The long-running Porsche 963 saga for the 2026 World Endurance Championship is finally nearing its end. Next Monday, the ACO is expected to reveal the full list of entrants set to shape next year's grid.
And the headline is a bleak one: according to information obtained by The Race, there will be no Porsche 963s. Despite owner Christian Ried’s best efforts, Proton Competition is not expected to appear on the Hypercar grid next year. Inevitably, that also means no Porsche 963s at the series' flagship event, the Le Mans 24 Hours.
While Porsche Penske Motorsport had already confirmed the shutdown of its Hypercar programme, fans still hoped Proton could secure the backing required to run a second car, with a two-car entry a non-negotiable condition to remain in the top class.
Ried believed he had pulled it off. Even Roger Penske had been prepared to support Proton’s effort.
Porsche, however, preferred for Penske to end all discussions, arguing that a Penske-Proton joint venture risked creating confusion around the brand’s strategic position. To some inside the paddock, that move could have been seen as a U-turn from the German manufacturer in terms of withdrawing from the WEC.
What about the Le Mans 24 Hours?
Penske’s ambition was clear: only a two-car 963 presence in the WEC would have allowed him to take up his own team’s 2026 Le Mans invitation earned through its IMSA title. Instead, he too must abandon for now his hopes of winning the French race, the same ambition that originally drove the 963 partnership with Porsche Motorsport.
So the conclusion is simple: there will be no 963 at Le Mans in June. Anyone wanting to see the German LMDh in competition will have to look to IMSA, where two cars will continue full-season with Porsche Penske Motorsport, plus a third entered by JDC-Miller MotorSports.
Unless something changes dramatically - and that seems unlikely - the 963 will become the first top-class-eligible Porsche not to win the Le Mans since the 908, which had debuted back in 1968.
What will the 2026 WEC grid look like?
The WEC is expected to feature 35 full-season entries next year, down from 36 in 2025: 18 in LMGT3 and 17 in Hypercar. Official confirmation should come on Monday.
That means the same number of manufacturers as in 2025 : 14 in total, including eight in Hypercar, as was also the case this year. The new arrival is Genesis, effectively replacing Porsche in the count and joining Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota.
In LMGT3, the grid should look almost identical to this season’s. Two teams are expected to drop off: Iron Dames - partnered with Team Manthey in 2025 - and Racing Spirit of Léman, which ran the No.10 Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
For 2026, both Aston Martin LMGT3 entries are likely to be run by Heart of Racing Team. The British outfit, which also funds the Valkyrie Hypercar project, would become one of only three teams competing in both categories, alongside AF Corse and WRT - down from four in 2025, as Proton Competition now oversees Ford’s Mustang LMGT3 programme.
Do privateer teams still have a place in Hypercar?
In 2024, three teams and four cars were fighting for the Hypercar Teams’ Trophy, the classification reserved for privateers. Next year, only one remains, effectively marking the end of a distinction that never truly found its footing. JOTA Sport won the title in 2023 and 2024, with AF Corse taking it in 2025.
But JOTA Sport sold its Porsche 963s over the winter to become Cadillac’s official WEC racing team. With Proton Competition now out of the picture, AF Corse is the lone so-called private team left, via its #83 Ferrari 499P. For the record, Jota had managed to win the 2024 Spa 6 Hours with its 963, while the #83 Ferrari claimed a famous victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year.
Yet everyone agrees that the #83 is private in name only, especially since AF Corse also operates Ferrari's two factory 499Ps. In reality, the only meaningful difference - beyond the livery - is the presence of two paying drivers: Robert Kubica, backed by Orlen, and Phil Hanson. Their team-mate Yifei Ye, by contrast, is a Ferrari factory driver.
With Genesis joining in 2026, and McLaren and Ford following in 2027, true privateer teams appear to be running out of room on the WEC grid. It’s a real loss, given that the regulations were also originally designed to give them space in the top class. What no one anticipated was the sheer number of manufacturers that would commit.
Could they find shelter in IMSA instead? Even there, Proton Competition has stepped away, leaving JDC-Miller MotorSports alone against factory-backed heavyweights. An uneven fight if ever there was one...
