High-performance hybrid drives have enjoyed a long and extremely successful tradition at Porsche Motorsport. In 2010 and 2011, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid set new benchmarks at races on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife and at that time, there was no other comparable vehicle with a hybrid drive.
Between 2014 and 2017, the sports car manufacturer from Stuttgart underlined its expertise in the field of highly efficient, high-performance hybrid drives with the 919 Hybrid in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) LMP1 prototype class and achieved a hat trick of wins in a row at the Le Mans 24-hour classic. Porsche also clinched the manufacturers? and drivers? championship titles three times straight.
Porsche 2023 LMDh render. Credit: Porsche Motorsport
From 2022, LMDh cars will make up a new class in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Both championships are hugely significant for sports car manufacturers. After a lengthy evaluation phase, Porsche Motorsport received the order from the Executive Board at Porsche AG to build a vehicle to the LMDh prototype regulations for a campaign beginning in 2023.
Porsche welcomed the introduction of the LMDh prototypes when it was jointly announced by the organisers at ACO/WEC and IMSA back at Le Mans 2020. The racing cars, which tip the scales at around 1,000 kilograms, are powered by an internal combustion engine coupled with a spec hybrid syst...