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2023 Porsche 963 Completes Tests at Daytona, Eagerly Waits for Its First Race

Porsche’s collaboration with Team Penske has been no secret for more than a year, and the German marque has been working around the clock to get its latest hybrid hypercar racer prepped for its first competition outings. Before that happens, the team must ensure things are as expected, so they have done a testing session at the Daytona International Speedway.
Porsche 963 LMDh racing car 16 photos
Photo: Porsche
Porsche 963 LMDh racing carRoger Penske, founder of Team PenskePorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing carPorsche 963 LMDh racing car
The Porsche 963, which is the name of the company's latest prototype racer - this time for the LMDh class, has done a total of 397 laps around the famed track, including the oval as well as the twisty infield. The road course will bring the competitive debut of this vehicle, so it was essential to ensure that a favorable configuration can be easily determined, as well as to address potential problems now, instead of the practice session before the season's first race.

For those who are unaware, Porsche is set to enter the 963 LMDh into several endurance races starting with the 2023 season, and the 24 Hours of Daytona, scheduled in late January 2023, is the first event on the calendar. Therefore, the team went ahead and tested the new racecar to ensure that it operated as the company wants it to perform in the 24-hour race.

The new racing class, which has entrants from Cadillac, BMW, Acura, and many others, involves using an LMP2 chassis, spec hybrid components shared among the competitors, and a powertrain that is chosen by the manufacturer within certain power limits for each category.

Porsche 963 LMDh racing car
Photo: Porsche
Porsche selected to use a 4.6-liter twin-turbo V8 in this new racing car. The motor had already been developed for a different application, so it just needed adaptations for class-specific regulations, which also helped keep costs in line with the program’s restrictions. Similar rules are applied in all important branches of motorsport where manufacturers get involved.

The resulting prototype blended current styling cues from the 911, like the rear light bar, with futuristic elements, and all the necessary elements expected from a racing car, including adjustable aerodynamics, big wings, massive aero elements, and a red-white-black livery that may not look cool on a production car, so do not bother to replicate it on your project car.

While strategy is essential in competitions of this kind, if there are electrical or cooling issues during such an event, all the effort behind the project is in vain. According to Porsche, the prototype drove 2,274 kilometers (about 1,413 mi), which is roughly the distance from Stuttgart to Istanbul, but over the length of two days and in unfavorable weather.

As Porsche noted, nature provided a humidity of over 90 percent, regular showers, and temperatures that hovered around 35 degrees Celsius (95 F). With the conditions in the air as described, the track will be scorching hot, while the air is difficult to breathe.

Porsche 963 LMDh racing car
Photo: Porsche
Mind you, racing cars do not have air conditioning, and drivers are wearing a helmet, a flameproof balaclava, and the windows are closed. Difficult to breathe is an understatement in these conditions.

A humidity of over 90 percent is difficult to handle with that kind of temperature even if you are doing normal activities, such as walking outside, but driving a 671 horsepower (680 PS) racecar on a high-speed road course will get exhausting quicker than you can realize it, making anyone prone to mistakes.

Because of this, the team goes through a strict training regimen, as well as a dedicated diet, to ensure a steady release of energy in the body while also maintaining key parameters in the green, such as blood pressure, oxygen level, and so on.

Even the pit crews need to be fit, as those tire guns, as well as the wheel and tire combos, are not light, and they need to move quickly but also correctly when handling them.

Porsche 963 LMDh racing car
Photo: Porsche
The first testing session involved Porsche team drivers Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell, and Mathieu Jaminet. They took turns behind the wheel of chassis 03, just like they would have during a 24-hour race.

They had to stay sharp even though there were no other competitors on the track, as the pace still had to be comparable to that of a full-on race, while other prototypes were unavailable as replacements in case something went wrong. Just like in the real race, to be specific.

After almost 400 laps, which was closing in on thrice the race distance of the Daytona 500, for example, Porsche concluded the test, and its officials noted that the new racing car ran "without any notable problems."

Evidently, they are not going to disclose information on what went better than expected or what was worse, but it is important that the test was concluded. Do not expect to learn the best lap time, top speed, average speed, or other information that could be reverse-engineered to learn the pace of this model. The overall winner of this year's 24-hour race at Daytona drove a total of 761 laps, and the second-fastest team was just 3.028 seconds behind after 24 hours.

The competitive debut of the Porsche 963 will take place on January 28/29, 2023, when the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship hosts its event at Daytona International Speedway. The event will begin on January 26, 2023, if you want to follow it as close as possible.

Until then, you should know that there will be an FIA-sanctioned World Endurance Championship race held in Bahrain this November that will have this Porsche prototype on its starting grid, but it will not be entered to race for the win.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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