Another year, and another running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is complete. Let’s look back at this year’s race.
One of motorsport’s most challenging endeavours, running over 350 laps of the 13.626km / 8.467mi Circuit de la Sarthe and covering over 5,000km / 3,200mi, the race is a true test of man and machine. The factory Porsche Penske Motorsport cars alone completed 1,159 laps of the course.
Full of trials and tribulations, just finishing the race is an enormous success. This year, all seven Porsche entries made it through the night to see the chequered flag.
After the full 24 hours, there was much to celebrate: The #6 car claimed the runner-up spot overall, while Manthey took its second consecutive LMGT3 victory with the #92 car.
‟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,” summarised 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 this year’s race over, here’s a look back at some of the highlights:
Battling from the back: The #6 car’s incredible charge
It truly was a rollercoaster of a week for the #6 car, driven by Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell.
After 2024 polesitter Estre put the car fourth in the first qualifying session, it was disqualified afterwards as it was below the required minimum weight.
From there, the fight back was on. On the first lap, Estre overtook seven of his rivals. Cutting through so much traffic was “a lot of fun actually,” the Frenchman said after the race.
“I don't know, I felt good,” he continued. “The car was feeling well, feeling good. I think maybe I had a little star over the car which gave me every time the right momentum, took the right decision in traffic, when I had to go to the right side and maybe some little magic sometimes happens in racing and I’m happy to have that.”
After around two hours, the #6 car had established itself in the leading group and from then on was well in the fight for the win.
It remained at the front of the field into the night, with the gap to the leader remaining around 20 seconds throughout. It had taken third place in hour eight, with Estre passing the #50 Ferrari, which had a penalty.
The battle with the Ferraris continued into Sunday morning, as the #6 was overtaken by the #50 Ferrari at the first Mulsanne chicane, trying to hit back at the second chicane but cutting the corner.
With six hours to go, the #6 car was just over a minute behind the leader in fourth place, running behind the three Ferraris.
Campbell said: “I think for sure in the last four hours, things started to change really quickly. The track temperature was rising quite rapidly at that point and for us, we stuck to the two-stint strategy at that point and committed to that more or less from early morning on.
“I think this was really beneficial for us. We see the two red Ferraris really struggling there in the last three hours with the triple stint to be able to manage their tyres, and for sure this is where we could see something was maybe possible to reach the podium.”
By hour 22, Vanthoor had brought that car within 2.5s of the #50 car and, with brilliant work from the pit crew, was able to take the position with a four-second advantage in what was now second.
Despite a brilliant effort from Estre in the final stint, he was unable to catch the leader, but secured a fantastic second place for the Porsche Penske Motorsport team.
After 24 intense hours of racing, they were just 14.084 seconds from scoring the 20th overall victory for Porsche.
Speaking after the race, Estre said that though the team knew it would be “very hard” to keep up with the speed of the Ferraris, the team “really didn't give up”.
“I have to say I'm really, really proud of what we did today,” he continued. “I don't know how it is from the outside, but from the inside it felt great to be part of this team and really to give it all and be better than the others.”
Campbell added: “For sure, with Kevin finishing he did a fantastic job, and I can only mirror what Kevin and Laurens have already said - we did a perfect race today, no mistakes, no contacts, which is obviously very rare in endurance racing over 24 hours, but we’ve got to be proud of what we’ve achieved today as a team and as a group.
“So close, we gave it absolutely everything. The others tried to give it to us a couple of times with the amount of penalties they had, but nevertheless we’ve got to be happy with what we’ve done.”
The #7 Porsche, driven by Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Mathieu Jaminet, crossed the line in seventh, with the #4 sister car of Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Pascal Wehrlein in ninth.
However, both cars were promoted one place by the post-race disqualification of the #50 Ferrari, boosting them to sixth and eighth in the final classification.
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963, shared by Neel Jani, Nico Pino and Nicolás Varrone, ended up in 13th place.
Repeating victory: Manthey takes second consecutive LMGT3 win
Team Manthey celebrated its second Le Mans victory in a row in the LMGT3 class, with the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm entry taking this year’s win.
Porsche factory driver Richard Lietz and his team-mates Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera crossed the finish line first in their Porsche 911 GT3 R, 33 seconds clear of their closest rival.
Starting in fifth, the trio initially lost positions in the LMGT3 starting field, but Hardwick and Pera were able to make progress before taking the lead shortly after hour five.
With Lietz next at the wheel and drivers swapping in and out from there, the trio consistently held their place in the top two, defending their lead from the 15th hour of the race until the chequered flag.
The Manthey 1st Phorm crew not only secured their sixth class victory overall, but also two out of two possible LMGT3 Le Mans victories for Manthey since the introduction of the new classification in the FIA World Endurance Championship after the Manthey EMA #91 car took victory last year, driven by Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin.
This win also puts the #92 car crew top of the drivers’ standings for the first time this season, five points clear of the #21 Ferrari.
For Lietz, who was competing at Le Mans for the 19th time, it was his sixth win in the GT class – all with Porsche.
He has driven with the manufacturer for almost two decades, and joins the ultra-select club of drivers with the most victories in the GT classes at Le Mans.
“To win as many times, first you need to be very old,” Lietz joked. “Le Mans has often been kind to me since 2007. Manthey offered me a new opportunity at a time when I was thinking of retiring.
“Here we are, two years later and two more wins… We have a fast car that is perfectly balanced to look after the tyres. It was a true, old-style endurance race and I love that.”
He added: “It was a great 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025. We got off to a strong start with Ryan. He drove fantastically. Fortunately, there were few safety cars, so the gap Ryan carved out was really valuable. Thanks to him, we had a cushion right up to the end, which we were able to defend to the finish line.
“Of all my Le Mans starts so far, I think this race was one of the fastest I've ever driven – with the right Le Mans spirit, endurance racing at its best, without many safety car phases. That was our strength, because we had a tyre that worked over three stints.
“In a race with lots of interruptions, it would have been much more difficult. We are extremely satisfied and have won Le Mans back-to-back – that's something special.”
‟I'm overwhelmed,” said 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 realise the second Le Mans victory in a row with the 911 GT3 R. Congratulations and many thanks to everyone!"
The two sister 911 GT3 R entries, running under the Manthey and Iron Dames banners respectively, finished the race in sixth and 16th place, with the Iron Dames' number 85 getting stuck in a gravel trap after a collision through no fault of its own and losing a possible place in the top 10 as a result.
Race results
Hypercar class:
2. Estre/Vanthoor/Campbell (FRA/BEL/AUS), Porsche 963 #6, +14.084 seconds 6. Andlauer/Christensen/Jaminet (FRA/DNK/FRA), Porsche 963 #5, -1 lap 8. Nasr/Tandy/Wehrlein (BRA/GBR/DEU), Porsche 963 #4, -1 lap 13. Jani/Pino/Varrone (CHE/CHL/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, -4 laps
LMGT3 class:
1. Hardwick/Lietz/Pera (USA/AUT/ITA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 341 laps 2. Heriau/Mann/Rovera (FRA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #21, +33.259 seconds 6. Au/Bachler/Hartog (HGK/AUT/NLD), Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, -1 lap 16. Bovy/Frey/Martin (BEL/CHE/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, -7 laps
