Porsche Penske Motorsport enters third Porsche 963 at 24 Hours of Le Mans

MANILA: Porsche is committed to improve its chances of achieving its 20th overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport works team fielded a third Porsche 963 in the long-distance classic on June 10 to 11. The additional hybrid prototype with over 680 horsepower received approval from Le Mans organizer ACO on Wednesday, March 29. The car entered the race with the starting number 75.

“Le Mans is the highlight of every endurance season – even more so this year in light of the 100th anniversary of the 24-hour race. For us, it’s all about maximizing our chances of scoring our 20th overall victory at Le Mans on the 75th anniversary of the Porsche brand. That’s why we’re fielding a third car. The history of the race has shown that the additional cars deployed are often the factor that ultimately tips the scales. We don’t have to look far back in Porsche Motorsport’s history to see evidence of this: in 2015, the third Porsche 919 Hybrid handed us victory at Le Mans,” Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach stated.

“While the choice to commit to Le Mans with three cars increases our chances, it also presents us with enormous challenges,” Porsche Factory Motorsport LMDh Director Urs Kuratle said. “We have to put together an additional crew and ship one of the IMSA cars to France and back again. On top of that, due to ongoing supply bottlenecks for certain assemblies, the parts supply might not be perfect. We want to do the best we can and shine in the 75th year of the Porsche brand and at the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

Three drivers — Dane Cameron from the USA, Michael Christensen from Denmark, and Frédéric Makowiecki from France — share the wheel of the No. 5 Porsche 963. Menwhile, the No. 6 Porsche 963 will be driven by  Kévin Estre from France, Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium, and André Lotterer from Germany. The No. 75 car's crew will include Felipe Nasr from Brazil. His teammates, which will be revealed at a later date, will also be from the Porsche Penske Motorsport IMSA lineup.

“Since day one of Porsche Penske Motorsport, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been our focus. The privilege of fielding a third Porsche 963 throws both logistical and operational challenges at us,” Porsche Penske Motorsport Managing Director Jonathan Diuguid stated. “Even when we set up our program, we did so on the premise that we could expand it if need be. We are a global team with commitments in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA. We have highly trained and motivated personnel who support each other. Running a third car means that the participating team members from our IMSA crew will be in Germany and France for about four weeks. They’ll join forces with their colleagues from the WEC to prepare the cars and the relevant materials. Next up on the schedule is the test day and finally the race week. The IMSA calendar allows this without having to make any major concessions. We’ll have three cars on the grid that are prepared to exactly the same level.”

The Hertz Team JOTA customer squad also entered a fourth Porsche 963, which will be helmed by António Félix da Costa from Portugal, Will Stevens from the UK, and Yifei Ye from China.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans' inaugural race happened in France 100 years ago. The 91st edition will take place on June 10 and 11, where Porsche will compete against brands like Ferrari, Cadillac, Toyota, and Peugeot in the battle for overall championship in the new Hypercar class.

Photos from Porsche

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