FIA World Endurance Championship

The FIA World Endurance Championship, in its current form, began in 2012, but the name was first used by the FIA from 1981 to 1985 and endurance racing itself dates back over 100 years. It began to boom in popularity after the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923, and the World Sportscar Championship held its first season in 1953.

The WEC calendar comprises of eight rounds. Beginning in Qatar in March, the championship will race in Italy and Belgium ahead of the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the second half of the year, the championship visits Brazil, the USA and Japan before finishing the season in Bahrain in November.

The full FIA WEC features two classes: Hypercar and LMGT3. The Hypercar category - the top class - made its debut in 2021 to replace the LMP1 class. It accommodates cars built to both LMH and LMDh technical regulations. The former allows manufacturers to design every aspect of the car, while the latter requires manufacturers to use certain spec parts. The LMGT3 class replaced the LMGTE class for 2024. The Porsche 963 is built to LMDh rules and also competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport team fields two Porsche 963s in the WEC, with two full-time drivers each. Customer racing team Proton Competition also runs one entry. In the LMGT3 class, Manthey Racing runs two Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Porsche has won two WEC manufacturers’ titles and four drivers’ championships, the most recent of which came in 2024. It has also secured two GT manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles, with Manthey Racing doing the double last year.