Porsche Penske Motorsport wins FIA World Endurance Championship drivers’ title

Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor emerged victorious after a stunning season featuring two wins and a further three podiums, beating their closest rivals by 35 points after finishing the race in 11th.

The #5 car of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frédéric Makowiecki finished on the podium in Saturday’s race, finishing third after eight hours of fierce racing, before being promoted to second after a penalty for the #51 Ferrari.

The #5 drivers finished fifth in the drivers’ championship, with four podiums.

The title marks Lotterer’s first WEC championship victory since 2012, where he won the overall title. Estre last took a WEC title in 2018-19, winning the WEC GTE title with Porsche, while this is Vanthoor’s first.

A stunning effort from the whole team also saw Porsche finish second in the manufacturers’ championship behind Toyota.

Hertz Team Jota had already secured the FIA World Cup for private Hypercar teams before the finale.

The Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R won the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 teams at the penultimate round of the season in Fuji, Japan, with the title in the drivers' championship going to Alex Malykhin, Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm.

Story of the race

#6 car

The #6 car lined up in sixth for Saturday’s race as the best placed factory Porsche. Vanthoor took the wheel first, but struggled with low grip early in the race.

Despite dropping to 15th in the initial melee at Turn 1, he made up several places to run 12th before the first pitstop on lap 31 of 235.

Stopping on lap 63 for Estre to take over, the Frenchman continued Vanthoor’s progress, entering the top 10 by lap 86.

A fierce fight for ninth with the #83 AF Corse Ferrari ensued, with Estre getting ahead in a brilliant move at Turn 1 on lap 111 as his stunning pace matched those inside the top six.

Lotterer was next to drive, quickly embarking on a hot pursuit of the #8 Toyota for seventh place, though his charge was paused due to a full course yellow.

As racing resumed, he made it past the Toyota, which was suffering from a brake issue, though it recovered to retake the place.

After the fifth round of stops, the #6 car was running in sixth place, with its battle against the Toyota continuing after a safety car which lasted four laps.

Heading into the final hour, it was running in second, though a stop behind, and exited that stop into sixth.

Sadly, the car was then handed three five-second penalties across the closing stages - the first for a full course yellow violation, which dropped it to 11th; the second for an incident involving the #15 BMW at Turn 6; and the third for contact with the #36 Alpine at Turn 1.

Despite finishing 11th, it was enough for the #6 crew to clinch a dazzling drivers’ title.

#5 car

The #5 car lined up seventh, behind the sister #6 car, for Saturday’s race, with Campbell first to drive.

Despite initially dropping outside the top 10 due to a chaotic start to the race, a brilliant first stint from the Australian saw him charge from 12th to fourth, putting it right back into winning contention.

Campbell stopped to swap with Christensen on lap 62 of 235 and took a set of hard tyres, emerging into second as cars ahead cycled through their stops and running 4.8s behind the #51 Ferrari.

After the third stop, the #5 car was running in fourth, having been passed by the #7 Toyota inside the final corner.

But it bounced back to take third from the #12 Hertz Team JOTA car in a clever move aided by an LMGT3 car at Turn 1.

Stopping again on lap 124, Makowiecki was next to take the wheel, and continued to swap positions with the #12 car before a tussle with the #15 and #6 cars saw it running fifth.

Campbell took over on lap 186, charging ahead to reclaim third from the #15 car and then passing the sister #6 car with newer tyres after a full course yellow with just over an hour remaining.

Both the race and the manufacturers’ title battle all came down to a final fight against the #8 Toyota, which led from the #5 car.

The #5 was pushed wide at Turn 8, with #8 forced to give the position back before it quickly regained the lead.

Despite a determined drive from Campbell, the #8 Toyota claimed victory, with a late move from the #51 Ferrari seeing the #5 car finish third.

Customer racing

The #38 Hertz Team JOTA entry of Jenson Button, Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen finished in eighth, having lined up in 11th.

After quickly making it inside the top 10, the #38 car was running in seventh after two stops.

Continuing a strong performance, it was embroiled in several exciting battles, with a great fight with the #8 Toyota for eighth where it went on to finish.

The sister #12 car of Callum Ilott, Norman Nato and Will Stevens finished 14th, having started eighth, after a late spin dropped them down the order.

Leading the race early on, the team showed incredible pace as it fought out front, though it dropped to third after the first two stops.

It was back up to second and fighting the #51 Ferrari for the lead by lap 173, before the aforementioned spin on lap 190 dropped it to 14th, where it went on to finish.

The #99 Proton Competition entry of Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani finished 13th, having run high in the order early on.

Lining up fourth after a brilliant qualifying, clever negotiating of the early chaos saw it running in second after 10 laps behind the #51 Ferrari.

Though it dropped to fourth, the #99 car was still running close to the leaders early on, before a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags damaged its chances and dropped it outside the top 10, finishing 11th.

LMGT3

Having already clinched the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 teams last time out in Japan, the #92 car started Saturday’s race in fifth.

It was running as high as second early on, before dropping back in the middle stages to run fifth in the closely-fought LMGT3 class.

A difficult end to the race saw it finish ninth.

The Manthey EMA #91 car, driven by Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin, started in 14th after a tricky qualifying.

It was already up to eighth by lap 40, and was up to the podium places after its third stop, but fell back to sixth later on.

After some strong late battling, the #91 car finished fifth.

Saturday’s race marks the conclusion of the World Endurance Championship, which returns for the 2025 season in Qatar on February 28.