Porsche to Field Three 963 Works Cars at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans

The event will mark Porsche's return to top-tier Le Mans racing after a five-year hiatus. The German outfit closed its LMP program at the end of the 2017 season, retiring the 919 Hybrid racer after four successful years. Porsche is also celebrating its 75th anniversary which is why the third 963 will be sporting the starting number 75. The said car will be borrowed from Porsche's IMSA team, so it will be shipped to France from the U.S. for the 24-hour event.

Porsche's regular WEC entries will wear starting numbers 5 and 6. The No. 5 car will be shared by Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen, and Frederic Makowiecki. The No. 6 racer will see Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor take turns behind the steering wheel. A Le Mans veteran, Lotterer will be looking to score his fourth overall win. The German driver won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011, 2012, and 2014 with Audi.

The No. 75 car will be driven by Felipe Nasr and two drivers from the Porsche Penske Motorsport IMSA lineup that will be announced at a later date. As of this writing, the IMSA-spec 963 cars are driven by Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy, and Matt Campbell (in addition to Cameron and Christensen, already confirmed for Le Mans). The fourth Porsche 963, run by privateer squad Hertz Team Jota, will be driven by Antonio Felix da Costa, Will Stevens, and Ye Yifei.

The new Hypercar class will see more than 16 entries on this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans grid. Porsche will be joined by Cadillac, Toyota, Ferrari, and Peugeot, all of which will field prototypes based on the latest Hypercar regulations. Glickenhaus Racing and Floyd Vanwall Racing Team will also join in with their own designs, while Action Express Racing will rely on the Cadillac V-Series R.

The brand-new Porsche 963 is the company's first top-tier endurance racer since the 919 Hybrid. The latter was introduced in 2014 and marked Porsche's return to prototype racing after 15 years. Following an unimpressive maiden season, the 919 Hybrid dominated the World Endurance Championship (WEC) from 2015 to 2017, helping Porsche win three back-to-back titles. The 919 also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in a row taking Porsche's total tally to 19, an all-time record.

The 919 Hybrid was powered by a turbocharged, 2.0-liter V4 engine rated at about 500 horsepower and a motor-generator good for up to 400 horsepower under acceleration. The combo temporarily made the 919 Hybrid a four-wheel drive racer capable of 900 horsepower. Porsche also developed a 919 Evo variant with more extreme aero and a drivetrain rated at up to 1,160 horsepower but it was only used in demonstration runs.

The new Porsche 963 combines electric power with a 4.6-liter V8 engine of the twin-turbocharged variety. The mill is related to the V8 used in the 918 road car, which in turn was based on the powerplant found in the Porsche RS Spyder racer. The 963 first raced at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where one team failed to finish and the other one placed 14th overall and seventh in the GTP class.

The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 91st running of the iconic endurance race, is scheduled to take place on 10-11 June 2023. The event will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923. The race is one of seven events that make up the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (running from March to November).