Since Porsche’s announcement just a week ago that it will withdraw from the World Endurance Championship at the end of the current season, questions have been flying about whether we’ll see any 963s on the grid next year - in WEC, but above all at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
To clarify the situation and understand what’s really at stake, The Race has investigated over the past few days.
Will there be Porsche 963s in the WEC next year?
Obviously, the question concerns customer teams - namely, Proton Competition, Porsche's active WEC customer team.
“The decision not to participate in 2026 with our factory team has absolutely no effect on our customer programme,” Porsche Motorsport vice president Thomas Laudenbach insisted. “The rest is down to our customers and down to the ACO [series organiser] and FIA.
"You’re asking the wrong person. If a customer wants to race one or two cars, whatever, that’s not up to us.
“The first thing is the customer will need to approach us if he wants to do it - and if he asks us for help, we will always be prepared to help. If that’s what’s needed, we’ll discuss it. We are always happy to help our customers.”
But, as ever, the reality is not that simple.
What the regulations say: Article 3.2.3 of the FIA WEC sporting regulations stipulates that a manufacturer must enter two cars in the Hypercar World Endurance Championship. This means that if Proton Competition wants to take part next year, the German outfit will have no choice but to find a way to fund a second car.
It’s also worth noting that entry fees for the Hypercar Manufacturers’ Championship must be paid by the manufacturer itself, and that both cars must be entered under the same competitor’s name, appearing on the licence.
"Entry fees for the Championship are €27,500 per car and per Competition, to be multiplied by the number of Competitions counting towards the Championship (excluding the 24 Hours of Le Mans)," the regulations state in Appendix 2.
"The entry fees for the Hypercar World Championship and Hypercar Teams’ World Cup, in addition to the base entry costs, are as follows:
- Hypercar: €538,000 per manufacturer entered
- Hypercar Team World Cup: €143,500 per competitor
- LMGT3: €326,000 per manufacturer if not entered in Hypercar, €130,500 if entered in Hypercar."
Our view: The list of conditions to satisfy is long, and without direct financial support from Porsche, Proton Competition should simply not be in a position to enter two 963s. That would likely mean withdrawing from Hypercar altogether.
But wouldn’t it be in Porsche’s own interest to help? It could be a win-win, especially since the answer to that question could directly impact the answer to the following one.
Will there be Porsche 963s at Le Mans next year?
Last week at Petit Le Mans, The Race asked two of the key figures behind the 963 programme whether Porsche Penske Motorsport intends to compete at Le Mans next year, taking up the automatic invitation earned through its IMSA title.
We first put the question to Jonathan Diuguid: If you’re able to get to Le Mans, will you take that opportunity?
“As it stands today, but everything is moving quite fast right now,” the Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director replied. “Le Mans is a focus of our programme. We’re in a situation where none of us want to be in, and we would love to be at Le Mans, but we’ll evaluate it.”
“There’s honestly a lot of moving pieces right now, and I think we don’t necessarily understand the full picture at the moment,” he added. “Ultimately, it’s the FIA and the ACO’s sandbox and how they want to set it up. And the sporting regs aren’t out for next year anyway, so it’s something that’s kind of up in the air.”
Laudenbach was even more cautious. “I don’t want to answer this because there are too many question marks,” he said. “It’s not our decision.
"You know the procedure and Le Mans. Right now, we made a decision, we have to execute what we decided and this is something we will have to look at later on. If you make a decision not to race in WEC next year, it’s very likely that you’re not going to race Le Mans. Yes, Le Mans is important, but as you see, we made the decision. It would be stupid to exclude a return to Le Mans but if you are asking for a year or anything, I cannot answer.”
There’s no doubt Porsche Penske Motorsport wants to return to La Sarthe with the 963 to chase a 20th Le Mans victory. And in theory, if conditions allow, there’s nothing stopping it from requesting a second entry alongside its IMSA invitation, though that would be entirely subject to the selection committee’s discretion. And that’s a whole different story, as grid spots are scarce and the ACO may well prefer to give priority to a full-season European Le Mans Series entrant from LMP2 or LMGT3.
What the regulations say: Only participation in the FIA WEC Hypercar Manufacturers’ Championship would allow Porsche Penske Motorsport to take up its automatic Le Mans invitation.
Our view: Porsche Penske Motorsport’s presence at Le Mans depends directly on Proton Competition’s ability to field two 963s for a full WEC campaign. If that happens, PPM would very likely make the trip to France.
But as a reminder, appendix 8 of the Le Mans 24 Hours supplementary regulations (at least in the 2025 version, as the 2026 one isn’t yet available) clearly states that the Selection Committee reserves the right to modify this list or to refuse an invitation if exceptional circumstances require it.
What about IMSA?
On Friday - the eve of the 28th Petit Le Mans - IMSA revealed the entry list for the 2026 season. As expected, it confirms two 963s for Porsche Penske Motorsport and one for JDC-Miller MotorSports.
Following the announcement, IMSA president John Doonan indicated that there’s still room for a couple of additional competitors. JDC-Miller MotorSports has made no secret of its desire to run a second 963, but for now the Minnesota-based team doesn’t appear to have the finances to make that happen.
There’s also no sign of Proton Competition’s Porsche 963, which had been competing in the IMSA Endurance Cup the last two years, until its 2025 campaign ended abruptly at Watkins Glen after its 963 chassis was destroyed.
Our view: There is likely to be no more than three full-season Porsche 963s in IMSA in 2026: two for Porsche Penske Motorsport and one for JDC-Miller MotorSports.
Is the LMGT3 programme at risk?
It would be very surprising if Porsche’s withdrawal from the WEC Hypercar class had any impact on the brand’s 911 GT3 R programme in LMGT3.
Still, when we asked Laudenbach about that possibility, he dodged the question.
“The only thing I can say: I hope that our customer — in this case Manthey — will participate next year. But in the end, it’s up to FIA and ACO to accept the entry.”
What the regulations say: For LMGT3, the WEC selection committee prioritises manufacturers entered in Hypercar, followed by teams loyal to the ACO championships. And while Porsche won’t be represented in the top class, Manthey Racing remains a loyal and established entrant. And above all, the grid is not full.
Our view: There will almost certainly be two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs fielded by Manthey Racing in LMGT3 next year, just as there have been since 2024. The only open question is whether one of them will continue to race under the Iron Dames banner.
