Intercontinental GT Challenge: Suzuka
Absolute Racing came away with a strong showing in the 1,000-kilometer endurance at Suzuka, capping six and a half hours of flat-out racing on Japan’s legendary Formula 1 circuit. Porsche factory aces Kévin Estre (France) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), teamed with fellow Frenchman Patrick Pilet, powered to second place overall. Their sister car, another Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by the same Asian partner team, brought home silverware of its own—taking the Bronze Cup win with Richard Lietz (Austria), Antares Au (Hong Kong), and rising Dutch talent Loek Hartog behind the wheel.
Strong Start
After strong pace in practice, all eleven Porsche 911 GT3 R entries started the Japanese endurance classic from promising grid positions. Initially, the #6 car of Origine Motorsport made a strong impression. After two and a half stints, Laurin Heinrich (Germany), Alessio Picariello (Belgium), and Bastian Buus (Denmark) were running second. Then came a major setback: on the fast Grand Prix layout, the underfloor of the 911 sustained damage due to the high loads. The car, running in historic Kremer-Porsche colors, was unable to maintain front-running pace and finished P5 in round four of the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC). The identical machine of Phantom Global Racing crossed the line eighth.
Absolute Racing, meanwhile, executed a flawless run. At the wheel of the #7 Porsche in “New Man” livery, Estre/Vanthoor/Pilet delivered a perfect performance, finishing just 13.647 seconds behind the winning BMW in second place overall. The sister car dominated the Bronze Cup. In the final stages, Loek Hartog even fought for an overall podium, missing out by a mere 0.263 seconds to finish fourth. The Dutchman shared the cockpit with works driver Richard Lietz and Antares Au.
1,000 km Suzuka Porsche race results
P1. Marciello/van der Linde/Weerts (ITA/RSA/BEL), BMW #32, 170 laps
P2. Estre/Vanthoor/Pilet (FRA/BEL/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #7, + 13.647 seconds
P3. Sims/Catsburg/McLaughlin (GBR/NLD/NZL), Corvette #2, +45.859 seconds
P4. Lietz/Hartog/Au (AUT/NLD/HKG), Porsche 911 GT3 R #10, +46.122 seconds
P5. Picariello/Heinrich/Buus (BEL/DEU/DNK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #6, + 1:12.800 minutes
P8. Bachler/Boccolacci/Niederhauser (AUT/FRA/CHE), Porsche 911 GT3 R #23, + 1:19.457 minutes
P11. Bohn/A. Renauer/R. Renauer (DEU/DEU/DEU), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, + 1:30.305 minutes
P12. D’Silva/King/Müller (MYS/GBR/DEU), Porsche 911 GT3 R #61, – 1 lap
P14. Nagai/Kotaka/Shinohara (JPN/JPN/JPN), Porsche 911 GT3 R #18, – 1 lap
P19. Li/Fjordbach/Hongli (CHN/DNK/CHN), Porsche 911 GT3 R #86, – 2 laps
P23. Kim/Jiatong/Arrow (KOR/CHN/NLD), Porsche 911 GT3 R #33, – 4 laps
P24. Fong/Jingzu/Menzel (CHN/CHN/DEU), Porsche 911 GT3 R #13, – 8 laps
P27. MacPherson/Denyer/Porter (AUS/AUS/AUS), Porsche 911 GT3 R #51, – 26 laps
Herberth Motorsport’s Porsche finished third in Bronze at Suzuka. In a grid of 38 starters, all eleven Porsches reached the checkered flag after six and a half hours. After four of five races in the 2025 season, Porsche sits second in the manufacturers’ standings with a mathematical shot at the title heading into the season finale. The showdown takes place on October 18 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, running over eight hours.
Gallery
Above contents © 2025 Porsche AG / Intercontinental GT Challenge, reviewed and edited by Rex McAfee
