstone is such a classic track, it’s raw, it’s old school and it’s got a lot of originality.”

Porsche 919 Hybrid Pole Position

The two Porsche 919 Hybrids started in P1 and P2 at Silverstone. Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber drove car number 17. Their average lap time of 1m 39s secured them the first pole position for the new 919.

The sister car number 18 driven by Romain Dumas and Neel Jani was close behind.

Porsche Motorsport 919 Hybrid in LP1 race

Mark Webber was leading the race when a gearbox problem forced him to stop.

Dumas, Jani and Lieb took over the lead from their team mates, but later in the race had to concede the win by only 4.6 seconds.  Sharing the number 18 car, they finished 2nd on the podium.

Porsche 911 RSR in GTE Pro Class race

Porsche works drivers Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz (Austria) were 2nd in the GTE-Pro class with their Porsche 911 RSR, in front of over 45,000 spectators.

Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz 
 

Superfast watches

Superfast watches were the first Chopard Classic Racing watches to be equipped with an in-house movement, chronometer certified by the COSC.

Worn by Porsche Motorsport pilots, the Superfast watches are tested under extreme conditions (speed, temperature, endurance racing) to guarantee a perfect exactitude of the watch.

Dumas wears his Chopard Superfast Power Control watch in the race

Superfast Chrono Porsche 919 Edition

Everything Chopard learns from the race track brings the House a step further in it’s development of the Superfast watch collection.

The exceptional mechanics emerging from the Porsche Motorsport and Chopard workshops have significantly influenced their respective fields and remain benchmarks for aficionados of motorsports and watchmaking.

Calibre 03.05-M

Chopard takes great pride in its partnership with Porsche Motorsport during the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard states:

“Porsche creates ultimate sports cars, successful in racing and exciting to drive on the road. Chopard shares this passion for performance and excellence. We are proud to accompany Porsche as official timing partner for their second Endurance racing season.”

Dr M. Teillol-Foo; 2015