Porsche Penske Motorsport battled against tough weather conditions in Austin to take its first FIA World Endurance Championship win of 2025 at the Lone Star Le Mans.
In a very wet, interrupted race, the #6 Porsche 963 fought hard for the whole six hours to claim the team’s first win since Fuji last season.
Tackling the elements, a red flag and several safety cars,
They started third, having been boosted one place by a penalty for another Hypercar, and after a stellar effort for the first four hours, took the lead with 1 hour and 45 minutes left on the clock.
From there, Estre brought the car home to the chequered flag at Circuit of the Americas for a well-earned victory - Campbell’s first in the WEC.
The sister #5 car of
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 driven by Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino and Nicolás Varrone, narrowly missed out on points in 13th place.
A challenging race for Manthey in the LMGT3 class had looked set to deliver a podium finish until the closing stages, where a split tyre strategy across the field unfortunately saw the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm car miss out.
Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera were set to take second before those who had gambled on the slicks benefitted in the final five minutes, and they went on to finish eighth in the class.
The Iron Dames #85 trio of Sarah Bovy, Célia Martin, Rahel Frey had raced a brilliant six hours, before the car was heartbreakingly retired in the closing moments.
Story of the race
With the Circuit of the Americas drenched by torrential rainfall, the race started behind the safety car at 1pm local time.
Disaster almost struck early on with a spin for the #5 car after touching a wet kerb, but Andlauer was able to keep going, though dropped some positions in the meantime.
After an hour of running behind the safety car, the red flag was waved, and the field returned to park on the start-finish straight.
There was a 35-minute stoppage before action resumed, though conditions remained poor with some standing water still on track.
The race went green for the first time with 4:10:00 left on the clock, with Andlauer immediately making progress with some confident driving to move from 13th to 10th.
Soon after, the safety car was deployed again with debris and barrier damage after both the #007 Aston Martin and the #36 Alpine aquaplaned off at Turn 2, the former ending up on the grass while the latter hit the wall.
With 3:46 left on the clock, the action resumed, with the #6 car defending third-place from the #50 Ferrari at Turn 1.
Behind, the #5 car moved up to seventh on the restart, before gaining another place from the #009 Aston Martin soon after to run sixth.
There was yet another interruption within the next half hour as the virtual safety car was introduced, allowing the #5 car to pit for a driver change, with Jaminet taking over from Andlauer.
The #6 car pitted from third soon after, with Campbell taking the wheel. The #83 Ferrari, which was running second, had a slow stop which boosted the Porsche to run second overall.
After a brief safety car period - the third of the race - at the halfway mark, action resumed, and both factory Porsche cars set about chasing down the factory Ferraris.
Amid the chase, the #5 car spun at the exit of Turn 9 and lost some ground to the #50 car ahead, which was third, but did not drop any positions and was able to close up again soon after.
The virtual safety car neutralised action once more with two hours left to go after the #33 LMGT3 car stopped on track between Turns 6 and 7, with the #7 Toyota in the gravel at Turn 13 at the same time.
This allowed Jaminet to pit and hand the #5 car over to Christensen, exiting the pits in sixth place, before the #6 car stopped from second for Estre to take over ahead of another safety car.
He took his chance on the restart, and with 105 minutes remaining, sent it up the inside of Turn 1 to take the lead of the race. A puncture for the #51 Ferrari, which had previously led, also boosted the #5 car to third.
Heading into the final hour, the #6 car led by six seconds, with the #5 car in fourth.
Unfortunately, with an alternate strategy and late damage, the #5 car was unable to hold that position, and ended the race in 10th.
But it was a triumphant day for the #6 car, crossing the line 8.5 seconds ahead of the second-placed #50 Ferrari.
Customer racing
The #99 crew lined up fifth for Sunday’s race, and when racing finally began, had a brilliant start, attempting a move on the #50 Ferrari for fourth while defending from behind.
Unfortunately, the challenging conditions and heavy rainfall saw the #99 car end up in the gravel at Turn 18 shortly after the 90 minute mark.
The team valiantly battled on, and despite having been a lap down and in 17th place, managed to fight back to 13th at the chequered flag.
LMGT3
The #92 car started 13th for the Texan race, driven initially by Hardwick, with the #85 car in 17th with Martin at the wheel.
The Manthey 1st Phorm trio had a tough start, but made fantastic progress to climb up the order.
By the time Pera took the wheel, the #92 car was running in 11th, and a great start to his stint saw them climb even further to fight the #46 BMW for sixth place.
With a tight field, that soon turned into fourth, and by the halfway mark the crew were in the fight for the podium positions with the #59 McLaren.
Heading into the final two hours, they were running as high as second, with a brilliant move from Lietz past the #54 Ferrari.
Sadly, while others gambled on the slick tyres despite the track remaining wet, the #92 crew opted to remain on wets and were soon passed by those on the alternate strategy.
They dropped several places as the asphalt dried and went on to finish in eighth.
The Iron Dames had a fantastic start once action got underway, running sixth around the two hour mark after a brilliant first stint from Martin.
Benefitting from chaos in the field, they were soon running fifth, close to the Manthey 1st Phorm sister car and the battle for third.
They continued to run high up the points-paying positions throughout, and pitted for slicks with 35 minutes remaining from seventh place.
But with just minutes left on the clock, the #85’s race was over, and the car was returned to the garage to retire.
Coming next
Just two rounds remain of this year’s eight-race World Endurance Championship.
In just three weeks, the series heads East for the penultimate outing of 2025, with the 6 Hours of Fuji at Japan’s iconic Fuji Speedway on September 28.
Nestled in the foothills of Mount Fuji, this fan favourite has been on the calendar since the WEC’s inception in 2012.
Porsche Penske Motorsport claimed victory here last year on the #6 car’s path to world championship glory, and will be gunning to repeat the feat in 2025.
Finally, the championship heads to Bahrain for the 8 Hours of Bahrain as the season reaches its climax.
Taking place on November 8, the battle will truly hot up at this desert track. It was at last year’s event which Porsche Penske Motorsport was crowned champions, while the #5 car finished second in the race.
With only two rounds left to take the fight to Ferrari and Cadillac, Porsche will be fighting hard for victory in the closing stages of 2025.
