Penske Running “Fully Updated” Porsche 963s at Daytona Test

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

The pair of factory Porsche 963s are running “fully updated” at this week’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway according to Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid.

Porsche is understood to have been the only LMDh manufacturer to roll out with updates for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship and/or IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship seasons, with Acura, BMW and Cadillac all opting not to pursue ‘EVO Jokers’ that come with varying degrees of the re-homologations of components.

“I think we’re pretty far in the process,” Diuguid told Sportscar365.

“On the PPM cars — the customers are not here this week — we’ve brought forward all of the updates that have been requested and discussed and provisionally approved with IMSA, the FIA and ACO.

“The cars are fully updated here, if you want to call it that way. We’re moving forward with it.”

Diuguid wouldn’t confirm if the updates have all been conditionally approved by the sanctioning bodies but indicated that the cars are in the specification they intend to be raced for the 2024 seasons.

“I don’t know the way to describe it whether it’s conditionally [approved] or whatever but we know what’s been not approved and we know what’s been approved,” he explained.

“We basically brought forward and said, ‘This is how we expect to go racing in 2024.'”

Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle, who is not on-site at Daytona this week, previously told Sportscar365 that the manufacturer was pursuing updates focused around improved drivability and reliability.

He also said not to expect any visual changes to the car, with all of the updates underneath the unchanged bodywork.

“It’s across the board but the main focus is reliability updates because that’s the biggest thing we need to clean up for this season is all reliability,” Diuguid said.

“We haven’t brought forward any performance-related updates of any kind.”

As is the case with LMH cars, manufacturers are permitted to use up to five jokers through the homologation period, which is currently set to 2027 for both platforms.

Diuguid wouldn’t be drawn on the number of jokers Porsche has utilized for its updates.

“That would be more of a question for Porsche and Urs to answer,” he said.

Porsche Penske is taking a two-pronged approach to the Daytona test, with the No. 7 Porsche of Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden focused on long runs.

“Our achilles heel last year was reliability in the endurance races, whether it was from accidents or car failures,” Diuguid explained.

“But today we’re just focused on trying to get mileage, specifically on the 7 car; they’ve just been running long runs every single session trying to get mileage.

“We had a test scheduled in November but it got canceled due to the repaving on the back straightaway.

“So we’re trying to focus on accruing mileage.

“We did some mileage at Sebring test in early November and basically just carried the car and the parts over, which is the 7 car, and that will continue in COTA as well.

“We’re trying to meet an endurance mileage goal across three events.”

Diuguid explained that the No. 6 car, featuring Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre, has been focused on “race performance.”

“Obviously Daytona, being fast is important. But we’re focusing on race performance there,” he added.

Porsche Penske’s test at Circuit of The Americas next week, hosted by Lamborghini Iron Lynx, will be in WEC trim but utilizing the same No. 7 car that’s currently testing at Daytona.

Diuguid said that the team is planning to return to COTA in mid-summer for additional testing ahead of September’s return of the Lone Star Le Mans.

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