Porsche 963 Will Be Tested at Upcoming Spa Race

Test Session

The Porsche 963 made its debut last year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, ushering in a new era of motorsport for the brand in both FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition. Thus far, the 963 has found some success, winning the 100-minute sprint race in Long Beach and scoring a third-place finish in the recent Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Now, the JOTA Sport team will use the upcoming Spa weekend as a test session for its LMDh racer, according to Motorsport.

Photos: Porsche

Late to the Party

There are several reasons for this, of course, aside from the fact that the Porsche and the JOTA team are still figuring out the brand-new race car and working to perfect it. Factory driver Antonio Felix de Costa is also completing Formula E simulator preparation, meaning that he'll be showing up a bit late to Spa, where he'll be joined by fellow drivers Ye Yifei, Will Stevens, and Matt Campbell.

Photos: Porsche

Figuring Things Out

“We’re going to basically land on a parachute in the middle of the track with new equipment," he explained. "We have to be super humble. We’re going to take Spa as a test, learn as much as we can about set-up, about systems, about running procedures on this car. Then it looks like we’re going to have two good tests before Le Mans and I think we can actually arrive in Le Mans with decent knowledge."

Photos: Porsche

Going Out

The reigning LMP2 champ, de Costa would have liked to go out a bit differently, however. “It would have been good to have a nice goodbye," he said. “As a team, I think the last 12 races we’ve done together we’ve nailed every single one of them on car balance, on strategy and today we kind of missed out on both. “It’s just a shame, being a home race, so many people here watching, supporting. I really wanted to give these guys a great result today and that wasn’t possible."

Photos: Porsche

Figuring Things Out

Regardless, he's still keeping his eyes focused on the long term. “We made a few mistakes along the weekend that led to what we had today, but no finger-pointing. We’re one team, we won a lot together, today we lost together. “I know it’s the last race with this car. Still I want us to analyze exactly what went wrong, especially because we can help the sister car.”

Photos: Porsche

Future Legend?

Regardless, hopes are high for the future of the 963, the bespoke, retro-looking racer riding on an LMP2-category chassis. Powered by a 4.6-liter twin-turbocharged V8 based on the 918 Spyder's powerplant, the 963 churns out 680 horsepower and looks every bit the part of the next legendary Porsche race car. 

Photos: Porsche

Chasing Greatness

With thousands of hours of development time and some track time under its belt, Porsche is looking to achieve far greater success in the 963 moving forward, which is understandable. After all, when you have such a rich and successful motorsport history, anything less than domination could be considered a minor failure, at the very least.

Photos: Porsche

>>Join the conversation about the Porsche 963 right here at Rennlist.com.

>>For help with your do-it-yourself maintenance and repair projects, please visit our how-to section.