A spectacular year: Reviewing the 2024 Porsche motorsport season

With the Porsche 963 taking seven of a possible eight titles in WEC and IMSA, and Pascal Wehrlein crowned Formula E champion, there was plenty to celebrate across the season.

Wins also came in the DTM, with Thomas Preining securing victory at the Lausitzring and the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team reaching the finals in both the teams’ and drivers’ championships at the Esports World Cup.

While teams are already preparing for another season, we look back on all the success of this year.

WEC

After a fierce season-long fight, the Porsche Penske Motorsport #6 car won the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship drivers’ title at the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor emerged victorious after a stunning season featuring two wins and a further three podiums.

They put on a dominant display from the very first round in Qatar and leading the standings for the entire season to beat their closest rivals by 35 points.

After taking victory at the season opener, they also won the penultimate round in Fuji, while also securing podiums in Imola, Spa and São Paulo.

The culmination of a year’s hard work marked Lotterer’s first WEC championship victory since 2012, where he won the overall title. Estre last took a WEC title in 2018-19, winning the WEC GTE title with Porsche, while this is Vanthoor’s first.

The #5 drivers - Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki - finished fifth in the drivers’ championship, with four podiums.

They were third in the first two rounds in Qatar and Imola, returning for the same result in São Paulo before a second-place finish at the season finale in Bahrain.

With two wins, nine podiums and three pole positions across the two factory Porsche 963, the team also finished as a close runner-up in the FIA WEC’s Manufacturers’ Championship.

‟It was an incredibly successful year,” explains Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. ‟With the Porsche 963 and our global team Porsche Penske Motorsport, we won seven out of eight possible titles in a very strong competitive environment.

“That fills me with great pride. This result is a well-deserved reward for the hard work of everyone involved at the racetracks, at our team locations in Mannheim and Mooresville and in the development department in Weissach. We brought the Porsche 963 and the entire program to the top within a short period of time.”

Read the full 2024 WEC review here.

The World Endurance Championship returns in February, with the Official Prologue taking place at Lusail International Circuit in Qatar on the 21 and 22, before the season-opening Qatar 1812km on February 28.

IMSA

It truly was a spectacular season for Porsche in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: A 1-2 in the GTP drivers’ and teams’ championships, 600 wins surpassed, 100 races conquered for Penske, only one race in 11 not featuring a podium finish for the 963 prototype and a 21-year wait for a 24 Hours of Daytona win ended.

In the drivers’ standings, #7 drivers Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr finished top overall ahead of #6 pair Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy for a Porsche Penske Motorsport 1-2. With two wins apiece, and one pole position and 12 podiums between them, all four drivers did an exceptional job.

Guest driver Matt Campbell was also crucial in helping Cameron and Nasr secure the hotly contested Michelin Endurance Championship title for the team, which is awarded for IMSA’s long-distance races and awards points at various stages of the race.

Porsche also earned the manufacturer honours, finishing 90 points clear of second-placed Cadillac.

Kicking off the season with an incredible victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona from the #7 drivers, the pair went on to score three more consecutive third-place finishes.

Though that run was interrupted with a fourth-place in Detroit, the #7 drivers bounced back to take another win at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, followed by second-place next time out at Road America.

The pair finished seventh in Indianapolis before rounding off the season with a third-place finish at Petit Le Mans, where they were crowned champions.

The #6 drivers narrowly missed out on the podium in Daytona, and though it took until Laguna Seca for them to reach the rostrum, they did so in style - taking their first win of the season and following it up with another at the next round in Detroit.

They took another podium at Watkins Glen before a third win at Road America. A tough race in Indianapolis saw them finish 10th, but they were back on the podium at Petit Le Mans to end the season with a second-place finish.

Read the full 2024 IMSA review here.

IMSA returns with the Roar Before the 24 from January 17 to 19. The 2025 running of the 24 Hours of Daytona takes place from January 23 to 26.

Formula E

A landmark season from Pascal Wehrlein saw the German take the first ever drivers’ title for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team.

After a year of high drama, intense challenges and the rollercoaster of all-electric action, Wehrlein was crowned champion in a dramatic final round in London, beating Jaguar team-mates Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy to the title.

He took three wins and a further two podiums on his path to victory in the Porsche 99X Electric, including winning the season opener in Mexico. Amid the high altitude, highly-charged fan favourite of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Wehrlein dominated proceedings to take a clear pole and win.

His second victory came at Misano, winning the second race of the double header to reestablish his lead at the top of the standings, before the thrilling showdown in London saw him clinch a third win in race one, defeating fellow title protagonist Mitch Evans in a straight fight.

Team-mate António Félix da Costa took four wins in a hugely successful season which helped the team finish second in both the teams’ and manufacturers’ championship.

It was also a season that saw the team take seven wins, the most ever by one team in the all-electric series.

It could have been five wins for da Costa had he not been harshly disqualified from the first Misano race for the use of an incorrect throttle damper spring, despite it being used on several occasions prior to that weekend and by multiple teams.

Da Costa’s first win came in Berlin, as he clinched the team’s first home win in the second race of the double-header.

He then went on to take a stunning three consecutive victories, winning in Shanghai before dominating the Portland weekend with a pair of wins.

Read the full 2024 Formula E review here.

Formula E’s 2024-25 season kicked off in São Paulo on December 7. Check out what happened here.

Esports

The Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team had a strong showing at the Esports World Cup to round off the ESL R1 spring season, the highlight of the Esports calendar.

Great performances from the team saw them claim over $30,000 in prize money after reaching both finals in the ESL R1 season.

Multiple podium finishes across the four-days of competition meant the team secured sixth in the drivers’ championship and fifth in the teams’ championship.

The first day in the four-day long event was dedicated solely to the drivers’ championship. $100,000 of the prize pool was split amongst the 12 finalists, nine of which had already secured their places from the earlier live finals including defending champion Joshua Rogers.

After making it through to the final, Rogers had a best finish of third in the fourth round held at Fuji, beating points leader Kevin Siggy of Team Redline on the run to the finish line on the final lap.

However, he narrowly missed out on overall points to Siggy, who crossed the line first in the final race, and was crowned the drivers’ champion.

Next came the teams’ championship, with a $400,000 prize pool on the line and almost half of it to be awarded to the champions. Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team, the team’s champions in last year’s ESL R1 x Gamers8 event, headed into this championship with high hopes of success.

Rogers, Charlie Collins and Mitchell deJong all secured podium finishes in the group stage races, and six of the eight race results saw them placed in the top half of the pack.

At the end of Friday, the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team was third with a total of 90 points. That secured their place in the final, and gave the four drivers a whole day to prepare for the all-important Sunday racing.

It was a strong start for the team, as Rogers finished third in the opening round at Jeddah, and in the very next race at the Hockenheimring Warren secured fourth place. However, the quartet of drivers weren’t quite able to match Team Redline’s enviable run of results.

Ultimately Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team earned $25,000 for placing fifth in the teams’ championship. That’s on top of the $6,000 Josh Rogers earned for his successes in the drivers’ championship.

Collins was also named the MVP for the most overtakes after a fantastic maiden season as a full-time driver.

Read the full ESL R1 report here.

DTM

A valiant effort from Porsche Motorsport factory driver Thomas Preining and Porsche customer team Manthey EMA came up just short of taking Preining's DTM title defence into the final round of the 2024 season.

Fielding two Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Preining and team newcomer Ayhancan Güven, the pair put in some impressive performances in a hotly contested season, with Preining’s win from pole at the Lausitzring being a highlight of the campaign which saw him finish fifth overall.

Like in 2023, the DTM season spanned eight rounds - six in Germany, two in other parts of Europe - on the same eight tracks as before, albeit in a different sequence.

The Lausitzring round was the standout weekend of the season, with two podiums including a victory for Preining.

In race one on the Saturday, he brought the car home in third, then put it on pole the following day. It laid the groundwork for a win that was secured in a brilliant wheel-to-wheel battle with two Audis, first of Ricardo Feller and then of Kelvin van der Linde.

He also took a second-place finish in race two at the Red Bull Ring, fighting past Rene Rast and eventual champion Mirko Bortolotti, but then running out of time to overtake Rast again for the win after the German had got ahead on strategy.

Preining also ensured he had scored points in every second race for a second straight season, in a streak that has now reached 32 starts.

Güven rounded off the season with his first podium for Manthey at the Hockenheimring, running well in a rain-hit first qualifying session, to convert third on the grid into third at the finish for his long-awaited second DTM podium with Porsche.

The team also prevailed in the Pitstop Challenge rankings, determined by pitstop times through the season.

Read the full 2024 DTM review here.

The DTM returns at Oschersleben from April 26-27.

With another thrilling season completed, all Porsche Motorsport teams now look forward to further success in 2025.

Keep up with all the action here on the Porsche Motorsport Hub and across our social media sites: Instagram, X and Twitch.