Porsche approved a project in 1995 to develop a car for the American IMSA championship, in the World Sport Cars (WSC) category, which was also chosen as the top category by the ACO, the organisers of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Development of the car was entrusted to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, Jaguar's historic partner, with whom the British brand had triumphed at Le Mans in 1988 and 1990. However, the budget was insufficient to create a completely new car, and the British team used an existing ‘advanced’ chassis that had become available after the end of the partnership with Jaguar. This chassis was that of the XJR-14, adapted to the new LMP1/WSC regulations, requiring an open two-seater, equipped with a supercharged 3-litre Porsche engine.

Two cars were built and tested with the aim of competing in the Daytona 24 Hours in February 1995, but this would not be the case: shortly after the preliminary tests, the IMSA technical committee changed the regulations by imposing a smaller flange on the intake and an increase in the minimum weight, changes that made the car unfit for competition. Porsche was forced to cancel the programme and put the cars back in reserve. A second opportunity presented itself a year later, on the eve of the 1996 season, as Team Joest Racing, with whom Porsche had a long and successful partnership (including two victories at Le Mans in the late 1970s), asked to be allowed to use the two cars for the next 24 Hours of Le Mans and to carry out the necessary upgrades themselves.

While the German manufacturer preferred to rely on its new 911 GT1, which, thanks to the new regulations, was able to compete on the same terms as the prototypes, the company was not unwilling to enter a car bearing part of the company's name in the premier class. For the next two years, the TWR/Porsche WSC-95 is its sole source of consolation.