The 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed saw the debut of a lot of cool road-going cars, but the one we are going to talk about here is a little bit different. At the same event that brought us cars like the Polestar 5 electric 4-door GT or the Lanzante P1 Spider, Porsche unveiled its new 963 LMDh prototype race car. The prototype is set to make its race debut in 2023 at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona where it will face fierce competition from Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Porsche has hopes that the new 963 will continue the legacy of legendary models such as the 917, 935, 956, 962 and the 919 Hybrid. The race car was built in compliance with the LMDh regulations and features a design inspired by the victorious 956 and 962 classics from the 1980s, with the rear inspired by the current 992-generation 911. The engine on the other hand, is based on the high-performance 918 Spyder hybrid sports car. The 963 is based on an LMP2-category chassis supplied by the Canadian high-tech company Multimatic. It is powered by a 4.6-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine combined with hybrid components supplied by Bosch, Williams Advanced Engineering, and Xtrac. The hybrid system delivers a total of 680 horsepower. And speaking of the engine, rules for the LMDh hyper class don’t have restrictions with regards to engine displacement or the number of cylinders. However, the engines must not rev over 10,000 RPM and should not be louder than 110 decibels. The car will also use renewable fuel that will drastically reduce the twin-turbo V-8’s CO2 emissions output.

The prototype displayed at Goodwood features a white, red, and black paint scheme - a tribute to Porsche's racing history. The car was put to a total of 7,889 kilometers of testing during the first half of 2022 and according to Porsche there is still a lot more to do before the start of next season. Testing will continue Mannheim, Germany for the FIA World Endurance Championship and in Mooresville, North Carolina, USA for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The new race car will compete in 2023 with the Porsche Penske Motors team starting 2023 racing season. It will enter races from the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with the official debut being the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023. It is set to compete in the new GTP class. During the 2023 racing season it will be raced by experienced drivers like Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen (Denmark), André Lotterer (Germany), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), Matt Campbell (Australia), Mathieu Jaminet (France), Dane Cameron (USA) and Felipe Nasr (Brazil).