The competition debut of any brand new racing engine is always an anxious event for the powerplant’s creators. So there were broad smiles on the faces of the Advanced Engine Research staff on site and back in England when the checkered flag waved last Saturday evening at the conclusion of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. AER’s P60 twin-turbo V-6 privateer LMP1 engine never missed a beat as it powered the #9 Lotus CLM P1/01 entry to second place among non-factory LMP1 entries in a demanding race that included a rain-induced red flag during the second hour.
“This was a very encouraging debut for the P60,” said Andrew Saunders, AER’s engineering manager. “The engine was faultless and we learned a great deal over the course of the weekend. The potential for the engine is massive and we are all very enthusiastic about further progress in coming events.”
The P60’s performance was particularly impressive in wet conditions throughout the weekend in Austin. The Lotus was turning laps that were as fast, and sometimes faster than, those of the factory-entered LMP1-class Audis, Porsches and Toyotas. According to Christophe Bouchut, who shared the Lotus driving duties with James Rossiter and Lucas Auer, this was due in large part to smooth power delivery of the P60.
“The engine power is very good and driveability is excellent,” said Bouchut, who noted that his assessment was shared by co-drivers Rossiter and Auer.
AER’s Saunders credits the P60’s Life Racing ECU mapping for producing the driver-friendly torque curve that helped make the Lotus controllable in adverse weather conditions. It’s also testimony to the efficacy of the P60’s direct fuel injection system, a challenging technology that AER has mastered in recent years and applied in the P60.
The P60’s successful debut in Austin highlights AER’s reputation as a race-engine design and manufacturing company that employs leading-edge technology to produce high output powerplant solutions that are lightweight, reliable and competitive. In addition to furnishing engines for the upcoming new-generation Indy Lights car and now developing the latest LMP-1 engine, AER supplies the P57 V6 3.4-liter naturally aspirated-engines for the GP3 series.
The Lotus team, which currently stands second in LMP1-L points, plans to run the P60 in the season’s four remaining WEC events: six-hour races at Fuji, Japan; Shanghai, China, Bahrain and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“We established a great baseline this past weekend in Austin,” Saunders said. “And the P60’s performance will only improve as we continue to race it over the remainder of the season.”