Sportscar365’s Manufacturer of the Year

Sportscar365 is recognizing some of the top competitors and moments from 2024. Next up is the Manufacturer of the Year award, as selected by website staff.

Manufacturer of the Year – Porsche

Across prototype racing and GTs, on either side of the Atlantic, there was simply no other manufacturer that could boast the sheer breadth of achievement this year as Porsche.

This was the year that the 963 program properly came of age, with a victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona to kick off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season being followed closely by a long-awaited first win for the car in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the season-opening Qatar 1812km.

Those wins set the tone for the year ahead in both series, with Porsche Penske Motorsport racking up further wins at Long Beach, Watkins Glen and Road America en route to a commanding 1-2 in the GTP standings, led by Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, who also picked up the Michelin Endurance Cup title to boot.

Over in the WEC, the No. 6 crew of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer cemented their lead with three further-second place finishes, and another victory at Fuji put them virtually in the clear ahead of the Bahrain season finale, allowing them the luxury of a less-than-perfect race to round off an otherwise impeccable season.

That triumph completed an enviable double for Porsche in the WEC, as the Manthey PureRxcing squad had already wrapped up honors in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class, while the sister Manthey EMA car that was victorious in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Throw in a GTD Pro crown in the WeatherTech Championship for AO Racing, victory for Manthey in the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour, the Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers’ title, the Asian Le Mans Series GT crown and success in Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, and it was a truly vintage year for the Weissach marque in all regions of the world.

The only honor of note that escaped Porsche this year was the WEC manufacturers’ crown, which went the way of Toyota. But as the famous advertising poster celebrating the marque’s success in the 1983 edition of Le Mans has it… Nobody’s Perfect!

Honorable Mentions

***As noted above, Toyota denied Porsche the WEC manufacturers’ title in a thrilling finish to the season at Bahrain, as the Japanese manufacturer took its third win of a season in which the GR010 Hybrid was sometimes the quickest package and hugely off the pace at other times. Outside of the WEC, there was more success in Japan’s SUPER GT series as the GR Supra took six wins out of eight, while sister brand Lexus scored victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with the RC F GT3.

***Ferrari enjoyed another strong season across a range of disciplines, notably winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a second time with its 499P, as well as two WEC races in the LMGT3 class with the 296 GT3. On top of that, there was the GTD Pro victory for Risi Competizione in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as well as success in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS as AF Corse took the Endurance Cup title, with only bad luck denying the team victory in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Four wins out of six in the European Le Mans Series also went the way of 296 GT3 crews.

***Mercedes-AMG was again a force to be reckoned with in global GT3 competition with the venerable GT3 Evo. Winward Racing ensured IMSA GTD title honors and Fanatec GT Europe Sprint Cup for the Three-Pointed Star, while also putting up a strong showing in the DTM with Maro Engel. GruppeM Racing carried Engel to the FIA GT World Cup title in a thrilling encounter on the streets of Macau, while Rookie Racing, better known for its Toyota association, made it back-to-back titles in the top ST-X class of Japan’s Super Taikyu series.

***Aston Martin made itself one of the GT3 manufacturers to beat with its newly-introduced Vantage GT3 Evo, which took victories in both the WeatherTech Championship and the WEC with Heart of Racing Team, the 24H Spa with new customer team Comtoyou Racing and in SUPER GT with D’station Racing. The GT4 version of the Vantage was also victorious in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Team TGM.