Porsche, BMW raise concerns about high voltage issues ahead of Daytona 24

Porsche and BMW have voiced considerations over the reliability of the high-voltage factor of the one-make LMDh hybrid system going into this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours. 

Their apprehension follows a spate of points which have LMDh equipment and compelled elements to be modified over the course of the pre-event Roar check final weekend and the opening two days of the IMSA SportsCar Championship curtain-raiser at Daytona this week. 

BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos described the issues, which prevented the #25 Rahal M Hybrid V8 for setting a qualifying time on Thursday, as “a little bit of concern”.

“Clearly it isn’t what you wish to have in qualifying that the automobile stops on monitor,” he mentioned.

“On the finish you all the time really feel higher when there is no situation in any respect taking place in apply and testing.”

Porsche 963 programme boss Urs Kuratle mentioned: “I hope it isn’t a pandemic. 

“I do not know the overall variety of modified batteries however it’s undoubtedly too many, that is for positive.

“From the reliability standpoint, it seems like we did a step backwards in comparison with final yr.”

Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid added that the problems meant that the German producer’s manufacturing unit crew is “not sitting right here with a pleasant fuzzy feeling in regards to the race”.

Porsche revealed that on Friday afternoon it had met with representatives from the opposite LMDh producers, IMSA, and Bosch Motorsport and Fortescue Zero (previously WAE Applied sciences), which respectively produce the motor generator unit [MGU] and the high-voltage battery elements of the spec hybrid system. 

Kuratle defined that there’s “a giant push right here on the monitor and the house bases [of Bosch and Fortescue] again in Europe” to attempt to overcome the issues. 

Diuguid added: “We’re doing all the pieces on our aspect to ensure we perceive the issue and what we will management, attempting to work with the suppliers to get their enter and suggestions on what could be inflicting the difficulty, attempting to tick as many containers as we will.”

The producers haven’t revealed what number of occurrences of the HV situation there have been thus far, however Diuguid said that in Porsche’s case it was “multiple”. 

The primary seems to have been within the second session of the Roar final Friday when the #7 Porsche 963 LMDh stopped on monitor with Felipe Nasr on the wheel. 

The shopper 963s run by JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition are additionally understood to have run into HV points through the Roar. 

BMW is thought to have skilled HV points on each its Rahal-run vehicles, although it’s unclear whether or not Acura, Cadillac and Lamborghini have been . 

Diuguid revealed that the problems have been “not all the time the identical drawback”. 

“It hasn’t been tracked again to a sure batch, a sure manufacturing run or a sure set of situations,” he mentioned

Kuratle harassed that the finger of blame shouldn’t be pointed on the battery. 

“It’s tough to outline the battery, the place does it begin and the place does it end? It’s an HV situation,” he defined.

It’s unclear why the hybrid points have arisen at this level as a result of the elements proved dependable of their second season of the GTP period in 2024. 

Diuguid defined there have been no updates for the brand new season, however admitted that “there are small variances which might be regular”.

“There are some new items, a [different] manufacturing batch,” he mentioned. 

IMSA has been contacted for a remark.