Porsche Penske exits Le Mans race effort as automaker’s woes deepen

Posted by Talbot Payne on October 13, 2025

Braselton, Georgia — Auto racing is experiencing a Golden Age with motorsports benefiting from big investments from brands across the globe including Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Acura, Toyota, Aston Martin, Mercedes and more.

The beneficiaries are series as diverse as international sportscar racing — Formula One, NASCAR, and the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. But success depends on a healthy auto industry.

That reality was brought home at the season finale of IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Series this week when German powerhouse Porsche shocked the paddock by announcing it is pulling out of the 2026 World Endurance Championship hypercar championship and its signature race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.

Porsche’s move came as it faces revenue challenges after its bet on an electric future — under pressure from a European Union mandate — has failed to produce desired results and the Volkswagen-owned brand faces headwinds in the Chinese market where sales have declined.

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans - #5 Porsche Penske 963 leads the Whelan Racing Cadillac in a quest for Roger Penske's first Le Mans win.

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – #5 Porsche Penske 963 leads the Whelan Racing Cadillac in a quest for Roger Penske’s first Le Mans win. Porsche, Porsche

The decision impacts Detroit’s legendary motorsports racing enterprise, Team Penske, which manages Porsche’s WEC/Le Mans race program. Porsche said that it will continue to partner with Penske in the North American IMSA series, but the withdrawal from Le Mans complicates the hopes of Team Penske Chairman Roger Penske to add the coveted title to his trophy case.

“Porsche has been a strong partner with Penske for a variety of reasons both on race track and production world,” said Penske Racing President John Diuguid, who declined comment on Porsche’s WEC decision in an interview here. “Maintaining that relationship is very important to us and we’ve had great success — not just over the last three years — but historically as well. Our focus is to continue racing with Porsche.”

To that end, Duiguid said Penske is focusing on the task at hand — namely, it has the chance to win the driver’s and manufacturer titles both in IMSA and in the WEC in 2025.

“The (WEC) team is looking to finish on a high note, that’s the best thing we can do,” he said. “It’s definitely achievable. The structure for next year hasn’t been determined yet. We’re trying to win the championship here, then we have three or four months to figure out how we’ll go racing in 2026.”

Porsche narrowly missed notching its 20th Le Mans win this year (and Penske’s first) when it finished second to Ferrari. Porsche has built its brand on motor racing — in particular its dominance at Le Mans, where it has amassed more overall wins than any other manufacturer since its first win in 1970. Porsche Penske has led a renaissance in international prototype racing this decade that has attracted a historic number of manufacturers.

Porsche Penske leads the title quest in IMSA with driver Matt Campbell (right) seeking the driver's title.

Porsche Penske leads the title quest in IMSA with driver Matt Campbell (right) seeking the driver’s title. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Industry insiders here have no doubt Porsche will be back at Le Mans, but the millions needed to compete at the pointy-end of motorsports has taken a back seat to shoring up the brand’s soft bottom line.

“I’m surprised that Porsche would abandon its top international sportscar series because so much of their image is tied into motorsports,” said veteran motorsports writer and Hagerty Special Projects Editor Steven Cole Smith. “This is a real blow to WEC, though I’m glad the IMSA program was spared.”

Despite investing billions in battery technology to dovetail with the EU’s ban on gas engines by 2035, Porsche EV sales have fallen short of expectations. As a result, it’s reversed course on its promise to sell 80% electric vehicles by 2030. That means ploughing capital back into internal combustion engine technologies to make parallel model lines for EVs and gas power.

“We’re realigning Porsche across the board,” said VW CEO Oliver Blume last month in announcing the delay of electric plans. “In doing so, we want to meet new market realities and changing customer demands — with fantastic products for our customers and robust financial results for our investors.”

The decision to abandon the WEC/Le Mans came in conjunction with Porsche announcement this week of weaker sales in China, where Chinese automakers are winning over nationalist buyers with sales at the expense of foreign automakers.

The U.S. market is a bright spot for Porsche despite increased prices this year due to tariffs imposed on EU imports. Sales are up 5% so far this year. Racing insiders speculated that, if Porsche Penske wins the IMSA title this weekend that the team may still get an at-large bid to race at Le Mans next year.

Road Atlanta finale: #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor.

Road Atlanta finale: #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor. Brandon Badraoui, Lumen Digital Agency

“Everybody at Penske really wants a Le Mans title,” said Cole Smith. “But it’s a real crapshoot like any 24 hour race.”

European automakers’ struggles were foretold by Lynn Calder, CEO of English automaker Ineos in an interview with The Detroit News earlier this year. “It’s insane. It’s important for the industry to be regulated, (but) there is something about this particular industry that has gone a bit mad,” Calder said of European emissions regulations banning the sale of gas-engine cars. “In Europe and the UK right now they want it to be one-size-fits-all, and it’s breaking the industry.”

Porsche’s parent, VW, has pushed back on the EU’s mandates as its performance brand re-commits to an ICE lineup.

The current ICE Cayenne SUV will remain on sale alongside the upcoming electric Cayenne, as will the Macan ICE and EV SUVs. A new three-row SUV positioned above the Cayenne, once envisioned as electric-only, is being redesigned to include ICE powertrains. Initially planned to be EV-only, the next-generation Cayman/Boxster 718 sports car will also offer ICE engines.

Porsche sales worldwide in the first nine months of 2025 slid 6% from a year ago — foreshadowing back-to-back annual declines for a brand that has been a sales juggernaut. In 2024 Porsche delivered 310,718 vehicles, down 3% from 2023.

The body shell of an all-electric Porsche Taycan.

The body shell of an all-electric Porsche Taycan. Krisztian Bocsi, Bloomberg

A steep decline in China sales, a key growth market the last decade, is the main culprit. Porsche’s deliveries are down 26% there this year, paralleling declines for German peers BMW and Mercedes.

While pulling back on its expensive globe-trotting WEC/Le Mans series, Porsche will continue to support Porsche 911 GT3 and GT4 cars entered in competition across the globe. It will also continue its factory effort in the electric open-wheel series, Formula E, where it has won consecutive titles.

“Racing is part of their brand DNA and it is blended across the board with dealerships and even the main website,” said Diuguid. “Porsche builds race cars and its build high-performance cars for the road and they are definitely integrated.”

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

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