The Latest Breaking News from Michael Christensen

Thomas Laudenbach, the German manufacturer’s motorsport boss, explained that having Porsche Penske Motorsport masterminding the two factory campaigns has played a key role in the upturn in the fortunes of the 963 LMDh programme that began in the second half of last year and have continued into 2024. 

Porsche has led every session so far in the lead-up to this Saturday’s Qatar 1812km season-opener, with either the factory Penske team or the customer Jota squad topping the charts across Prologue and Free Practice 1.

As movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer waved the green flag, poleman Pipo Derani (#31 Action Express Cadillac) led from the #7 Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr, who grabbed second place into Turn 1 from Bourdais’ Chip Ganassi-run Caddy.

The team moves up from the GTD category and will run in the Porsche 911 GT3 R known as ‘Rexy’ that sports its fan-favorite Tyrannosarus Rex livery.

Cameron will share the #7 Porsche 963 with Felipe Nasr next year, replacing Campbell in the Porsche Penske Motorsport team’s IMSA line-up.

Brendon Hartley was over 30s clear of the field after four hours of racing at the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday, aided by early drama for Mike Conway in the sister #7 car at the start.

The #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez took the chequered flag 39 seconds clear of the sister #8 car shared by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi, as the Japanese manufacturer celebrated its ninth WEC win at Fuji in 10 attempts.

The #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez took the chequered flag 39 seconds clear of the sister #8 car shared by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi, as the Japanese manufacturer celebrated its ninth WEC win at Fuji in 10 attempts.

Porsche has struggled to challenge Le Mans Hypercar manufacturers Toyota and Ferrari on its return to the top echelon of sportscar racing this year, managing only one podium with its 963 LMDh.

Porsche has struggled to challenge Toyota and Ferrari on its return to the top echelon of sportscar racing this year, with April’s Portimao round the only time its 963 LMDh car finished on the podium.

Antonio Fuoco set a best time of 1m35.649s at the end of the 90-minute session in the #50 Ferrari 499P LMH, a massive 2.6 seconds up on the sister #51 machine as the track rapidly improved late on.