Porsche 963
Sports prototype racing car From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Porsche 963 (Type 9R0) is an LMDh sports prototype racing car designed by Porsche and built by Multimatic, to compete in the Hypercar and GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) classes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship, respectively.[7] The 963 name draws inspiration from the Porsche 956 and Porsche 962 that raced in the 1980s, which also competed in American and European racing series.[8] The car was revealed at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed, with a traditional red, white, and black livery.[9]
.jpg) The No. 5 963 at the 2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps | |||||||||||
| Category | LMDh | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Porsche (Multimatic) | ||||||||||
| Designer(s) | Grant Larson (Director of Special Projects, Style Porsche)[1] Stéphane Lenglin (Exterior Designer)[2] Christian Eifrig (Technical Project Manager)[3] Stefan Moser (Head Engineer, Powertrain)[3] | ||||||||||
| Predecessor | Porsche 919 Hybrid (LMP1) Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2) | ||||||||||
| Technical specifications[4] | |||||||||||
| Chassis | LMP2-based[5] carbon-fibre monocoque with aluminium honeycomb core | ||||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Double wishbones, pushrods with power steering | ||||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | Double wishbones, pushrods | ||||||||||
| Length | 5,100 mm (200.8 in) | ||||||||||
| Width | 2,000 mm (78.7 in) | ||||||||||
| Height | 1,060 mm (41.7 in) | ||||||||||
| Wheelbase | 3,148 mm (123.9 in) | ||||||||||
| Engine | Porsche 9RD 4,593 cc (280.3 cu in) 90° V8 twin-turbocharged, 32-valve, DOHC mid-engine, longitudinally-mounted | ||||||||||
| Electric motor | Rear-mounted 50 kW (68 PS; 67 hp) spec MGU supplied by Bosch | ||||||||||
| Transmission | Xtrac P1359 7-speed sequential manual[6] | ||||||||||
| Power | 500 kW (680 PS; 671 hp) | ||||||||||
| Weight | 1,030 kg (2,270.8 lb) | ||||||||||
| Fuel | TotalEnergies (WEC) VP Racing Fuels (IMSA) | ||||||||||
| Lubricants | Mobil 1 (Porsche Penske Motorsports & JOTA) Motul (JDC–Miller MotorSports & Proton Competition) | ||||||||||
| Brakes | AP Racing carbon 380/365mm with AP Monobloc 6-piston calipers[6] | ||||||||||
| Tyres | Michelin slicks with BBS one-piece forged alloys, 29/71-18 front and 34/71-18 rear[6] | ||||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||||
| Competition | FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship | ||||||||||
| Notable entrants | |||||||||||
| Notable drivers |
| ||||||||||
| Debut | 2023 24 Hours of Daytona | ||||||||||
| First win | 2023 Grand Prix of Long Beach | ||||||||||
| Last win | 2025 12 Hours of Sebring | ||||||||||
| Last event | 2025 6 Hours of Imola | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Teams' Championships | 3 (2023 FIA WEC, 2024 FIA WEC (FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams), 2024 IMSA SCC) | ||||||||||
| Constructors' Championships | 1 (2024 IMSA SCC) | ||||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 2 (2024 IMSA SCC, 2024 FIA WEC) | ||||||||||
The official race debut of the 963 was at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, the season-opening round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship. The car was originally slated for a non-competitive dress rehearsal at the 2022 8 Hours of Bahrain,[10] however, Porsche decided later that they would not race at Bahrain in favour of more private testing time.[11] Porsche later announced that the first customer 963s would not be delivered until April 2023 due to delays caused by supply chain disruptions, forcing customer teams to miss the opening races of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and WEC, something that the teams understood when engaging in talks with Porsche to take delivery.[12]
Background
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Perspective
Porsche last competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship's top class, LMP1, back in 2017 with the Porsche 919 Hybrid, and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with the Porsche RS Spyder in the LMP2 class, with the 919 taking outright championship victory in its final year of competition, and the RS Spyder taking outright championship victory in the American Le Mans Series and class championship victory in the European Le Mans Series.[13][14] Following the withdrawal of Porsche's factory LMP1 and LMP2 teams from the World Endurance Championship and American Le Mans Series, Porsche maintained a presence in the lower classes with continued factory support for the 911 RSR in the American Le Mans Series' GT2 (later GTLM) class, and in the World Endurance Championship's GTE class.[15][16] The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, the organiser of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, issued a statement regarding the matter, saying that the club "regrets this precipitous departure, as it does the abruptness of the decision from one of endurance racing’s most successful and lauded manufacturers".[17]
As part of the LMDh regulations, interested parties can choose four constructors to partner with to construct the chassis upon to which design the car, those four constructors being Oreca, Ligier, Multimatic and Dallara.[18] Head of Porsche Motorsport Pascal Zurlinden announced in March 2020 that Porsche would be evaluating an entry into LMDh, saying "Porsche is seriously looking into it, but there is no decision yet".[19] This was followed up with an announcement in December that year that development of a LMDh project would commence, meaning Porsche would be the first manufacturer to commit to the LMDh class.[20]
A multi-year partnership with Team Penske to run the factory team under the banner of Porsche Penske Motorsport was announced in May 2021. The announcement marked the commencement of third major collaboration with between Porsche and Team Penske, continuing a decades-old relationship that began with the Porsche 917/30 in Can-Am and blossomed again with the Porsche RS Spyder in LMP2 class of the ALMS. The collaboration aimed to debut with two entries each in the top classes of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship and 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship.[21]
Vice President of Porsche Motorsport Fritz Enzinger commented that "Porsche and Penske shared a proven track record of success" and that "In the long list of victories to date, however, the name Le Mans has been missing. I hope that we will finally be able to chalk up this success as of 2023 with Porsche Penske Motorsport. This would then mark Porsche's 20th overall victory at the Sarthe - a dream come true."[21]
In the same month, Multimatic was revealed to be the constructor that would supply the chassis for which Porsche would design bodywork, with Enzinger saying that "Multimatic is the most obvious and logical solution for us", and that "We have known this highly respected company and its team of experienced professionals for many years and are absolutely convinced of the quality of their work".[22]
Testing commenced at the beginning of 2022, with the first tests being at Porsche's test track at Weissach,[23] where the car's engine choice was also revealed, that being a twin-turbocharged V8, which is developed from the engine found in the Porsche 918 which in turn was developed from the 3,397 cc (207.3 cu in) V8 found in the Porsche RS Spyder, paired with the standardised hybrid parts provided by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac.[24][25] This was followed by an extensive testing program at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, where the car covered over 6,000 km (3,728 mi).[26][27][28]
Porsche also announced in May 2022 that four 963s would be allocated to customers for 2023, at the cost of $2.9 million per car, with full factory support.[29][30] JDC–Miller Motorsports and JOTA Sport both announced on the 25th of June that they would take delivery of one car each, with JDC MotorSport campaigning the 963 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and JOTA fielding the car in the FIA World Endurance Championship. In November 2022, Proton Competition was revealed to have purchased the remaining 2 customer entries, fielding a single entry in each in the WEC and IMSA in 2023.[31][32][33]
Launch of the 963 at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Debut at the Roar Before the Rolex 24
Rear of the 963
On track at Daytona International Speedway
Car in Daytona night
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Racing history
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Perspective
2023
Due to supply-chain constraints, Porsche Penske Motorsport, the factory team, was the only team that could field the 963 at its debut at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona.[34]
The 963 made its first appearance in the practice sessions of the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona alongside the other new GTP cars., the BMW M Hybrid V8, the Acura ARX-06, and the Cadillac V-LMDh. The 963 was often right behind the ARX-06s of Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing, with the former leading all five practice sessions, bar the last one.[35][36] During the race, both Porsches were beset by reliability issues, with significant time spent in the garages: No. 7 was the first to come in, losing 35 laps to replace a faulty battery,[37] and Tandy – in No. 6 – had been running in contention for overall victory in the morning until a gearbox failure ended his race.[38]
The Porsche 963 took its first victory in IMSA competition on the Streets of Long Beach with Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy driving.[39] In the season's fourth round, the Motul Course de Monterey, Matt Campbell took the car's first pole position while Tandy's No. 6 started second and van der Helm's No. 5 JDC–Miller Motorsports car qualified ninth.[40] The No. 6 car recovered to second after a slow start. Campbell hit the No. 94 Andretti Autosport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, losing time as he served a drive-through penalty. A crash at turn 10 after Nasr relieved Campbell relegated the No. 7 car to ninth. Tijmen van der Helm and Mike Rockenfeller finished seventh in JDC–Miller Motorsports first race with the car.[41][42][43] At Watkins Glen, Tandy and Jaminet started from pole position after qualifying was cancelled.[44] Porsche Penske Motorsport's No. 6 car battled for the win. Through a better pit-stop strategy, the No. 6 Porsche overtook the No. 31 Cadillac and the No. 60 Acura and rejoined in second with 40 minutes remaining.[45][46] Jaminet overtook Connor De Phillippi in the final minutes before the race ended behind the safety car.[47] The No. 7 car was in contention until Nasr sustained an issue with the hybrid system and spent 2 hours replacing the battery, gearbox and rear axle.[48] It later emerged onto the track and finished 52nd overall. Later, the No. 6 Porsche was disqualified for illegal skid block wear.[49]
2024
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The 963 was highly competitive in both the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship and the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship. The 963 took its first major endurance race victory with a win in the 24 Hours of Daytona, with Porsche Penske Motorsport winning with drivers Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, and Josef Newgarden.[50] Porsche also later achieved their first victory in the FIA WEC since 2017 at the 2024 Qatar 1812 km, taking home 1st and 3rd, with Hertz Team Jota's customer No. 12 entry in 2nd, completing a podium sweep for the 963, the first Hypercar to do so since the Le Mans Hypercar regulations were introduced in 2021.[51]
The factory Porsche Penskes managed to secure a 1-2 finish in the IMSA GTP Drivers' Championship and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. The No. 7 driven by Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr won the overall drivers' title, scoring a podium in all but two races.[52] JDC–Miller MotorSports' No. 85 customer entry also scored a podium in the 2024 IMSA Battle on the Bricks after the No. 6 factory Porsche Penske was penalized when a modification of the homologated wiring harness was discovered.[53][54]
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The 963 saw two additional wins in the 2024 FIA WEC season after Qatar, including one from Hertz Team Jota, where their No. 12 car piloted by Callum Ilott and Will Stevens won the 2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, making them the first customer entry to win a race overall in the series since the introduction of the Hypercar regulations, and the first privateer to do so since Rebellion Racing at the 2020 Lone Star Le Mans.[55] The Spa round was also Proton Competition's most competitive race that year, as their No. 99 car with Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani were towards the front fighting for the race lead, ultimately finishing in 5th.[56] Andlauer also secured the fastest lap of the race. The factory Porsche Penske cars' consistency and reliability would allow them to podium in all but two races that year, and particularly for the No. 6, its performance throughout the season meant they would beat Ferrari and Toyota to the Drivers' Championship, however they would fall short of the Manufacturers' Championship, finishing two points behind Toyota.[57] Hertz Team Jota won the 2024 FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams as the highest scoring customer team that season.[58]
Racing results
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Perspective
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap.
* Season still in progress.
Complete IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup results
(key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap.
* Season still in progress.
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap.
* Season still in progress. ** Not eligible for championship points.
References
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