Porsche insists no decision made on WEC, IMSA LMDh plans amid cuts speculation

Porsche is insisting no decisions have been made in the face of speculation that it could axe either its World Endurance Championship or IMSA SportsCar Championship campaign for next season.

Thomas Laudenbach, Porsche Motorsport boss, refused to comment on a possible reduction in its factory programme with the 963 LMDhs run by Penske in the respective WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP classes for 2026.

“I am not commenting on that, because the decision is not made — it is too early,” he said. “We will [make an announcement] when the time is coming.”

But he conceded that it is “a tough period for the brand”.

Porsche sales are down in the face of the introduction of import tariffs in the US and falling demand in China.

In July company CEO Oliver Blume announced a plan to reduce the workforce by 10% before 2029 as he outlined a future in which Porsche sales peak at 250,000 rather than the 300,000-plus of 2024.

Last week a fall in Porsche’s share price on the German stock market meant the Volkswagen-owned brand fell out of the so called DAX index of blue-chip companies.

But Laudenbach said that the decisions regarding the future of the LMDh programme would not be based only on financial considerations.

“There are a lot of influences there, and that is exactly the reason I cannot comment at the moment,” he explained.

He admitted to dissatisfaction with the WEC, stating: “I think there are things we can improve in the series.

“We are having a very good dialogue, but the only thing I would say at this stage is that for sure we need improvement.”

Laudenbach made a veiled reference to the Balance of Performance this year as Porsche attempts to defend the Hypercar drivers’ title won by Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer in 2024 when he said “we have seen a lot of results that are questionable”.

He added that he “didn’t want to go into detail”, but he highlighted the near-perfect race enjoyed by the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry shared by Estre, Vanthoor and Matt Campbell on the way to second place at the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round in June.

“Second place is not bad if you look at the competition out there, but on the other side it did hurt because the #6 car was close to what I would call a perfect race,” he explained. “Frankly speaking the #6 should have won the race.”

Podium: Race winner #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, Philip Hanson, second place #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell, third place #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The #6 entry was delayed only by a slow puncture early in the race, whereas the winning Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar satellite entry and the third-placed factory car from the Italian manufacturer suffered multiple delays.

Estre said after the race that the 14s margin by which the Ferrari won was deceiving: “It looks close on paper, but that’s because they made a lot of mistakes – I’m not pretending we were in contention to win.”

Laudenbach refused to draw comparison on the relative merits of the WEC and IMSA, in which Porsche is on course to retain its drivers’ and teams’ titles in 2025.

“There are too many differences between these series — different formats, different competitors — to compare,” he stated.

Porsche is in the third season of both its Hypercar and GTP programmes: it started racing the 963 with Penske at concurrently at the start of the 2023 WEC and IMSA seasons.