After three seasons and 23 races, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Hypercar spell in the FIA WEC concluded in Bahrain last night.
By being in with a chance of both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ crown, a fairytale ending to the programme seemed possible. But the Porsche 963s lacked pace throughout the eight-hour affair and failed to feature in the fight for the podium places.
The #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor, Kévin Estre and Matt Campbell showed early promise, climbing from the back of the grid into the top 10 during the opening stints. But its progress plateaued after sunset, before the decision to serve its ‘splash’ early backfired and left both cars a lap down when a Safety Car was deployed inside the final hour.
The team finished 13th and 14th, with the #6 crew ahead of the sister #5 entry of Julien Andlauer, Laurin Heinrich and Mathieu Jaminet, despite a heart-in-mouth moment as Estre and Andlauer touched on the main straight in closing laps.
“The race was one of the very bad races out of these 50 races in total [across FIA WEC and IMSA] we did with the 963,” Porsche’s LMDh Motorsport Director Urs Kuratle told reporters, including DSC, post-race.
“We expected a better race pace than we actually showed in the race. But anyways, we were simply not in the game this race. The team did not make any big mistakes, but we simply did not have the pace. Unfortunately, we lost the second place on the Manufacturers’ championship, and then towards the end, we lost the third place on the Drivers’ Championship.
“In the hot conditions, everybody struggled one way. When we had the second stop, we had to put the qualifying tyres on and we couldn’t get them switched on.
“We have four reasons to be proud of what we achieved with this car,” the German added, in reference to the four FIA WEC victories achieved by the 963 between Porsche Penske Motorsport and Hertz Team Jota.
The Porsche 963 has been on a long journey since it first turned laps at the manufacturer’s Weissach test track in 2022. As the first LMDh completed, the German marque bore the bulk of responsibility for the early development work of the formula’s common parts, as well as working on its own return to prototype racing.
“We started, probably earlier than anybody started,” Kuratle said. “We were very, very early, so these were hard days in the beginning. I mean, we went through all these things…in 2022 by testing ,and then ’23, the first season, was tough for everybody there.”
The FIA WEC programme achieved its first podium in just its second race, at Portimāo, but a real turning point appeared to be at that year’s 6 Hours of Fuji when the #6 entry led for the opening four hours before eventually being overhauled by Toyota in the closing stages.
“Towards the end of the first season, 2023, we saw light at the end of the tunnel,” Kuratle explained. “When we came to Qatar in ‘24 first race, we really dominated that race, and that was only one of many eye-opening things. The team grew together, and then it became better and better and better, and it still became better right until the end, and we would continue even better start of next year, if we had the chance to.”
2024 was the 963s standout year in FIA WEC competition. The championship’s first podium lockout by a manufacturer in over a decade was achieved in Qatar, followed by a 1-2 at Spa headed by the customer Jota squad, and another win for the works team at Fuji. Estre, Vanthoor and André Lotterer triumphed in a three-way fight for the drivers’ championship, as Porsche came up just two points shy of adding the manufacturers’ crown.
Porsche failed to reach quite the same heights this year, as a slow start saw its championship hopes fade before its season truly got going. A starring run to second at Le Mans, just 14 seconds off victory, for Estre, Vanthoor and Matt Campbell kickstarted a comeback which added one more FIA WEC win at COTA, but was ultimately destined to come up short of either title.
For Kuratle, rather than a particular result, the programme’s highlight has been seeing how the team has developed. Unlike its IMSA counterpart, the WEC programme was built from the ground up, with the full crew only coming together in the days leading up to the car’s debut at Sebring in 2023.
“I think you can say we came a long way,” he reflected. “It was really nice to see that for me. There were many highlights for me to see how the team grew together, because we built this team on a white piece of paper.
“At that point in Sebring, this team here was together for like, a couple of weeks, so they were really, really brand new working together. These were all great guys, and most of them had a lot of experience, and it was nice to see how they grew together, how they worked together with everybody, which became a really good team.”
Unfortunately, the Porsche Penske team will be split apart from 2026 onwards. Some will remain at Porsche, whilst others will find work elsewhere in the endurance paddock.
“Most of the faces we will see in the paddock next year,” Kuratle said. “We find good jobs for them. I was catching the commentator today, because sometimes I’m listening to the interviews, and they said [at] the last pit stop that these guys will not struggle to find jobs in the pit lane, which is actually also true, and nice to see. We end with a good reputation.”
Three FIA WEC wins. 1 Drivers’ world championship. One Le Mans podium. It’s a legacy that many projects would be delighted with, but ultimately just short of what the combined forces of motorsport powerhouses Porsche and Penske ultimately aspired to achieve.
The Porsche 963 will race on in the IMSA Sportscar Championship, and may yet still appear in the FIA WEC next year, but for the time being, at least, the partnership of Porsche Motorsport and Team Penske on the world stage has come to an end.
