After cultivating a storied legacy in endurance racing, Porsche is pulling back its factory-backed Porsche Penske Motorsport team from the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar class after the 2025 season. The German manufacturer will continue to campaign its Porsche 963 LMDh car in the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and maintain its Formula E program, emphasizing electric motorsport’s growing importance to the brand.
Dr. Michael Steiner, Executive Board member at Porsche AG, expressed regret over the withdrawal, citing current circumstances that make continuing in the WEC untenable. Despite a respectable season highlighted by a recent win at the Lone Star Le Mans round and sitting second in the Hypercar Manufacturer’s Championship behind Ferrari Porsche leadership voiced dissatisfaction with the competitive balance, particularly constraints imposed through Balance of Performance measures that slowed the Porsche 963 relative to Ferrari’s 499P.
The WEC exit comes amid financial challenges for Porsche, notably declining electric vehicle sales and pressures from trade tariffs, forcing the company to reallocate resources. Porsche’s motorsport vice president Thomas Laudenbach underlined the strategy to focus development where it sees future growth, with continued factory commitments in IMSA’s GTP category and Formula E, where the innovative Porsche 99X Electric will enter its fourth generation in 2026.
While the withdrawal marks the end of an era Porsche holds a record 19 overall wins at the marquee 24 Hours of Le Mans the marque’s customer programs, such as Proton Competition, may keep the Porsche 963 on WEC grids at a lower level. Additionally, success in IMSA could secure Porsche an automatic invitation to Le Mans in 2026, keeping the door ajar for future factory engagement in endurance racing.
As Porsche shifts focus to the electric frontier and North American endurance racing, fans bid farewell to the factory Hypercar program but can expect innovation and performance in new arenas.
