Porsche shines in the 24-hour race: second place and charity success!

Porsche shines in the 24-hour race: second place and charity success!

The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans has entered the history books and the Porsche factory team has once again turned heads at this prestigious race. The two identical hybrid prototypes, the Porsche 963, achieved seventh and ninth place after 387 laps. After a tough competitive performance, the team was only 14.084 seconds short of the coveted overall victory. Porsche also recognized this and celebrated the best result of the 963 model in this race, which has been steadily gaining in importance since its premiere in the World Endurance Championship in 2023. Porsche reports that The number 6 Porsche 963 was driven by drivers Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell and fought its way from the back of the grid in the Hypercar class to the lead.

The race of the Porsche 963 was particularly impressive, as it reached the leading field after just two hours and fought for overall victory until the last lap. The #5 sister car, however, faced multiple punctures and penalties, resulting in a seventh-place finish. In addition, the Porsche 963 with number 4, driven by Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr and Pascal Wehrlein, also had a strong performance, but had to miss out on a podium place.

Successes in the LMGT3 class

While the focus was on the Hypercar class, the Manthey team was able to shine again in the LMGT3 category and celebrate their second class win in a row with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The number 92 Porsche, driven by Richard Lietz, Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera, gave the brand another reason to celebrate. Lietz celebrated his sixth victory in the GT category at Le Mans, and Porsche remains the most successful manufacturer in the history of this race with a total of 112 class victories. Crash.net notes that The other 911 GT3 R models from Manthey and Iron Dames also took sixth and 16th place, while the Iron Dames lost a possible top 10 position due to an accident.

A total of 332,000 spectators were in attendance during race week, underlining the event's reputation as one of the greatest challenges in motorsport. In addition to the sporting successes, Porsche has also sent a strong signal for social responsibility by donating 500 euros per lap driven as part of the “Racing for Charity” initiative. The entire race comprised 1,159 laps of the 13.626 kilometer long route, resulting in a donation of 579,500 euros to the children's charities Interplast Germany e.V. and Kinderherzen reisen e.V.

The overall ranking in the Hypercar class shows Ferrari as the winner, taking the title for the third time in a row. The drivers Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson in the AF Corse No. 83 499P LMH were able to prevail against strong competition, while the two factory Ferraris struggled with technical problems in the last two hours, which prevented a full podium finish. Accident-related retirements, like that of the Iron Dames, and technical difficulties underline the challenges that the race presents and that each team must overcome.

In the Hypercar class the placings were as follows:

• 1. Ferrari #83 (Kubica/Ye/Hanson), 387 Runden
• 2. Porsche 963 #6 (Estre/Vanthoor/Campbell), +14.084 Sekunden
• 3. Ferrari #51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi), +28.487 Sekunden
• 7. Porsche 963 #5 (Andlauer/Christensen/Jaminet), -1 Runde
• 9. Porsche 963 #4 (Nasr/Tandy/Wehrlein), -1 Runde
• 14. Porsche 963 #99 (Jani/Pino/Varrone), -4 Runden

In the LMGT3 category the top placings are:

• 1. Porsche 911 GT3 R #92 (Hardwick/Lietz/Pera), 341 Runden
• 2. Ferrari #21 (Heriau/Mann/Rovera), +33.259 Sekunden
• 3. Corvette #81 (Van Rompuy/Andrade/Eastwood), +1.11.710 Minuten
• 6. Porsche 911 GT3 R #90 (Au/Bachler/Hartog), -1 Runde
• 16. Porsche 911 GT3 R #85 (Bovy/Frey/Martin), -7 Runden