At the end of January, the day before the Daytona 24 Hours, Thomas Laudenbach was still trying to sow doubt about entering a third 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsport in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
"We've got the entry," the Porsche Motorsport vice-president said. "We are working on it, but I'm not confirming anything."
Nice try!
Without taking too much risk, we can confidently confirm that Porsche Penske Motorsport will accept the invitation it received after winning the IMSA SportsCar Championship title last year and will enter three 963s in the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 15-16, just like in 2023 and 2024.
This third car will be driven by Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr, who won the Daytona 24 Hours at the end of January as the full-time pairing in the team's #7 IMSA entry.
But who will join them?
"It won't be a problem," said Laudenbach. "As an example, we've got Formula E drivers, and some of them have already done endurance racing. We have so many other skilled GT drivers. So I think we have enough choices to make sure that, if it happens, we'll have a competitive third car."
Mathieu Jaminet has driven the extra entry, the #4 car (pictured above), in previous years, but he has moved over to the #5 - as part of a significant shake-up in driver line-ups for Porsche across the World Endurance Championship and IMSA - creating the hole for Porsche to fill at Le Mans.
As of this writing, we're told no final decision has been made. But let's just say that, at the very least, a strong favourite is emerging.
Vettel still on the radar?
When Sebastian Vettel went to MotorLand Aragon last March to test the 963, he had a clear idea in mind. The four-time F1 world champion has never hidden his desire to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours, and doing it with Porsche would give him a solid shot at success.
Is he still part of the equation? "I don't know," Laudenbach replied.
No, clearly, Vettel is no longer a credible option. Two brief test sessions with a car he's never raced are not enough to make him a serious contender for a team solely focused on winning. Not to mention his last race outing was the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November 2022.
Even with a marketing department willing to cover Vettel's salary, PPM seems unconvinced. If marketing makes the call, it would surely have to follow. But despite his enormous popularity and commercial appeal, Vettel no longer seems to be an option.
Da Costa, the safest bet?
A few weeks ago, the two most realistic candidates among Porsche's official drivers were Nico Mueller and Antonio Felix da Costa.
Mueller, who has competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours three times, was even considered for Daytona with Proton Racing's 963 to prepare him for Le Mans. But since that plan fell through, his chances have significantly reduced.
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His Portuguese counterpart, da Costa, appears to be an ideal candidate. He was frustrated when Porsche prevented him from racing in WEC in 2024 to focus on Formula E. With both the drivers' and manufacturers' titles secured in Formula E last year, things have since shifted.
Having competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours six times, da Costa contested all five rounds entered by the privateer Jota Porsche squad in 2023. After a year away from endurance racing, he impressed again at Daytona last month in Inter Europol Competition's Oreca 07 (pictured below), showing he hadn't lost his touch.
"After everything we've all been through last year [at Porsche], we've solidified ourselves as a team, and they've been good to let us do a couple of standout races, like Daytona," da Costa said, referencing an at-times strained relationship between himself and Porsche in 2024 that was eventually resolved in the summer.
"Le Mans is on the table as well. There is a planned test and some sim days around Jakarta [Formula E round, June 21], but with a bit of flexibility from the team here, it's more than doable.
"I have a couple of lined up seats in LMP2. I know there's an extra seat in the Hypercar here [at Porsche] in the third car.
"I've shown my desire to have that as well. We need to actually close this topic in the next couple of weeks to be honest.
"But I am grateful to them for considering it again because last year was just a handbrake, and now we are discussing as normal people and we can find a solution."
Yet while da Costa's chances of starting the Le Mans 24 Hours are real, he's more likely to end up in an LMP2 car.
Wehrlein's first Le Mans
Pascal Wehrlein is the frontrunner for the Porsche seat. It's no coincidence that he took part in the Daytona 24 Hours in the JDC-Miller privateer 963.
His debut in endurance racing was marked by diligence rather than brilliance, but he still performed admirably in his first endurance event.
The team finished sixth overall, after an untimely caution in the 19th hour put the car a lap down and later on a black flag for a tyre pressure infringement halted its march further.
Wehrlein had previously tested the 963 with Porsche Penske Motorsport at Sebring in October 2022, but hadn't competed in a proper endurance race before Daytona.
"When I joined Porsche [in 2021], there was no question of a dual programme," Wehrlein told The Race at Daytona. "But yes, I had endurance racing in the back of my mind. I want to take part in the Le Mans 24 Hours. When will the opportunity arise? Time will tell..."
And, of course, we asked him again about the possibility of driving the third Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in La Sarthe.
"Nothing is decided yet," he replied. "That [Daytona] was the first step to get me into it, and let's see what's next.
"It was an exciting experience. I really took it as it came; there wasn’t much time to prepare. It was great to have Gimmi [Gianmaria Bruni] as a team-mate because of his vast experience.
"We did what we could, and finishing sixth overall wasn't too bad. I wanted more, of course, but it was a good experience. Now I have a better sense of racing in traffic with very different cars and driver skill levels. It was good fun."
The 2015 DTM champion, with 39 Formula 1 starts to his name, isn't hiding his ambition. He wants to race in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
And Porsche seems equally interested. A Formula E champion, former F1 driver, German national...look no further: barring a major turnaround, Wehrlein will join Tandy and Nasr in June.
What could work against the Formula E stars
How would Porsche's Formula E team feel about one of its two drivers taking part in the Le Mans 24 Hours?
"If this [Wehrlein at Le Mans] is going to happen, it will be a busy and challenging time for the whole team and also for the driver, who does such a programme," said Florian Modlinger, Porsche's director of factory motorsport in Formula E.
"I always said double programmes are not possible," he added. "Single races could be an option, and there we have to see how we could manage, yes or no.
"I'm confident that the whole team and Pascal could, but I will not allow any compromise on the Formula E project and on the Formula E season this year. This means the clear priority is Formula E."
Porsche's Formula E title defences so far
Drivers' championship
3 da Costa (-29 from lead)
8 Wehrlein (-43 from lead)
Teams' championship
3 Porsche (-4 from lead)
Race results
Da Costa: 2nd, 2nd, 9th, retired
Wehrlein: retired, 3rd, 15th, 8th
Modlinger's position is very understandable, even more so after the last Formula E round at Jeddah. The low number of points scored by da Costa and Wehrlein last week could potentially count against them, initiating a Formula E exclusivity strategy within Porsche.
The Le Mans fortnight is topped and tailed by the Shanghai (May 31 - June 1) and Jakarta (June 21) Formula E races meaning that farming out either could be seen as detrimental to the Formula E campaign - especially in light of a new threat from Nissan and its customer team McLaren, which now head Porsche in the title chase.
It's a safe bet that this won't change anything and for good reason. What options would be available to Porsche Penske Motorsport? Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden know the car, but both are unavailable due to a clash of dates with IndyCar.
And the test sessions in which Thomas Preining participated are not enough to make him a viable candidate.
