Hot News World Endurance Championship

WEC: Porsche to run special liveries at LeMans

Posted by AR1 staff

–Press Release–

  • The Porsche Penske Motorsport works team is giving its three Porsche 963 a special color scheme at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
  • The basic character of the 963 look remains the same. The colorful designs were unveiled this Friday (April 28) as part of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship (WEC) race weekend in Belgium.
  • On the occasion of the 75th birthday of the Porsche brand, the starting number 75 will compete in the 100th anniversary of the 24-hour race as an additional car from the sports car manufacturer from Stuttgart in the hypercar class.

Stuttgart. Porsche is giving its three LMDh hybrid prototypes an exclusive design for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The core design element is a total of 15 stripes in seven different colors, which extend from the front of the Porsche 963 to the rear and widen towards the rear.

The fin on the engine cover serves as a distinguishing feature of the three racing cars: it has the starting number 5 in black, the number 6 in white and the third Le Mans racing car with the number 75 in red.

Porsche provided the special foiling on the eve of Le Mans dress rehearsal of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship WEC in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

“This year we are celebrating 75 years of Porsche sports cars. Motor sport, and especially long-distance racing, is a core part of our Porsche DNA. The 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is therefore also of particular importance for the Porsche brand,” says Detlev von Platen, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG.

“The color scheme of the three works racing cars ties both anniversaries together. Every color on the Porsche 963 has its own Le Mans history. And we are very proud of every single one.”

“Our three Porsche 963 will be real eye-catchers in Le Mans on the 75th anniversary of our brand and the 100th anniversary of the 24-hour race. I have no doubt that this design will quickly conquer the hearts of the fans,” says a delighted Thomas Laudenbach.

“We picked up vehicle designs from Porsche’s more than rich history at Le Mans,” adds the Head of Porsche Motorsport.

“The 917 as a ‘pig’ in pink or the ‘hippie car’ from 1970 – these paint finishes have made racing history and are still popular today. With our special design of the three Porsche 963, we are continuing this great tradition at Le Mans.”

On the outside, the designers used the color orange. This indicates the legendary Gulf design of the Porsche 917 from the 1970s. The pink stripe that follows refers to the “pig”, that legendary Porsche 917 from 1971, whose design was found again in 2018 on the Porsche 911 RSR and won the GTE Pro class in Le Mans.

Further in, green and light blue follow for the 1970 917 known as the “Hippie” and the iconic Martini design used, among other things, in the overall Le Mans victory of the Porsche 936 in 1977.

The dark blue that follows stands for the Rothmans paintwork of the Porsche 956 from 1982 and 1983, next to it a bright red for the Salzburg-Porsche 917 – the first overall winner from Stuttgart in 1970. A yellow stripe rounds off the design in the middle.

“The Porsche 963 has a very long wheelbase – we had to play with the proportions a bit,” explains Stephane Lenglin.

The designer Exterior Style Porsche adds: “The widening color lines towards the rear result in beautiful dynamics and harmonious proportions. It was a lot of fun working on this design.

“We played with many different colors on the way to the final version, but finally settled on seven colorways that give an immediately recognizable insight into the long and successful history of Porsche and the special liveries at Le Mans. I’m sure the cars will be well received by the fans.”

The number 5 Porsche 963 will be driven at Le Mans by the regular line-up from the FIA ​​WEC: Dane Cameron (USA), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark). WEC drivers André Lotterer from Germany, Kévin Estre from France and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium will be driving the number 6 sister car.

Car number 75 will be driven by Felipe Nasr (Brazil), Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Mathieu Jaminet (France).