Porsche Podiums at Le Mans 24

The number 6 Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsport finished the 24 Hours of Le Mans in second place. In a highly exciting battle for overall victory, Matt Campbell, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor were just 14.084 seconds behind the victorious Ferrari. After 387 laps, the other two identical hybrid prototypes of the factory team finished seventh and ninth. In the LMGT3 category, Team Manthey celebrated its second-class victory in a row after 2024 with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The 24-hour classic in Le Mans is one of the greatest challenges in motorsport worldwide. In front of 332,000 spectators during the race week, the competition in the top class was thrilling right to the end. In summery conditions, the Porsche 963 with the number 6 had to start from the back of the Hypercar grid. However, this did not stop Matt Campbell from Australia, Kévin Estre from France and the Belgian Laurens Vanthoor. On the first lap, the hybrid prototype from Weissach overtook seven of its rivals. After around two hours, the Porsche 963 had established itself in the leading group and battled for overall victory at Le Mans until the very last of 387 laps in total. After 24 intense hours of racing, only 14.084 seconds were missing for the 20th overall triumph for the record winner Porsche.

Tire damage and penalties during the night

The sister car with the number 5 was also involved in the battle for the lead for long stretches. Julien Andlauer took the lead on the first lap from third on the grid. However, the Frenchman, his compatriot Mathieu Jaminet and the Dane Michael Christensen were set back by tire damage and penalties during the night – in the end, the trio finished seventh. The number 4 Porsche crossed the finish line two positions behind them. At the wheel of the third 963, Briton Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr from Brazil alternated with reigning Formula E world champion Pascal Wehrlein. The German impressed on his Le Mans debut with extremely fast and consistent lap times.

Race results

Hypercar class:

P1. Kubica/Ye/Hanson (POL/CHN/GBR), Ferrari #83, 387 laps
P2. Estre/Vanthoor/Campbell (FRA/BEL/AUS), Porsche 963 #6, +14.084 seconds
P3. Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi (ITA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #51, +28.487 seconds
P7. Andlauer/Christensen/Jaminet (FRA/DNK/FRA), Porsche 963 #5, -1 lap
P9. Nasr/Tandy/Wehrlein (BRA/GBR/DEU), Porsche 963 #4, -1 lap
P14. Jani/Pino/Varrone (CHE/CHL/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, -4 laps

LMGT3 class:

P1. Hardwick/Lietz/Pera (USA/AUT/ITA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 341 laps
P2. Heriau/Mann/Rovera (FRA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #21, +33.259 seconds
P3. Van Rompuy/Andrade/Eastwood (BEL/AGO/IRL), Corvette #81, +1.11.710 minutes
P6. Au/Bachler/Hartog (HGK/AUT/NLD), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, -1 lap
P16. Bovy/Frey/Martin (BEL/CHE/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, -7 laps

‟Pioneering spirit, courage and sportsmanship are part of Porsche’s self-conception. That’s why we never gave up and fought with determination right to the end. We did a lot of things right in the final phase. That made it very exciting once again,” summarized Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President, Porsche Motorsport. ‟We got the absolute maximum out of our number 6 Porsche and certainly have nothing to hide. During the night nobody would have expected us to finish on the podium. We can be very proud of that. Of course, we also look back on the result with a teary eye: in the end, we were just 14 seconds short of overall victory. But the joy and the thanks to everyone who was involved outweigh this. Congratulations to our Manthey customer team on their second Le Mans class victory in a row!”

‟With three cars in the top ten, we clearly showed what this organization is capable of. Our factory team never gave up in the battle for overall victory. A big thank you to everyone in the WEC team in Mannheim, the IMSA team from the USA and our top people in Weissach – it was great work from everyone together,” says a delighted Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. ‟A big thank you also goes to our chassis partner Multimatic and all the other partners who make this program so strong. Anyone who finishes second after 24 hours with a deficit of just a few seconds certainly has nothing to be sorry about. Our Porsche 963 has once again underlined its status as the most successful LMDh car since the introduction of the regulations.”

‟An absolutely incredible race: it stayed dry throughout, there was almost always a clear run and everyone put the pedal down like crazy,” describes Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. ‟Our three factory cars ran without any technical flaws. We had to take care of car number 6 the least in the pit lane, which is why it achieved the best position within our team. We performed flawlessly; we just lacked a little speed in certain phases of the race. We’ll be back even stronger next year.”

500 euros per lap for “Racing for Charity”

The three Porsche 963 of the factory team completed a total of 1,159 laps on the 13.626-kilometer track during the race. As part of the ‟Racing for Charity” initiative, Porsche is donating 500 euros for every lap completed. The total amount will go to the two children’s aid organizations, Interplast Germany e.V. and Kinderherzen retten e.V.. Porsche has received the ‟Sustainability Award” from Le Mans organizer ACO for its commitment, as it did in 2023.

Camouflaged Cayenne Sets New Record

The Porsche 963 of the Proton Competition customer team drove an unremarkable 24-hour race. The number 99 car with Swiss driver Neel Jani, Nico Varrone from Argentina and Chilean driver Nico Pino was unable to keep up with the pace of the works cars for long stretches and finished the endurance classic in 14th place overall.

Porsche 911 GT3 R from Manthey 1st Phorm wins the LMGT3 class

Team Manthey celebrated its second Le Mans victory in a row in the LMGT3 class. Porsche factory driver Richard Lietz from Austria, American Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera from Italy crossed the finish line first in the Porsche 911 GT3 R under the Manthey 1st Phorm name. For Lietz, who was competing at Le Mans for the 19th time, it was his sixth success with a Porsche in the GT category. With now 112 class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche remains the most successful manufacturer.

‟I’m overwhelmed,” cheers Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R. ‟An outstanding team has grown together. The decisive factors included perfect cooperation, proven routines and the unbridled belief in success – this was the only way Manthey could realize the second Le Mans victory in a row with the 911 GT3 R. Congratulations and many thanks to everyone! I’m already looking forward to next weekend: then the next 24-hour race is on schedule at the Nürburgring.”