Porsche Penske Motorsport endures tough Lone Star Le Mans

After a tough Qualifying at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, the #5 car of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frédéric Makowiecki started the race in sixth, with the sister #6 car shared by Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor in 14th.

It was an emotional rollercoaster, with the #5 forced into a first lap pitstop and the #6 receiving a penalty for a yellow flag infringement, but both cars recovered to well within the points.

Several late penalties to rival teams played into the hands of Porsche, promoting the cars from seventh and eighth to their final positions, with the #6 car ahead of the #5.

Porsche is now second in the manufacturers' standings, 11 points behind leaders Toyota.

The #6 crew won the season-opener in Qatar, before finishing second at both Imola and Spa. The #6 car also finished fourth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, having lined up on pole, before a second-place finish last time out in Brazil. After six of eight races this season, Estre, Lotterer and Vanthoor lead the overall standings by 12 points.

The #5 car is now fourth in the standings, having taken pole at Qatar before finishing third - a result it repeated at Imola. It also took pole at Spa, finished sixth at Le Mans and took third place at the 6 Hours of São Paulo.

The #38 Hertz Team JOTA entry of Jenson Button, Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen finished 11th, while the sister #12 car of Callum Ilott, Norman Nato and Will Stevens retired with technical issues. The #99 Proton Competition entry of Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani finished 12th.

In the LMGT3 class, Manthey took another double podium, with the #92 PureRxcing entry in second, ahead of the sister #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Story of the race

#6 car

The #6 car lined up in 14th for Sunday’s race, with Vanthoor first to take the wheel. He quickly got up to speed, putting in the quickest lap of the race so far on lap six, with a 1m53.887s.

A strong first stint saw him cut through the field, and cars ahead pitting saw the #6 car briefly lead the race before it stopped on lap 34, exiting in ninth.

Lotterer took over for the second stage of the race and put in a brilliant charge, leaving the pits in 14th and making his way up to seventh, closing on the #15 BMW for sixth by the time he stopped again. His average lap time of 1m52.9s was the same as the leader at the time, and he exited the pits for his second stint in ninth.

The #6 car suffered rear contact on lap 108, but was able to continue unscathed. It was running in sixth when it was passed by the #8 Toyota at Turn 5 on its in lap, heading into the pits for Estre to take the wheel and exiting in 11th.

The full course yellow was deployed around the four hour mark, lasting for around two minutes while the stricken #94 Peugeot was removed from Turn 11. The #6 car was later handed a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement during this time.

The #6 was then embroiled in a tough fight with the #8 Toyota while trying an overtake for sixth, with the Porsche squeezed into the wall in an incident which the Toyota was later penalised for.

It was running in seventh in the closing stages before a penalty for the #20 BMW promoted it to sixth.

#5 car

The #5 car lined up sixth, with Makowiecki first to drive the Porsche 963.

He dropped three places in the Turn 1 melee, but was immediately forced to pit after the safety cone was left on the Pitot tube when leaving the grid, exiting in 17th.

Taking advantage of problems and pitstops for those ahead, the #5 car was up to 13th by lap 50, before stopping nine laps later for Christensen to start his first stint, exiting in 16th.

He was able to make further progress, taking 11th at Turn 1 on lap 72 before a full course yellow due to debris on track neutralised the action.

Once racing resumed, he was close in the fight for 10th against the #93 Peugeot, trying a move at Turn 1 before briefly running wide.

On lap 90, Christensen stopped early to hand Campbell the wheel, as he had been unable to use his water bottle during the stint.

It moved into the top ten at the final corner on lap 108 with a move past the #35 Alpine, stopping soon after with Campbell staying in the car and exiting 12th.

It gained four places as those ahead stopped, promoting it to eighth, and though another stop came soon after to drop it back to 11th, penalties for others promoted it to seventh at the end of the race.

Customer racing

It was a mixed day for Hertz Team JOTA, with the #38 car taking a point for the world championship standings while the #12 car failed to finish after technical issues.

The #38 car, driven initially by Hanson and sporting a Mobil1 50th anniversary livery, lined up 17th for Sunday’s race, though a strong first stint saw him gain five places.

The car suffered contact with the #777 D’Station Racing car in traffic at Turn 6, but continued without damage, and was running 10th after stopping.

It stayed around the points paying positions for the remainder of the race, and after a late stop, finished 10th to claim the final point.

The #12 car started 10th, with Stevens first at the wheel. It was running in seventh by lap 50, but after a pitstop, stopped on the pit exit.

Though the car was rebooted, it struggled back to the garage, where it remained before coming out 39 laps down.

Sadly it was shortlived, and despite the team’s repeated best attempts to fix the issues, the car was retired.

The #99 Proton Competition car lined up 16th, making progress throughout the race to finish just outside the points in 12th.

LMGT3

Manthey had another successful race in the US, with both cars on the podium.

The #92 car shared by Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm, which won last time out in Sāo Paulo, started fourth for Sunday’s race.

Though it dropped two places early on, it was back up to fifth by lap 26, taking the position from the #55 Vista AF Corse before making a pitstop, though it held its position after the stop.

By the first full course yellow, it was up to third, making up an additional position heading into the final three hours.

It crossed the line in second, and has now taken a podium at every race bar Le Mans, including two wins.

The sister Manthey EMA car, driven by Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin, started in 16th.

It made up two places off the line, before making up two more by the 90-minute mark. It was up another place to 13th when two hours had elapsed, and continued charging through the field to seventh at the halfway mark.

The team’s hard work paid off, with progress throughout to cross the line in third behind the sister car. The car previously had wins at Spa and Le Mans.

There are now just two rounds left of the World Endurance Championship: The 6 Hours of Fuji on September 15, and the season finale in Bahrain on November 2.

With determination to succeed and relentless teamwork, the Porsche Penske Motorsport team will continue its fight to the very end.