Porsche: Withdraws from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar class at the end of this season

On October 7, 2025, Porsche will end its factory project in future motorsport activities.

• Formula E (ABB FIA Formula E World Championship)
• North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

The company announced a policy to focus on these two areas.

In Formula E, the team will continue to compete using the Porsche 99X Electric, positioning the series as a forum for developing and testing new-generation electric vehicle technologies. The fourth-generation vehicle (Gen4), which will be introduced from the 2026/27 season (Season 13), is scheduled to offer greater freedom in technological development than before, and is expected to be an important opportunity for the evolution of mass-produced EV technology.

In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the highlight of which is the 24 Hours of Daytona, the factory will continue to compete with the Porsche 963. The North American market and endurance racing are extremely important to Porsche, and the company will continue to maintain and strengthen its activities in this field.

He also emphasized that not only factory activities but also racing activities by customer teams will continue to be an important pillar of the motorsports strategy.

Anyway, I understand that this announcement means that Porsche will withdraw from the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the end of this season.

In recent months, there has been speculation that Porsche might withdraw due to its poor racing performance and financial difficulties.

I understood that Honda would be withdrawing from WEC, but I didn't fully understand what the consequences would be, so I've compiled the following to help me understand what the foreign media and other sources have written about the announcement:

Porsche withdraws from WEC hypercar class

• Porsche will withdraw from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar class at the end of this season
• This means that the team may not compete as a works team in the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours.
• Factory activities in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Porsche Penske Motorsports will end its two-car WEC program from the 2026 season but will continue in IMSA.
• Under current WEC regulations, manufacturers competing in the Hypercar class are obligated to run two cars, and participation in the GT3 category is also tied to entries in the top class.
• Porsche currently has only one team, Proton, using the 963 in the WEC, and will need to find another customer team to continue competing.
• If two customer teams were to come together, there is a possibility that they could use the Le Mans qualification they have obtained through IMSA to compete at Le Mans as a works team.
• If customer teams are not available, WEC and Le Mans regulations mean that the team may not be able to compete in any class, including the GT class.
• Exceptional permission may be granted, and Mercedes has received one for the 2025 season.

Why withdraw?

• Possible reasons for the withdrawal include Porsche's declining EV sales, concerns about tariffs, and the reallocation of motorsport budgets within the Volkswagen Group.
• Porsche's sales will fall by about $1.5 billion in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, and its stock price will fall by 351 TP1T in one year.
• 1,900 job cuts in Germany, price hikes for all models
• Porsche will continue to be involved in other categories such as GT3 and Formula E, while Audi has cancelled its plans to compete in the WEC in 2023 and will enter F1 for the first time next season.
• Withdrawal from WEC is part of a "comprehensive restructuring" and Porsche has announced it will focus on next-generation Formula E (Gen4).
• Formula E Gen4 is scheduled to be introduced in the 2026/27 season, with power output set to increase significantly from the current 470 horsepower to 800 horsepower.

By the way, it has long been said that when the economy worsens, the first thing that automobile manufacturers cut is their motorsports division, and this is said to have been the case this time as well.

Porsche's performance in the WEC and the team's current situation

• Although their performance in the WEC is solid, Ferrari's 499P has won Le Mans, and Porsche is unhappy with the disadvantages caused by BoP (balance of performance).
• Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach commented, "The #6 car ran a perfect race and should have won."
• The 2024 WEC Hypercar Drivers' title will be won by the #6 Porsche of Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor
• At the end of the 2025 season, Porsche Penske will hold the top two spots in the IMSA GTP Championship and still have a theoretical chance of winning the WEC title.
• Porsche's Michael Steiner said: "We are very sorry that the current situation has made it difficult for us to continue in the WEC."

Porsche has now achieved a total of 19 wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and their next victory would be their 20th, but if they now decide not to (or cannot) even participate in the race, it means they will never achieve their 20th win...!

By the way, Thomas Laudenbach has not ruled out returning to the WEC in the future, and it has been said that if unified regulations for LMDh and LMH are introduced early next decade, there is a possibility that they will re-enter with further new car development.

The withdrawal from WEC is a temporary decision at present, and if the budget situation within Porsche changes in the future, it may be possible to participate in the works with the 963 again after 2027.

Source:
◆(Official) Porsche focuses on Formula E and North American IMSA
◆(Official) Porsche focuses on IMSA and Formula E
◆Porsche Will Not Run a Factory WEC Hypercar Program in 2026
◆Porsche Will Withdraw From World Endurance Championship After This Season

Related article:Porsche will return to the race such as Le Mans from 2023. So what is LMDh?

Rika (911supercars.com)

I'm Rika, the author of this article. Since I got my hands on a Porsche 911, I've been completely hooked on Porsches and I can't stop loving them, so I started this blog. My favorite cars are the 911 Carrera (2/991), 911 Carrera Cabriolet & 911 Carrera T (1/992), GT3 (1/997) and 718 Cayman GT4 RS.