We were not born to stand still.

With the new 963, Porsche will compete in the IMSA and the FIA WEC in 2023. Motorsport is an essential part of the of Porsche's DNA. Countless race victories and championships have been won by the the brand's various racing cars around the world. With the 963, Porsche aims to add another chapter to its racing success story. To this end, the manufacturer returns to the stage where the brand has already played a leading role in the past. The new Porsche race car made its racing debut in January (January 26-29) during the 24-hour race at Daytona, the season opener of the American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

In the beginning of the 2000s, Porsche celebrated great successes in America with the RS Spyder in the American Le Mans. The sleek LMP2 prototype won many races, even against the far more powerful MP1 class vehicles. The second field of application for the Porsche 963 will be the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC). With the Porsche 919 Hybrid, only to be seen in the museum today, we won three times in succession from 2015 to 2017 in the manufacturers' championship. Porsche won 2017 as the record holder of the 24-hour Le Mans race already with the 919 Hybrid – this was the last of a total of 19 overall victories.

Next year, Porsche is aiming for overall victory number 20. But this time, it’ll be under different conditions: The top class in the WEC, and thus Le Mans, has completely new regulations. Instead of the LMP1 prototypes (the highest class up until now), the LMDh vehicles - which stands for Le Mans Daytona hybrid - will represent the top category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, starting in Daytona 2023.

To build the new race car, in accordance with the rules, Porsche had to team up with one of the five homologated chassis manufacturers. The heart of the new car is therefore a chassis from the British racing car manufacturer Multimatic. The inner values set new standards. These include the chassis optimized by Porsche and a 4.6-liter V8 engine with twin turbochargers, plus support from an electric motor. The total output of the racing car, which weighs around 1,000 kilograms, is 500 kW (680 hp). The engine is designed to run on renewable fuels. This enables a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.

For the return to the highest class of endurance racing, Porsche joined forces with the team of U.S. motorsport legend Roger Penske. The Porsche Penske Motorsport Team is preparing for the races at two locations: The new branch in Mannheim, Germany, is responsible for the races in the FIA WEC. The vehicles for the IMSA, on the other hand, are prepared in Mooresville, North Carolina.

In 2022, the Porsche 963 completed around 8,000 test kilometers. "We are on a good track. But there is still some work to be done before the start of the coming season," says Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport.