Mark Webber made his debut behind the wheel of Porsche’s new World Endurance Championship challenger in a test at the Algarve circuit in Portugal this week.
The Australian had initially not been scheduled to test his 2014 mount until the new year, but received special dispensation from Infiniti Red Bull Racing to join the squad’s final test of the year.
“My first day in this fascinating project was an intense experience for me,” said Webber in a statement.
“I would like to thank Red Bull Racing for giving me the chance to join the project so early.
“This is a major and important step for us all. It allows me to integrate with the team quicker and to contribute to further developing the LMP1 race car.
“We have a long way to go and it involves a lot of hard work. I have no misconceptions about this.”
The Algarve running was a suspension and tyre test and follows earlier hit-outs for the new car at Lausitz (Germany), Magny-Cours (France), Monza (Italy) and Paul Ricard (France).
Chief engineer for the project, Fritz Enzinger, says the German marque is pleased with its progress to date.
“Between the roll-out of the completely new car in June and now we have made significant progress.
“Every single kilometre was important, providing us with new data that brought the development forward.
“The whole team has worked extremely hard and I would like to express my sincere thanks for this.
“Our efforts will continue unabated in 2014. Until the start of the season at Silverstone mid-April there is still a lot to do.”
Porsche will field two cars in next year’s WEC and has already announced Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani in its driver line-up.
New Zealander Brendon Hartley and German Marc Lieb have tested with the team but are yet to be confirmed for the racing program.
