The Porsche Penske Motorsport team secured crucial points in the World Endurance Championship despite a challenging 6 Hours of Spa.
The #6 car, driven by Kévin Estre, Pascal Wehrlein and Laurens Vanthoor, took two points for finishing ninth in Saturday’s race - the last round before the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
The #5 car, shared by Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Nico Müller, narrowly missed out on points after suffering damage from contact on lap one.
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 was forced to retire early on with a transmission issue.
In the LMGT3 class, the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm entry of Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera finished seventh for a good haul of points.
The #85 Iron Dames car, driven by Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Célia Martin, also took a point in 10th.
Story of the race
After a difficult qualifying session on Friday, with both cars struggling for pace, the #6 car lined up in 12th, ahead of the sister #5 car in 13th.
Andlauer took the wheel of the #5 car to start, making up three places early on the first lap before suffering contact from the #38 Cadillac at Les Combes. The Porsche 963 was left with damage to the right-hand rear, but was able to continue, with the Cadillac handed a drive-through penalty for the incident.
Behind, the #6 car also made up places to run 9th, gaining three places in six laps.
Despite his car’s damage, Andlauer was able to begin to regain places, and was back up to 13th after 30 minutes.
Its progress was halted by the full course yellow prompted by the Proton Competition car’s terminal issue, with both cars stopping soon after.
The #6 car exited in 13th, with Wehrlein at the wheel closely followed by the #5 car now driven by Müller, though another full course yellow came soon after.
The pair climbed through the field together, running 11th and 12th after a penalty for the #15 BMW, before breaking into the top 10 in the third hour of running.
While both cars were nudged from behind amid some fierce racing, they were able to hold onto points-paying positions until another stoppage, this time a safety car after a crash at Les Combes for the #95 United Autosport LMGT3 car.
With two hours remaining, Christensen took over in the #5 car, with Estre driving the #6 car’s next stint.
The #5 car was running 10th, with the #6 car exiting at the back of the bunched-up Hypercar field due to another VSC, followed by a safety car.
Andlauer returned to the wheel of the #5 car with two hours remaining, and was able to make up several places within the following hour to run sixth.
Similarly, the #6 car progressed from 13th to fourth, with furious racing up and down the field.
After running as high as third during hour five, the #5 car pitted with an hour remaining, exiting in 12th with Christensen driving.
With other pitstops ahead, the #5 car was able to make up several more places to finish 12th.
The #6 car was forced to stop late on for a final splash of fuel, but managed to finish inside the top 10 to score valuable points.
Customer racing
It was a tough day at Spa for the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 crew of Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino and Nicolás Varrone.
Lining up 14th for Saturday’s race, the team’s race ended within the first hour after suffering a terminal transmission issue.
The car stopped on track between Turns 5 and 6, and despite Pino getting the car back to the garage, it stayed there for the rest of the day.
LMGT3
In the LMGT3 class, both Manthey Racing-run entries finished inside the top 10 for a solid points haul.
The #92 Manthey 1st Phorm entry lined up eighth for Saturday’s race, with Hardwick first to drive.
It was making strong progress when contact at Turn 1 from the #54 Ferrari, which had tried a move up the inside, sent it into a spin and dropped it to 12th.
Pitting early, strong race pace meant the crew managed to run fifth at the end of hour one, before a stop under the virtual safety car. Unfortunately, the team was handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane.
It then suffered more damage in hour three after contact with the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes, for which the team received a 10-second penalty.
Despite that, the team bounced back to run inside the top three of the class, leading into hour five as others stopped.
A late stop in the final 30 minutes resulted in the team finishing seventh.
The #85 Iron Dames car, driven by Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Célia Martin, lined up 13th.
Unfortunately, it was handed a five-second penalty for not running across the grid markings during the start, to be served at its next stop.
Undeterred, Martin put in a fantastic first stint to remain well in contention inside the top seven.
The whole field diving into the pits around hour four reshuffled the order, with the #85 car dropped to ninth, while also reporting a strong smell of fuel in the car.
Despite this, the trio went on to finish in 10th to score a valuable point.
Le Mans awaits
The next round - the fourth of this year’s World Endurance Championship - is the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Taking place on June 14 and 15, Porsche will be fighting for its 20th overall win at the French endurance classic.
