Porsche Discontinues WEC Hypercar Programme at the End of the 2025 Season

Porsche discontinues its Hypercar factory racing programme in the FIA WEC at the end of the current 2025 season.

While other brands are now flocking to stake their rights in the top endurance racing series, Porsche has decided to take a step back by ending its factory Hypercar programme under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the end of the current 2025 season.

The German automaker, which claimed the WEC drivers’ title last year, announced this shocking move earlier this week, while at the same time confirming that they will shift their focus towards the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America, also under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner.

Despite its shocking WEC exit, Porsche's factory racing arm would still be competing in both IMSA (left) and Formula E (right).

With its focus now shifted towards IMSA, this means that Porsche’s factory racing operation is now limited to only two programmes, with the other one being its engagement in the ABB FIA Formula E championship with the Porsche 99X Electric under an in-house banner.

Dr. Michael Steiner, the board member responsible for research and development whose remit includes motorsport, said, “We very much regret that, due to the current circumstances, we will not be continuing our involvement in the WEC after this season.”

While the official statement only mentioned “current circumstances” as part of its factory WEC programme withdrawal, we’d reckon Porsche’s decision to slim down its factory motorsport involvement stems from the recent financial turmoil for the German brand.

Porsche's global sales are down in light of the introduction of import tariffs in the US, as well as the declining demand in China, which used to be one of its key overseas markets.

With Porsche now confirming its exit from WEC, its future involvements with the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race next year will also remain unclear. According to Road & Track, the current WEC rule book requires any manufacturers entering the series to run two cars in the Hypercar category and ties entries in its pro-am GT3 category to entries in the top class.

To date, Porsche currently has one 963 customer in the series, Proton, meaning that the German automaker needs to find another customer team to keep the car in the category even if that program continues for 2026.

Throughout the current 2025 FIA WEC season, Porsche Penske Motorsport has charted a single win in the Lone Star Le Mans stage in Austin, Texas, while finishing second at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans race behind AF Corse with the Ferrari 499P. 

That said, the factory outfit fares better in North America’s IMSA championship, winning four out of the eight races in the top-flight GTP category so far this year, including the season-opener 24 Hours of Daytona.