Porsche Penske Motorsport claimed crucial points in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the 6 Hours of Imola, as the Manthey 1st Phorm team took its first LMGT3 win of the season.
The #6 car, driven by Matt Campbell, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, finished eighth in the six-hour race on Sunday to score four points.
Having started tenth, the #6 car led for parts of the race on an off-set strategy, but exited into eighth after its final pitstop.
After a difficult weekend, the #5 car shared by Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Mathieu Jaminet narrowly missed out on the points, finishing 11th.
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 shared by Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino and Nicolás Varrone was in 14th as the sole customer Porsche 963.
In the LMGT3 class, the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm entry of Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera claimed a stellar win despite a fierce challenge from the #46 BMW in the closing laps.
The #85 Iron Dames car, driven by Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Célia Martin, also scored valuable points in eighth.
Story of the race
The Porsche Penske Motorsport team had a tough qualifying on Saturday, with the #6 car making it through to Hyperpole to line up 10th, while the #5 started in 12th.
The pair avoided contact in the chaotic opening stages, with the #6 running in 12th with Vanthoor at the wheel, two places ahead of the sister car driven by Andlauer.
The #5 car was soon embroiled in a fierce battle with the #50 Ferrari, and a small mistake at Piratella meant the home team made it past up the inside at Acque Minerali.
That same car soon posed a threat to the #6 car up ahead, and traffic at Tosa allowed the Ferrari through at Rivazza, with the #6 running in 13th.
A full course yellow soon after, prompted by an incident in the LMGT3 class, neutralised the action.
Two lots of bad luck came soon after for the #5 car in the form of a five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement, before it was pushed onto the grass by the #94 Peugeot, though Andlauer was able to stay out of trouble.
Both cars stopped around the one-hour mark, with the #6 out in 10th and the #5 in 14th.
The #6 quickly made up several places as those ahead were penalised, suffered from contact or made stops, and was soon running eighth 35 seconds off the leader. Not long later, it was up to fifth, after passing a damaged #20 BMW which had suffered contact from the #7 Toyota.
Another full course yellow came soon after, and with stops for both cars, the pair were running seventh and eighth, with the #6 ahead.
Heading into hour four, the #6 car was up to fifth on track, before further stops saw it boosted to third, benefitting from a clean race and both penalties and contact for its rivals.
With the #83 and #51 stopping, the #6 was promoted to the lead, with Campbell at the wheel.
Sadly, the #51 Ferrari had quicker pace, and despite a stellar defensive effort from Campbell, the #6 car was passed at Rivazza before another pause in the action courtesy of a virtual safety car.
The #6 car pitted from second under that VSC, with Estre next in the #6 car, before the #5 car stopped soon after for Christensen to take the wheel from Jaminet and exit in eighth.
A fantastic stint from Estre kept the #6 Porsche in the fight for as long as possible, but both Ferrari and Toyota had superior pace and he exited his next stop in 12th, with the #5 in ninth.
Heading into the final hour, both cars were inside the top 10, and though the #6 was in the podium positions into the closing stages, its final fuel stop saw it exit the pits into eighth, where it finished.
The #5 car narrowly missed out on the points, finishing 11th.
Customer racing
The #99 Proton Competition car started Sunday’s race in 14th, with Jani first at the wheel.
Though it dropped a couple of positions in the opening stages, it was running up two spots in 12th at the close of the first hour.
It was making strong progress into the top 10 before being cycled back by stops, and then running wide onto the gravel at Tamburello to lose a position to the #35 car.
The #99 car continued to run just outside the top 10 for the remainder of the race, finishing in 14th.
LMGT3
The #92 Manthey 1st Phorm entry took its first win at Imola, fending off a last lap challenge from the #46 BMW to take victory.
Hardwick took the wheel for the opening stint, starting from seventh and quickly gaining positions to run fourth at the end of the first hour.
Having dropped to the back of the points as the stops cycled through, the #92 fought back up the order to run third at the end of hour three, with a strong stint from Pera.
Lietz took the wheel for the final stage of the race, taking the lead of the class soon after the five-hour mark.
From there, he remained in control, despite Kelvin van der Linde rapidly closing in the last few laps.
Though he made several attempts to pass on the final two laps, Lietz held fast to take victory.
The #85 Iron Dames car was driven by Martin first, and was handed a drive-through penalty in hour one after unfortunate contact with the #37 TF Sport car at Tamburello, dropping it back to 17th.
Steady progress throughout the next few hours saw them chip away at their rivals, and they were up to 11th at the end of hour four.
Pitting slightly ahead of the rest of the field soon after put them into the points, and they went on to finish eighth.
The fight continues
The World Endurance Championship returns for its third round of the 2025 season with the 6 Hours of Spa at Belgium’s Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on May 10.
Last year’s event was a rain-interrupted thriller, won by the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963.
The 6 Hours of Spa is the final challenge before the highlight of the season: The 24 Hours of Le Mans, on June 14-15.
