Porsche's previous top-class endurance programme concluded in 2017 with the Porsche 919 Hybrid in the WEC's LMP1 category, winning the championship in its final year. Porsche also competed in IMSA's LMP2 class with the Porsche RS Spyder. Following the factory withdrawal from both championships, Porsche maintained factory support for the 911 RSR in GTE and GT2/GTLM. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest stated it "regrets this precipitous departure" from one of endurance racing's most successful manufacturers.
Head of Porsche Motorsport Pascal Zurlinden announced in March 2020 that Porsche was evaluating an LMDh entry. Development was confirmed to commence in December 2020, making Porsche the first manufacturer to commit to the LMDh class. In May 2021 a multi-year partnership with Team Penske was announced to run the factory team as Porsche Penske Motorsport, the third major collaboration between the two, following previous partnerships on the Porsche 917/30 in Can-Am and the RS Spyder in ALMS LMP2. Vice President of Porsche Motorsport Fritz Enzinger named Le Mans specifically as a target: "This would then mark Porsche's 20th overall victory at the Sarthe."
Multimatic was selected as the chassis constructor, with Porsche designing the bodywork. Testing commenced in early 2022 at Porsche's Weissach test track, where the powertrain choice was confirmed: a twin-turbocharged V8 derived from the engine in the Porsche 918 and further traced to the 3,397 cc V8 in the RS Spyder. Standardised hybrid components were supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch, and Xtrac. Extensive testing followed at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, covering over 6,000 km.
Four customer cars were allocated for 2023, priced at $2.9 million each with full factory support. JDC–Miller Motorsports and JOTA Sport each confirmed one car; Proton Competition purchased the remaining two entries, fielding one each in the WEC and IMSA.
The 963's official race debut was the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, opening round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship. A non-competitive appearance planned for the 2022 8 Hours of Bahrain was cancelled in favour of additional private testing. Customer delivery delays caused by supply chain disruptions pushed first deliveries to April 2023, forcing customer teams to miss the opening rounds of both championships.
At Daytona both factory entries were hampered by reliability problems. The No. 7 lost 35 laps replacing a faulty battery; the No. 6 retired from contention with a gearbox failure. The 963 took its first IMSA victory at the Streets of Long Beach with Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy. At the Motul Course de Monterey, Matt Campbell took the car's first pole position; the No. 6 finished second after an incident involving an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 earned Campbell a drive-through penalty. At Watkins Glen, the No. 6 won on strategy, but was later disqualified for illegal skid block wear.
The 963 was highly competitive across both championships in 2024. At the 24 Hours of Daytona the car claimed its first major endurance race victory; Porsche Penske Motorsport won overall with drivers Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, and Josef Newgarden.
In the WEC, Porsche achieved its first championship win since 2017 at the 2024 Qatar 1812 km, with Hertz Team Jota's No. 12 customer entry in second — a complete podium sweep for the 963, the first Hypercar to achieve such a result since the Hypercar regulations were introduced in 2021. The No. 6 factory car was later penalized at the IMSA Battle on the Bricks for a homologated wiring harness modification; JDC–Miller Motorsports' No. 85 customer entry benefited with a podium.
Hertz Team Jota's No. 12, driven by Callum Ilott and Will Stevens, won the 2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, becoming the first customer entry to win a WEC race overall since the Hypercar era began and the first privateer to do so since Rebellion Racing at the 2020 Lone Star Le Mans. Julien Andlauer of Proton Competition's No. 99 car set the race's fastest lap and finished fifth. Factory Porsche Penske cars podiumed in all but two WEC rounds; despite this consistency they finished two points behind Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship. Hertz Team Jota won the 2024 FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams as the highest-scoring customer team.
The No. 7 driven by Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr won the IMSA GTP Drivers' Championship, and Porsche Penske Motorsport secured a 1-2 in both the IMSA GTP Drivers' Championship and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.
Porsche won the first four IMSA rounds of 2025 at Daytona, Sebring, Long Beach, and Laguna Seca. Their WEC campaign was less successful, with a best finish of 8th across the first three rounds. At the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, the No. 6 963 finished second overall, 14 seconds behind the winning No. 83 Ferrari 499P from AF Corse. The No. 6 had started from the back of its class grid following a pre-race weight infraction disqualification.
On 7 October 2025, Porsche announced it would end its factory WEC programme after the 2025 season due to financial losses. The Penske-run IMSA programme would continue for 2026.
In June 2025 Porsche released a road-legal derivative named the 963 RSP. The name derives from the initials of Roger Searle Penske, owner of Team Penske. It was built as a one-off commission for Penske by Porsche's sonderwunsch (special wish) division at a cost in the range of €5 million.
The RSP carries the race car's hybrid V8 powertrain and seven-speed sequential Xtrac gearbox, reconfigured to run on standard pump gas with the electric motor remapped for smoother delivery. Road-use modifications include turn signals, brake lights, a horn, cup holders, revised bodywork, and increased ride height. The exterior uses a silver finish and the interior features custom tan leather and Alcantara, both inspired by the Porsche 917. The RSP is not fully homologated for general road use; it carries special permission from French authorities to be driven on public roads under specific circumstances.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
