Porsche last competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship's top LMP1 class in 2017 with the 919 Hybrid, which took the manufacturers' championship in its final year. After withdrawing from prototype racing, Porsche maintained a GT presence with the 911 RSR. The announcement of the LMDh regulations — which allow manufacturers to share a spec hybrid system while designing their own bodywork over one of four approved constructors' chassis — provided Porsche with an opportunity to re-enter top-class prototype racing at manageable cost.
Porsche confirmed intent to develop an LMDh car in December 2020, becoming the first manufacturer to publicly commit to the class. In May 2021, Multimatic was selected as the chassis constructor, with Enzinger describing them as "the most obvious and logical solution." A multi-year factory team partnership with Team Penske — the third major collaboration between Porsche and Penske, following the 917/30 in Can-Am and the RS Spyder in ALMS LMP2 — was announced the same month under the banner of Porsche Penske Motorsport, targeting two entries in both the 2023 WEC and 2023 IMSA.
The 963 is powered by a twin-turbocharged V8 engine derived from the engine found in the Porsche 918 road car, which itself traces lineage to the 3,397 cc V8 of the RS Spyder. The powertrain is paired with the standardized hybrid components supplied under LMDh regulations by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch, and Xtrac. The car completed over 6,000 km of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps before its racing debut.
Customer cars were priced at $2.9 million each. The first customer buyers announced were JDC–Miller Motorsports (for IMSA) and JOTA Sport (for WEC), followed by Proton Competition taking the remaining two customer slots.
Supply chain constraints meant only Porsche Penske Motorsport could field the 963 at its race debut, the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. Both factory entries suffered significant reliability problems, with the No. 7 car losing 35 laps to replace a faulty battery. Despite the difficult start, the 963 took its first IMSA victory later in the season at Long Beach, with Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy driving. Further victories followed, though the No. 6 car was disqualified at Watkins Glen for illegal skid block wear after appearing to win.
The 963 became highly competitive in both championships. At the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona, Porsche Penske Motorsport's No. 10 car won outright with Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, and Josef Newgarden. Porsche also ended a seven-year drought in WEC with victory at the 2024 Qatar 1812 km, where the factory cars took first and third, and Hertz Team JOTA's customer No. 12 entry finished second — completing a full 963 podium sweep, the first for any Hypercar since the regulations were introduced in 2021.
The No. 7 IMSA car of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr won the GTP Drivers' Championship, scoring a podium in all but two races. In WEC, Porsche finished runner-up in the Manufacturers' Championship, two points behind Toyota, despite consistently podium-level results from the factory cars. Hertz Team JOTA won the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams as the highest-scoring customer entry.
Porsche opened their IMSA campaign with four consecutive victories at Daytona, Sebring, Long Beach, and Laguna Seca. WEC results were less dominant in the early rounds. At the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, the factory No. 6 car finished second overall — having started from the back of the GTP class grid following a pre-race disqualification for a weight infraction. Porsche subsequently announced in October 2025 that it would end its factory WEC program after the 2025 season due to financial losses, while the IMSA program with Penske would continue for 2026.
The Porsche 963 is available in iRacing as part of the platform's GTP-class content, reflecting the car's dual role in IMSA's top prototype category. It competes in iRacing's endurance and multiclass events alongside other LMDh and LMH machinery. The 963 is among the most modern prototype cars on the service, offering sim racers access to the current generation of hybrid endurance prototypes that define the top level of international sportscar racing.