2023 was truly a year dominated by one manufacturer alone. Porsche re-established themselves as the all conquering kings of sportscar racing by winning pretty much everything. 

Taking both the IMSA and WEC driver’s titles, the latter with the trio of so called ‘80 year old Lotterer, second best Vanthoor and past-prime Estre’ at a climatic finale in Bahrain, Porsche will no doubt be looking to repeat these successes with its Penske backed 963’s in 2025. For Porsche though, there’s one thing they need to figure out this year more than anything: How to break the Scuderia’s stranglehold on Le Mans. 

It’s somewhat ironic that despite being without a doubt the best of the platinum era thus far, Porsche’s kryptonite has been their happiest hunting ground of them all. Having won the race a staggering 19 times with 5 different cars across a timescale of 4 decades, it felt like a foregone conclusion. The 963 will win Le Mans. It has to. But those predictions have come rather short indeed, for the 963 has experienced a somewhat troubled time at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

In 2023, as the marque celebrated it’s 75th anniversary, three factory backed cars were sent forth, with JOTA’s privateer 963 featuring in the race. But after Kevin Estre ironically dumped his works car into the barriers at the Porsche Curves while attempting to get back on the lead lap on Sunday morning, Stuttgart’s finest were left scratching their heads. All three cars had suffered various gremlins, and a promising JOTA effort had crashed out from the lead six hours in.

Their 2024 effort initially showed fantastic promise, with Estre seemingly redeemed after taking pole position in the dying moments of Hyperpole. With their number strengthened from four to six cars, as JOTA had now a second privateer car and Proton’s 963 made its Le Mans debut. But in a larger field, Porsche drowned once again. After a relatively reliable race, Felipe Nasr was the first car to go. With 18 Hours gone he lost the car at Indianapolis, the resulting crash damage rendering him and his No. 4 Penske Porsche crew all but retired. Proton’s effort was pretty much over from the get go, while the four cars that did finish all were bested once more by Ferrari and Toyota in the closing hours.

But after such a stellar year and having now two Le Mans under their belt with the 963, this surely is Porsche’s year to claim their 20th victory at the 24 hour race. They have the experience, they have the talent – not to mention they’ll be the team to beat – but can they finally put it all together and achieve their ultimate goal?

Only time will tell...

thumbnail credit – Kevin Decherf from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons