Porsche Reveal The New 963
Porsche and Penske Motorsport have collaborated to field two cars each in the world's leading two endurance series’
Jul 1, 2022
The design of the new Porsche 963 hails from the victorious 956 and 962 classics and will be driven by accomplished works and sportscar Champions.
Two of the greatest names in Motorsport have come together in a bid to dominate the world’s greatest endurance series. Porsche and Penske Motorsport are revealing the Porsche 963, the car they will contest from 2023 with two of the hybrid LMDh-spec prototypes to be fielded in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The official race debut of the Porsche 963 is planned to take place in January 2023 at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the USA. In the meantime, the FIA WEC has opened the door for testing as part of the upcoming world championship races this year. Porsche Penske Motorsport is aiming for a non-competitive dress rehearsal at the final round of the season in Bahrain this November.
“Over the past few months, our people at Porsche Motorsport and Team Penske have grown into an efficient and committed squad – the Porsche Penske Motorsport Team,” claims Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. “We’ll have powerful driver crews in the four factory cars. The collaboration with our long-standing tyre partner Michelin and the chassis manufacturer Multimatic works flawlessly. The Porsche 963 should be homologated this autumn. Until then, we want to make further progress with test drives and gain additional insights. We can hardly wait for our first outing.”
The drivers selected for the races in the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship include the experienced works drivers Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen (Denmark), André Lotterer (Germany), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), Matt Campbell (Australia), Mathieu Jaminet (France) as well as the accomplished sportscar drivers Dane Cameron (USA) and Felipe Nasr (Brazil). Other driver announcements, including those for the endurance races at Daytona, Sebring, and Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans), will be made at a later date, and with some able Kiwis linked to numerous endurance wins for Porsche and Penske Motorsport, it may present an opportunity for New Zealand representation in the future.
Porsche Penske Motorsport will prepare a total of four 963 at its bases in Mooresville (North Carolina) and Mannheim (Germany). The WEC facility in Germany’s Baden-Württemberg is a former Porsche Centre of Penske Automotive, built to state-of-the-art standards. The exchange of data between the three high-tech centres of Porsche Penske Motorsport occurs almost in real-time. The WEC team will move into the Mannheim premises this autumn.
In compliance with the LMDh regulations, the Porsche 963 is based on an LMP2-category chassis. This newly developed vehicle chassis is supplied by the Canadian high-tech company Multimatic. Bosch, Williams Advanced Engineering and Xtrac contribute the standard hybrid components. At the heart of the powertrain lies a 4.6-litre V8 Biturbo.
The engine is based on the high-performance 918 Spyder hybrid sports car. Its DNA goes back to the RS Spyder racing car, with which Porsche and Team Penske notched up many victories between 2005 and 2008. The design of the new Porsche 963 hails from the victorious 956 and 962 classics from the 1980s. A continuous strip of lighting at the rear echoes the distinctive feature of the latest 992-generation 911.
The white-red-black vehicle design is a salute to Porsche’s successful racing cars. And another tradition lives on: The new Porsche 963 will also be available to customers from the first year of competition.
The luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer also joins the global team as the official timing partner of the Porsche Penske Motorsport team. The fashion brand Hugo Boss as the team’s clothing partner and outfitter as well as the sports lifestyle company Puma as the technical partner for fireproof race clothing complete the portfolio of top-level partnerships of Porsche Penske Motorsport.