Is the 963 coming of age? Porsche hypercar wins 24 Hours of Daytona

The 2024 IMSA championship kicked off with a bang this weekend as Porsche Penske Motorsport took victory in the 963. Yep, watch out folks, Porsche might just be back.

The #7 963 of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden secured victory after a proper battle with the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R. The lead changed hands multiple times towards the end of the 24 hours, with Tom Blomqvist in the Cadillac pulling off a huge move as he and Nasr went either side of a helpless Ferrari 296 GT3 with just over an hour left on the clock.

Porsche then went on to regain the lead in the pitlane as a fire for the #12 Lexus RC F around 30 minutes from the end brought most cars in for their final stop, and Nasr was able to fend off Blomqvist brilliantly for the remainder of the race.

There was slight confusion as the chequered flag came out with over a minute still left on the clock, and in the end the Cadillac finished just 2.1 seconds behind the victorious 963. Third place went to the #40 Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz, Jordan Taylor, Colton Herta and one Jenson Button. We love endurance racing.

Era Motorsport took victory in an action-packed LMP2 class, while Ferrari followed up its Nürburgring 24 Hours success with the #62 Risi Competizione 296 GT3 winning the GTD Pro class. In Pro-Am, Winward Racing tasted success with the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

We’re told there was a record crowd in attendance for the 24hrs, and endurance racing really is going from strength to strength, but if Porsche finally gets its act together with the 963 we know from past experience that things could get rather one-sided. Yes, we’re looking at you 919…