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The 2024 season was one of the most successful in Porsche’s long-distance racing history as the Porsche 963, won seven of eight possible titles together with the works team Porsche Penske Motorsport.* Maybe it should be call 967 to honor the success in only the second year of racing the 963. The overall result of the 2024 season in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was six out of six possible titles in North America, as well as the world championship crown for the works drivers Kévin Estre from France, André Lotterer from Germany and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium in the FIA WEC. Porsche missed the manufacturer’s title in the world championship with the 963 this year by two points.
‟ ‘Nobody’s perfect’ – we already used this slogan in 1983, when only one third-party manufacturer appeared in the top 10 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport in a release celebrating the season today. It turns out that 41 years ago, Porsche publicized the Le Mans result under the ‘Nobody’s perfect’ on a now well-known poster. It depicted the racing cars from Stuttgart in the first eight places in the overall classification and in tenth place, with a Sauber BMW in between in the ninth spot. In AutoInformed’s view it also is just another example of Porsche’s sense of humor – counter the false stereotype on the lack of German humor. Remember the pink pig Porsche 917 endurance racer at LeMans in 1971with the cuts of ham stenciled on the car?
Time Line
- On December 16, 2020, Porsche publicly announced for the first time that it would return to the top classes of the world’s two largest endurance series: the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The basis for this was the decision by the motorsport authorities FIA and IMSA to introduce a common set of rules for the top vehicles for the 2023 season: hybrid prototypes in the LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hybrid) category.
- The next steps on the way to Porsche’s return to the top class of IMSA and the World Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, followed in May 2021: collaboration with Team Penske to form a new global motorsports team in Porsche Penske Motorsport. Multimatic was then selected as the chassis partner from the four approved LMDh chassis manufacturers. A bit later, the decision was made to use a 4.6 liter V8 engine, which was also recently used in a hybrid configuration in the 918 Spyder road super sports car. The roots of the high-revving engine go back even further, namely to the very successful Porsche RS Sypder racing prototype from the 2000s.
- Porsche Penske Motorsport set up its operations centers for the FIA WEC and IMSA at Mannheim in Germany and Mooresville in the USA. On January 13, 2022, the new Porsche 963 came to life for the first time during a roll-out in Weissach. Test drives over more than 30,000 kilometers formed the basis for the global racing premiere that the ~515 kW (700 PS) hybrid prototype celebrated at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023.
Debut season 2023 – First Victories and More Work
The US endurance classic – Daytona – at the start of the new Porsche Penske Motorsport team’s first season was troubling. The 963 had demonstrated enormous performance potential from the start, but further progress had to be made in the areas of reliability and operations. Although the prototype with number 7 started the race from the first row and was able to complete numerous lead laps, seventh and eighth places for the works cars ultimately caused disillusionment. At the start of the FIA WEC in Sebring (USA), Porsche also missed out on the desired success with positions five and six.
In the IMSA championship, the first podium result was achieved in the second race and even the first victory in the following race in Long Beach. Further triumphs followed, including at Road America and a double success in Indianapolis. Porsche only had to narrowly admit defeat in the fight for the championship in the finale at Road Atlanta. The first podium places were also achieved in the FIA WEC. However, the big breakthrough in form of a race victory failed to materialize.
‟The results, especially at Le Mans, fell short of our expectations at the time. When Porsche competes in the top class, there can only ever be one goal: victory,” said Thomas Laudenbach. As the season progressed, the specifications continued to fill up. The points were then worked through with all the rigor. ‟The experiences from 2023 gave us a large list of homework for the short winter break. We managed to optimize the reliability and performance of the car as well as the team structure,” said Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. ‟After incredibly hard work, we came to Daytona in January 2024 and won. That was the key. It showed: We can do it!”
Victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2024
Extensive adjustments finally put Porsche on the road to victory. At the start of the IMSA season, the 24 Hours of Daytona in January, the number 7 racing car with factory drivers Matt Campbell from Australia, Felipe Nasr from Brazil and the American Dane Cameron together with his compatriot Josef Newgarden won.
‟That’s when the ball really started rolling,” said Campbell. Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport said ‟The victory at Daytona was the key to all further successes this season. Right at the start of the year, we proved to the world and ourselves that we can achieve anything. I have been in motorsport for 20 years. I know that there are beautiful and difficult phases.”
Next – FIA WEC. At the start of the world championship in Qatar, the two Porsche 963s took first and third place – the first WEC victory for the prototype. ‟The great weekend in Qatar confirmed to us: as in IMSA, we can compete with other LMDh cars in the WEC and also beat the LMH Hypercars. That was very important,” said Kuratle. In both racing series, Porsche and the works drivers took the overall lead at the start of the season, ultimately winning seven titles.
There were four wins in nine races in the IMSA series. With the exception of Indianapolis (owned by Roger Penske – AutoCrat), at least one Porsche 963 from the works team reached the winner’s podium in every race. Porsche won the manufacturers’ championship. Porsche Penske Motorsport won the team championship and the works drivers Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron won the drivers’ crown. Three more titles in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounded off the impeccable record in the USA. It includes the five longest races of the year at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.
In the FIA WEC, Porsche Penske Motorsport won in Qatar and Fuji, Japan. At the races in Imola (Italy), Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), São Paulo (Brazil) and Sakhir (Bahrain), podium successes brought world championship points. In the end, Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor celebrated winning the Drivers’ World Championship. Porsche missed out on the manufacturers’ title in second place by just two points. ‟We can look back on an extremely successful season,” says Laudenbach happily. ‟But we would have liked to have won the Manufacturers’ World Championship and the 20th overall victory in Le Mans. These are now our biggest goals for the 2025 season.”
The 2025 Porsche 963 and Le Mans
After the disappointing debut of the 963 at Le Mans 2023, Porsche showed considerable improvement at the circuit de la Sarthe this year. However, an overall victory failed to occur again. The pole position by Kévin Estre, numerous laps leading in the race and fourth and sixth places resulted. However, Porsche claims that the long-distance classic in France demonstrated important improvements in the area of reliability. In its analysis of the 2023 season, Porsche identified engine vibrations as the probable cause of failures in the standard hybrid system. After the victory at Daytona and the stable performance at Le Mans over 24 hours, Porsche engineers in Weissach “had found a functional, fast, cost-effective and sustainable solution that would enable the Porsche 963 to achieve further great successes in the years to come,” Porsche claims.
‟Victory or podium finishes at Daytona, Qatar and Spa do not necessarily mean success at Le Mans. We always knew that, but unfortunately we had to experience it firsthand this year,” said Jonathan Diuguid. ‟The goal for 2025 is therefore clearly defined: we want the victory in Le Mans!” Next year, Porsche Penske Motorsport will take part in the world’s largest endurance race in France with at least two factory entries. Everyone involved wants to further extend Porsche’s record at Le Mans with a 20th overall win. ‟Despite all the successes this year, there is this little race in France that everyone wants to win. We haven’t managed that – not yet…” said Kuratle, looking at the what he hopes will be the highlight of the coming season.
‟With the Porsche 963 and our global team Porsche Penske Motorsport, we won seven out of eight possible titles in a very strong competitive environment. That fills me with great pride. This result is a well-deserved reward for the hard work of everyone involved at the racetracks, at our team locations in Mannheim and Mooresville and in the development department in Weissach. We brought the Porsche 963 and the entire program to the top within a short period of time,” said Laudenbach
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Porsche Penske Motorsport Wins – Rename the 963 to 967?
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The 2024 season was one of the most successful in Porsche’s long-distance racing history as the Porsche 963, won seven of eight possible titles together with the works team Porsche Penske Motorsport.* Maybe it should be call 967 to honor the success in only the second year of racing the 963. The overall result of the 2024 season in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was six out of six possible titles in North America, as well as the world championship crown for the works drivers Kévin Estre from France, André Lotterer from Germany and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium in the FIA WEC. Porsche missed the manufacturer’s title in the world championship with the 963 this year by two points.
‟ ‘Nobody’s perfect’ – we already used this slogan in 1983, when only one third-party manufacturer appeared in the top 10 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport in a release celebrating the season today. It turns out that 41 years ago, Porsche publicized the Le Mans result under the ‘Nobody’s perfect’ on a now well-known poster. It depicted the racing cars from Stuttgart in the first eight places in the overall classification and in tenth place, with a Sauber BMW in between in the ninth spot. In AutoInformed’s view it also is just another example of Porsche’s sense of humor – counter the false stereotype on the lack of German humor. Remember the pink pig Porsche 917 endurance racer at LeMans in 1971with the cuts of ham stenciled on the car?
Time Line
Debut season 2023 – First Victories and More Work
The US endurance classic – Daytona – at the start of the new Porsche Penske Motorsport team’s first season was troubling. The 963 had demonstrated enormous performance potential from the start, but further progress had to be made in the areas of reliability and operations. Although the prototype with number 7 started the race from the first row and was able to complete numerous lead laps, seventh and eighth places for the works cars ultimately caused disillusionment. At the start of the FIA WEC in Sebring (USA), Porsche also missed out on the desired success with positions five and six.
In the IMSA championship, the first podium result was achieved in the second race and even the first victory in the following race in Long Beach. Further triumphs followed, including at Road America and a double success in Indianapolis. Porsche only had to narrowly admit defeat in the fight for the championship in the finale at Road Atlanta. The first podium places were also achieved in the FIA WEC. However, the big breakthrough in form of a race victory failed to materialize.
‟The results, especially at Le Mans, fell short of our expectations at the time. When Porsche competes in the top class, there can only ever be one goal: victory,” said Thomas Laudenbach. As the season progressed, the specifications continued to fill up. The points were then worked through with all the rigor. ‟The experiences from 2023 gave us a large list of homework for the short winter break. We managed to optimize the reliability and performance of the car as well as the team structure,” said Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. ‟After incredibly hard work, we came to Daytona in January 2024 and won. That was the key. It showed: We can do it!”
Victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2024
Extensive adjustments finally put Porsche on the road to victory. At the start of the IMSA season, the 24 Hours of Daytona in January, the number 7 racing car with factory drivers Matt Campbell from Australia, Felipe Nasr from Brazil and the American Dane Cameron together with his compatriot Josef Newgarden won.
‟That’s when the ball really started rolling,” said Campbell. Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport said ‟The victory at Daytona was the key to all further successes this season. Right at the start of the year, we proved to the world and ourselves that we can achieve anything. I have been in motorsport for 20 years. I know that there are beautiful and difficult phases.”
Next – FIA WEC. At the start of the world championship in Qatar, the two Porsche 963s took first and third place – the first WEC victory for the prototype. ‟The great weekend in Qatar confirmed to us: as in IMSA, we can compete with other LMDh cars in the WEC and also beat the LMH Hypercars. That was very important,” said Kuratle. In both racing series, Porsche and the works drivers took the overall lead at the start of the season, ultimately winning seven titles.
There were four wins in nine races in the IMSA series. With the exception of Indianapolis (owned by Roger Penske – AutoCrat), at least one Porsche 963 from the works team reached the winner’s podium in every race. Porsche won the manufacturers’ championship. Porsche Penske Motorsport won the team championship and the works drivers Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron won the drivers’ crown. Three more titles in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounded off the impeccable record in the USA. It includes the five longest races of the year at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.
In the FIA WEC, Porsche Penske Motorsport won in Qatar and Fuji, Japan. At the races in Imola (Italy), Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), São Paulo (Brazil) and Sakhir (Bahrain), podium successes brought world championship points. In the end, Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor celebrated winning the Drivers’ World Championship. Porsche missed out on the manufacturers’ title in second place by just two points. ‟We can look back on an extremely successful season,” says Laudenbach happily. ‟But we would have liked to have won the Manufacturers’ World Championship and the 20th overall victory in Le Mans. These are now our biggest goals for the 2025 season.”
The 2025 Porsche 963 and Le Mans
After the disappointing debut of the 963 at Le Mans 2023, Porsche showed considerable improvement at the circuit de la Sarthe this year. However, an overall victory failed to occur again. The pole position by Kévin Estre, numerous laps leading in the race and fourth and sixth places resulted. However, Porsche claims that the long-distance classic in France demonstrated important improvements in the area of reliability. In its analysis of the 2023 season, Porsche identified engine vibrations as the probable cause of failures in the standard hybrid system. After the victory at Daytona and the stable performance at Le Mans over 24 hours, Porsche engineers in Weissach “had found a functional, fast, cost-effective and sustainable solution that would enable the Porsche 963 to achieve further great successes in the years to come,” Porsche claims.
‟Victory or podium finishes at Daytona, Qatar and Spa do not necessarily mean success at Le Mans. We always knew that, but unfortunately we had to experience it firsthand this year,” said Jonathan Diuguid. ‟The goal for 2025 is therefore clearly defined: we want the victory in Le Mans!” Next year, Porsche Penske Motorsport will take part in the world’s largest endurance race in France with at least two factory entries. Everyone involved wants to further extend Porsche’s record at Le Mans with a 20th overall win. ‟Despite all the successes this year, there is this little race in France that everyone wants to win. We haven’t managed that – not yet…” said Kuratle, looking at the what he hopes will be the highlight of the coming season.
‟With the Porsche 963 and our global team Porsche Penske Motorsport, we won seven out of eight possible titles in a very strong competitive environment. That fills me with great pride. This result is a well-deserved reward for the hard work of everyone involved at the racetracks, at our team locations in Mannheim and Mooresville and in the development department in Weissach. We brought the Porsche 963 and the entire program to the top within a short period of time,” said Laudenbach
*AutoInformed on