Porsche wants to ride the Daytona wave in Qatar

It is with five 963s that Porsche arrives in Qatar to start the 2024 season of the World ChampionshipEndurance of the FIA ​​with two officials and three customers (two at Hertz Team JOTA, one at Proton). The team from Mannheim (Germany) prepared for this new season on the peninsula with tests in Losail and Barcelona. Above all, the German manufacturer presents itself with a prestigious victory: that obtained at the 24 Hours of Daytona at the end of January.

« Our victory in the series' season opener IMSA at Daytona gave a huge boost to our entire team on both sides of the Atlantic, says Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport. We are trying to take advantage of this momentum for the new FIA year WEC. Lots of new things in 2024: we have additional cars in the Hypercar category, we will face new rivals in the battle for overall victories and we will see the return of Manthey to the WEC with the 911 GT3 R in the new LMGT3 category. There are many reasons to be excited about the first event in Qatar. »

« The triumph at Daytona underlined very important things for us: the team worked perfectly from an operational point of view and the Porsche 963 was fast and reliable during the 24 hours. Our work over the past season and over the winter has obviously yielded the results we hoped for, summarizes Urs Kuratle, director of the LMDh factory program. The team and car will be put to the test again at the first WEC race of the season in Qatar. It will take place in a new location and last ten hours. We have to be as focused and determined as we were in Daytona. Our track testing in Doha went well. Nonetheless, we have yet to see what we will face in 2024. I am curious to see what that will look like. »

Porsche Penske Motorsport has adapted the FIA ​​WEC team structure for the 2024 season. Jan Lange (Germany) will take on the role of Team Principal/General Manager of the Mannheim-based team. He will be supported by Team Manager Francis Schammo (Luxembourg) and Tobias Dürheimer (Germany) as Business & Operations Manager. Porsche Penske Motorsport's global operations will continue to be overseen by General Manager Jonathan Diuguid and Competition Director Travis Law, both of whom will continue to play an active role in the WEC and IMSA championships. From Porsche Motorsport, Urs Kuratle (Switzerland) will retain overall responsibility, supported by German Stefan Moser as Porsche 963 technical director.

On-track activity in Qatar is set to begin this weekend with the Prologue, a week before the 1km of Qatar, the opening round of the 812 FIA WEC season.

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