Penske Denied Proton Tie-Up for Porsche Hypercar Campaign

Photo: Porsche

Team Penske will not be involved with Proton Competition after discussions of a possible partnership between the two organizations that would have kept the Porsche 963 on the grid in the FIA World Endurance Championship next year.

The latest development comes from comments made by Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach to leading German publication Motorsport-Aktuell, which brings to an end any possibility of Penske having an interest in a full-season WEC entry.

“We agreed with Roger Penske not to pursue these plans any further,” Laudenbach told Motorsport-Aktuell.

“We examined all scenarios to help Roger Penske and came to the conclusion that a private team with Penske’s involvement could be seen as a Porsche return through the back door and would simultaneously dilute what we have achieved together in the world championship as a factory team over the past three years especially with a view to a factory effort at Le Mans.”

As previously reported by Sportscar365, Penske had been pursuing ways of ensuring that two Porsche 963s remain on the WEC grid amid Porsche’s factory withdrawal from the Hypercar class, as Porsche Penske Motorsport currently holds an automatic invite to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans via its IMSA GTP championship title.

However, the invite can only be used if the manufacturer meets the WEC’s minimum two-car Hypercar mandate in the world championship, as reaffirmed by ACO President Pierre Fillon to Sportscar365.

Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid ruled out an ‘independent’ Penske-run effort in the WEC to Sportscar365 during the Bahrain weekend, although talks had continued between Penske and Proton Competition team boss Christian Ried, on a possible collaboration that would fulfill the German privateer team’s need for extra resources in order to field two cars.

However, it now appears Ried’s squad is now on its own in securing the necessary budget to expand into what would need to be a two-car program in order to be accepted in the top class, with no other customer 963 prospects in the pipeline amid next Thursday’s deadline for entry requests.

The WEC is expected to release the 2026 entry list in early December, which would officially confirm whether Porsche Penske’s auto-invite could be used in next year’s French endurance classic.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John