DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Porsche fanned the flames of the future Saturday by unveiling the first images of its LMDh car that will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship beginning in 2023 and naming multi-time IMSA champions Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr as factory drivers for the project.
The announcements came during Porsche’s annual Night of Champions honoring the German marque’s global motorsports accomplishments for the current year and previewing the season ahead. The event was held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.
Photos of Porsche’s LMDh were highly anticipated since they are the first images of an actual race car from any of the five manufacturers committed to competing in the WeatherTech Championship’s new top-tier prototype class when it debuts in 2023. Porsche is partnering with Team Penske and chassis manufacturer Multimatic on the project under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner. The team will compete in both the WeatherTech Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“We are working all out with our partner Penske on the development of the new LMDh prototype and collaborate closely with the chassis manufacturer Multimatic at all times,” said Thomas Laudenbach, manager of Porsche Motorsport. “In January, we will begin intensive testing to ensure that we are optimally prepared for our 2023 competition debut.”
The team will have a pair of championship-winning drivers at their disposal in Cameron and Nasr. Cameron, the 33-year-old from Newport Beach, California, is a three-time titlist in the WeatherTech Championship. He won the GTD title in 2014 with Turner Motorsport, the 2016 Daytona Prototype international (DPi) crown with Action Express Racing and the 2019 DPi championship driving for Team Penske. He has 15 career IMSA race wins.
Nasr won DPi championships for Action Express Racing in 2018 and 2021. The 29-year-old from Brasilia, Brazil, who also raced in Formula One in 2015-16, has seven career IMSA victories. He is ready to get started on his Porsche journey, beginning with the upcoming season with Pfaff.
“I’m very excited to be joining the Porsche family and team Pfaff ahead of the 2022 season,” Nasr said. “I always love going to Daytona and having a shot of winning the Rolex 24; this time will be completely new to in the GTD PRO class. Hopefully, it will a smooth transition and a fast learning process with the help of my well-experienced teammates Matt and Mathieu.”
In addition to the LMDh news, Porsche revealed that the 2021 WeatherTech Championship GTD title-winning team, Pfaff Motorsports, will compete in the WeatherTech Championship’s new GTD PRO class in 2022, running a Porsche 911 GT3 R for full-season drivers Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet. Nasr will join the No. 9 “Plaid Porsche” for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races.
And Jan Heylen, who laid claim to a pair of IMSA championships in 2021, was awarded the prestigious Porsche Cup that goes to the most successful private Porsche driver of the year.
Volker Holzmeyer, the new president and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA), also announced that Troy Bundy was named PMNA’s Motorsport One Make and GT Sports Manager. In the role, Bundy will assume responsibility for series oversight of all one-make operations, including the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands and multiplatform GT programs in IMSA.