The Porsche 963’s spectacular racing success

The 2024 racing season was an unqualified success for both Porsche and the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory race team. The Porsche 963, which first turned a wheel in competition during the 2023 season, quickly found its footing and swept seven out of eight titles in 2024, its second season.

A rules change made it all possible

The decision by both the FIA and IMSA to have a common set of rules governing their top-tier cars, known as the Le Mans Daytona hybrid category (LMDh), set things into motion for Porsche. The ability to run the same car in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship induced Porsche to return to competition in the two largest endurance racing series.

The details fall into place one at a time

Porsche decided to collaborate with Penske and formed Porsche Penske Motorsport (PPM) to manage its factory racing team. Porsche then selected Multimatic, one of the four approved chassis makers for the LMDh cars. Porsche chose a 4.6-liter V8 configuration for its combustion engine, which was previously used in a hybrid setup in the Porsche 918 Spyder. A 3.4-liter version of this V8 engine was originally developed for the 2005-06 Porsche RS Spyder prototype, which was coincidentally commissioned by Penske Motorsports and ran in the ALMS series.

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PPM set up two operations centers: one for the IMSA series in Mooresville, North Carolina, and one for the FIA WEC in Mannheim, Germany. After being revealed in early 2022 and going through an exhausting testing regimen of over 18,640 miles (30,000 kilometers), the Porsche 963 marked its debut at the January 2023 running of the 24 Hours of Daytona.

2023 was a learning year for Porsche

As with many racing cars in their early stages of development, performance shows itself first, while reliability and operational efficiency take time to achieve. This was true for the Porsche 963, which started out with a seventh and eighth-place finish at Daytona, followed by a fifth and a sixth at the FIA WEC race at Sebring.

The car scored its first podium finish at the Sebring IMSA race, followed by the 963’s first race win at Long Beach. More wins were scored at Indianapolis and Road America, but the Porsche team just missed out on the 2023 IMSA championship. In the WEC series, the Porsche 963 reached the podium but did not have any race wins, including at Le Mans, where Porsche’s 20th overall victory there remained out of reach.

The Porsche 963 came roaring back for the 2024 season

After additional development work in the off-season, the Porsche 963 and PPM had a great start to both 2024 seasons - a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona, followed by first and third places in the first FIA WEC race in Qatar. This got the ball rolling for the consistent level of performance that the 963 was to show throughout the entire season.

While the Porsche 963 scored only four wins in the nine IMSA races in 2024, at least one of the factory racers reached the podium in every race except one. The result? Porsche got the manufacturers' championship, PPM got the team championship and the drivers' crown went to factory 963 drivers Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron. An additional three titles in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup were based on the five longest races of the year at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.

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In the FIA WEC series, the pattern continued. The Porsche 963 and PPM notched two wins, in Qatar and Fuji. Podiums were plentiful, with significant points being scored at Imola, Spa, São Paulo, and Sakhir. This resulted in the Drivers' World Championship going to 963 pilots Laurens Vanthoor, André Lotterer, and Kévin Estre. Unfortunately, the Porsche 963 came up two points short of the manufacturers' title, coming in second. Again, there was no win at Le Mans in 2024.

Final thoughts

Continuing the momentum, the next season should be an even better one for both the Porsche 963 and PPM. One unfulfilled goal is to take the WEC Manufacturers’ World Championship. The other is to get that elusive 20th overall victory at Le Mans. We’ll see if the third time’s the charm!