Where are Porsche's customer teams?

Victim of its success during the first hours following the revelation of the livery of the name of the Porsche 963 with the successive announcements from JOTA and JDC-Miller MotorSports, the German manufacturer has since no longer communicated about its future competition customers. 

Last May, on the sidelines of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the names of WeatherTech Racing, Pfaff Motorsports, United Autosports and especially Proton Competition stood out, in addition to JOTA. Among the lot, Richard Dean's team has never hidden its desire to move into Hypercar, but has since confirmed its presence in the LM P2 category for the 2022 season, confirming its star driver Filipe Albuquerque in the process. 

Proton in IMSA and WEC with the Porsche 963?

The interests of WeatherTech Racing and Pfaff Motorsports no longer gave any sign of life, while the more surprising one of A.J. Foyt Racing appeared. The team engaged in IndyCar thus hoped to finalize an agreement with the German manufacturer around its driver responsible for the ovals, J.R. Hildebrand. The Stuttgart firm even favored this partnership, but the financial difficulties of the legendary American driver's team are no secret, to the point of seeing the car No. 11 shared between Tatiana Calderón and J.R. Hildebrand not to finish the season. A premature end following late payments on the part of sponsor ROKiT. The Texan team is not even sure of being able to field a second car in 2022, this one could be recovered by Stefan Wilson and Cusick Motorsport, 33rd and last car entered in the 500 Indy 2022. 

With two entries already reserved for Team Penske and a third having fallen into the hands of JDC-Miller MotorSports, only one remains available in IMSA. Just like in WEC, where JOTA, associated with Hertz, landed the third registration. Associated to Porsche for several years, Proton Competition could therefore do a double blow by recovering the two remaining 963s.

The question of customer teams still being raised in mid-September, that of the latter's calendar follows from this. The development of the prototype experienced unforeseen in recent weeks where the Germans have particularly encountered problems with the MGU. On the sidelines of its last test session at Daytona, Porsche announced its absence from the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the WEC on November 12, to optimize its time and its testing schedule before its official entry into competition at the 24 Hours. of Daytona (January 26-29). The manufacturer is in fact aiming for 30 kilometers of testing between now and the Florida double tour, but has only covered barely more than half of them (000). 

The complicated beginnings of Peugeot 9X8 during the 6 Hours of Monza demonstrated the problems that can be encountered during a competition debut and it is logical that Porsche decided to avoid a possible Bahraini snub. With the recent problems, the Stuttgart firm should first of all work to ensure that its official cars are ready for the first events, Daytona therefore for IMSA, and the 1000 Miles of Sebring for the WEC (March 2022). Customers could then wait a little before entering the competition, including those who have already purchased their prototype...

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