After vacating the WEC grid after the 2017 season – Porsche returned to the ranks of Endurance racing in 2023 to compete in the newly formed Hypercar class. To take on the Hypercar category, Porsche fielded their Porsche 963 Hypercar, categorically developed to take on their old nemesis -Toyota.
The No.6 Porsche 963 driven by Andre Loterrer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor – who took the chequered flag after an arduous 8 hours in Bahrain last weekend, where they came in 11th after being heavily hampered by multiple penalties – but it was enough for the No.6 Porsche 963 and its drivers to clinch the driver’s title, beating the trio of Antonio Fuocco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen on board the No.50 Ferrari 499P.
Porsche managed to achieve this feat in just their second year, after returning to the premiership of endurance racing after a hiatus of five years – taking on a much more adept and relatively more experienced rival manufacturer in the shape of Toyota and their GR010 Hybrid.
Porsche came tantalisingly close to also clinching the manufacturer’s title but at the end of 8 round season. Unfortunately, Toyota GAZOO Racing managed to clinch the manufacturer’s title by a mere 2 points – placing Porsche with their 963 in second place – an improvement over the last year, and not to forget the competition was even more fierce this season with more manufacturers joining the Hypercar grid.
Porsche’s endeavours in the Endurance Championship come as no surprise – since they first stepped foot on the endurance racing scene – they have intermittently been synonymous with the championships and claimed a fair few of them, whenever they were around.
Porsche has been around the world endurance band – since 1958 and took their first 24 hours of Le’mans victory in 1970, the first of many – Porsche has been showing its fellow manufacturers how to go racing and dominate it – Porsche currently has the record for most wins at Le Mans, with 19 victories.
Since the Inception of the World Endurance Championship in 2012 – the manufacturer from Stuttgart has won three Titles before their sabbatical from the championship back in 2017. and it seems just a few years on from its return – Porsche is well on its way to reliving the past glories – we all thought they left behind.
