Porsche Penske Motorsport 2024 WEC Season Review

December 23, 2024

Team Penske continues to look back at the exciting 2024 season with an overview of each team's performance and highlights. In this week's spotlight, the focus is on the Porsche Penske Motorsport FIA World Endurance Championship program that claimed the Hypercar Driver's title this season.

When the two powerhouses of Team Penske and Porsche reunited to create Porsche Penske Motorsport, expectations were, of course, incredibly high. The first season in 2023 showed huge promise, but it wasn’t until the second year of competition that the newly-formed program showed the world what it was capable of.

The World Endurance Championship, known to many as WEC, is the FIA’s major sportscar series and it sits alongside Formula 1, Formula E, and the World Rally Championship as a series that officially crowns world champions. 

WEC's premiere event – the 24 Hours of Le Mans - is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown but, thanks to a huge insurgence of manufacturers joining at the start of the Hypercar category, spectator numbers at each of the rounds is rocketing and sponsors have been looking to take advantage in droves.

With Porsche Penske Motorsport fielding two full-season entries - the No. 5 and No. 6 Porsche 963s in the Hypercar class - 2024 was a memorable second season in WEC. Drivers Matt Campbell,  Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki raced the No. 5 Porsche while Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor competed behind the wheel of the No. 6 Hypercar.

In 2024, the season started at a new location for the series – the Lusail Circuit near Doha in Qatar. While a new track provides challenges for all, it’s the team that prepares best, works hardest over winter, and adapts to the new setting quickest that can prosper. And that is just what Porsche Penske Motorsport did. The first race of the year was victorious as the No. 6 Porsche finished first while the No. 5 963 came home in third place while a new manifesto for the team was laid down.

Just like that, Porsche Penske Motorsport were the ones to watch.

Imola, the home of Ferrari, came next and beating anyone on home soil was going to be tough. The Italians know the track like the back of their hands and 80,000 fans, many of whom loyal Tifosi, filled the grandstands. While one never underestimates the power of the home fans, the team knew it would be strong if it remained unfazed, did what it does best, and makes no mistakes. While the Ferraris showed incredible pace, they were unable to convert it to a podium and the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s took the second and third place spots – not the win the team wanted but huge championship points and a blow to Ferrari’s campaign and confidence.

Next up was Spa – as close as Porsche gets to a home race, just an hour drive from the German border – and the fans were there in full force. This time, the record-breaking WEC crowd was predominantly adorned in Porsche Penske Motorsport colors and the team was ready to put on a show for them. Campbell did just that, taking the team’s first pole position of the season and Penske’s 100th sportscar pole ever. The drama-filled race saw the FIA extend proceedings by 1 hour 45 mins following a long red flag for barrier repairs. Despite a DNF for the No. 5 car, the No. 6 sister car played the strategy perfectly and finished in second place.

Going into Le Mans, Porsche Penske Motorsport was leading the World Endurance Championship in both the drivers and manufacturers standings. A nice place to be and great for team confidence, but those points meant nothing out on the Circuit de la Sarthe. The weekend started strongly, especially when Estre took pole position on his last flying lap. While the old adage says qualifying isn’t important in a 24-hour race, starting from the front certainly helps avoid that first lap chaos and pole is worth an extra championship point – which could prove vital at the end of the season. Unfortunately, the race win that everyone wanted wasn’t to be. And, after just narrowly missing out on the podium, all sights were already realigned to next year’s event.

After just a couple of weeks, the team was en route to São Paulo, Brazil for the first of the ‘fly-away’ races. Interlagos is a track Porsche remembered fondly, as it was the stage for the first ever victory of the 963’s predecessor, the 919. Keen to replicate this success, the team pushed hard but the Toyota was just too fast during the race and the 963s had to settle for second and third. 

Then it was time for Penske’s home race – the Lone Star Le Mans, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. But just like Ferrari in Imola, the home race brought little luck and, for the first-time all-season, Porsche Penske Motorsport missed out on a podium at a (non-Le Mans) WEC round. The cars took fifth and sixth and just managed to cling onto the championship leads.

After leaving the Americas, the team headed to Fuji, Japan. The place where Toyota had dominated for the past 10 years. But the home race curse struck again, and Porsche Penske Motorsport knocked the Japanese manufacturer off their top spot, taking victory with Estre, Lotterer and Vanthoor in the No. 6 963.

Going into the final race of the season in the lead of both championships was ideal and with No. 6 car 35 points ahead with only 39 points up for grabs, the driver’s championship was all but wrapped up. The manufacturer’s title, however, was now tighter than it had been for a while, with Porsche, Ferrari, and Toyota all in a position to take the overall honors. While the race did not go to plan for any of the three title hunters, it was Toyota who secured the title in the final minutes of the race. With Estre, Lotterer and Vanthoor crowned as 2024 WEC driver's champions, Porsche Penske Motorsport closed the season hungrier than ever for what lies ahead for the 2025 WEC season. 

While the manufacturers’ title and the 24 Hours of Le Mans win remain an ambition, each member of Porsche Penske Motorsport became an FIA World Champion in 2024 and the team knows that the best is still yet to come.