Porsche Penske Motorsport – Syndication Server

Bahrain’s WEC finale caps off a truly remarkable sports car season

It feels fitting that after the closest, most dramatic FIA WEC season to date, the major honors were split across the top three Hypercar manufacturers, with Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari all taking a slice of the pie. Porsche’s No. 6 crew held on to …

Porsche’s No. 6 crew held on to claim the Hypercar drivers’ world championship despite finishing down the order in the finale. Toyota snatched the manufacturers’ crown in the final hour of the season with a spirited drive from Sebastien Buemi. And Ferrari, despite missing out on a title, will look back on the 2024 season fondly after claiming its second Le Mans victory in a row back in June.

It really was a remarkable campaign, one which had a bit of everything. It produced its fair share of thrills and spills on track and off, regular doses of drama and controversy and a number of historic milestones.

With the dust settled during the off season, there will be so much to unpack and reflect on before the WEC paddock reconvenes next year in Qatar for next season. Right now, though, it’s time to celebrate the newly crowned champions after the wild end to the season in Sakhir.

For Porsche Penske Motorsport, it was a truly memorable day, even if it wasn’t quite the fairytale ending that everyone within the organization dreamed of.

Having claimed a sweep of IMSA GTP titles, a GTD PRO championship with AO Racing and the FIA WEC LMGT3 and Hypercar World Cup honors with Pure Rxcing and HERTZ Team JOTA prior to Bahrain, completing the set in the Middle East with both Hypercar titles felt almost inevitable.

WEC season finales never fail to produce drama, and on this occasion, the wily old fox that is Toyota pulled off the upset, coming in and stealing the manufacturers’ title after a late-race showdown between Buemi and Matt Campbell.

The safety car periods and a full course yellow which bunched up the field and set up a nail-biting final hour played a huge role. They allowed the pole-sitting No. 8 Toyota to recover from its dramas earlier in the race by the time it emerged from the pit lane for the final time. All of a sudden, having looked down and out with three hours to go, Toyota’s outlook changed. Buemi was strapped in, held a tire advantage over Campbell ahead in the No. 5, and had a chance to cap off an amazing performance with one final overtake for the win.

A dream come true for Buemi and company, with post-race emotions and sheer exhaustion overflowing. Jakob Ebrey/Motorsport Images

“When I jumped in towards the end I was like P10, and I knew how hard it was to make progress, so I didn’t think we could come back,” Buemi explained. “But what happened was, with my tire advantage I was able to make moves every lap or two and we managed to execute a shorter stop at the end, jumping the No. 6 Porsche, the Ferrari, and it meant all I had to do was to catch the No. 5.

“It was like a dream as suddenly I knew we could win. It felt like everything was going our way, unlike the rest of the whole season. It might be the best drive of my career.”

A truly special drive indeed, with so much at stake, to deliver Toyota a fourth consecutive Hypercar manufacturers’ title in a row and the only win from pole by a team in the class this season. It also helped take the sting out of the sister car’s torrid outing, as ultimately, with the No. 6 Porsche’s troubles, both sets of drivers’ title contenders from Toyota and Ferrari will rue the missed opportunity.

The No. 7 retired with a fuel pump issue, which according to TGR’s team principal-driver Kamui Kobayashi, damaged the engine and severely blunted the car’s performance. The decision to park the car was a painful one to make, but it allowed the entire engineering staff to shift focus to the No. 8’s charge.

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Le Mans-winning No. 50 499P finished the race, but way down the order in 11th after struggling for outright pace throughout and losing valuable time to a puncture.

The season’s ups and downs gave us a split set of champions, much to the delight of Porsche’s leading crew of (from left to right) Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. Jakob Ebrey/Motorsport Images

It all meant that the drivers’ honors went the way of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer, despite their struggles and first non-points finish of the season.

All three drivers played their part this season, delivering a consistent run of results en route to being crowned Hypercar drivers’ world champions for the first time. In a field this deep, racking up two wins and two second-place finishes in eight races was no easy feat. It’s a title run that will be looked back on for a long time to come.

“When you see how competitive the field is, it’s special,” Lotterer, who departs Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Hypercar program with his head held high, said in the post-race conference.

“Before in LMP1, Le Mans was what everyone wanted, and if you won the championship it was just OK. Now with so much competition, the world championship has great value. Today wasn’t the best day, but we had the luxury to afford it. We will go home happy, target achieved.”

“This year has been amazing,” added Vanthoor. “I’ve never worked with a group like this, with my teammates, engineers and mechanics. It hasn’t sunk in, but today is one I will never forget.”

Penske Porsche revises 2025 IMSA, WEC line-ups

Porsche has revealed a new-look driver roster for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 2025 FIA WEC and IMSA campaigns with its fleet of 963s. Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell will drive the No. 6 Penske-run 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar …

Porsche has revealed a new-look driver roster for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 2025 FIA WEC and IMSA campaigns with its fleet of 963s.

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell will drive the No. 6 Penske-run 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class, while the No. 7 car will be shared by defending drivers’ champion Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy. Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre will support the full-season drivers at select Endurance Cup races.

In the WEC, Julian Andlauer has been promoted to the Hypercar factory team following a standout campaign with Proton Competition in 2024. He will share the No. 5 with Michael Christensen. The No. 6, meanwhile, will be shared by Vanthoor and Estre.

Both cars will run with just two drivers for the full season, a change from 2023 and ’24, with Jaminet and Campbell set to join the squad at La Sarthe.

These changes also include three key three departures from its driver stable, as 2024 drivers’ champion Dane Cameron, FIA WEC Hypercar drivers’ championship leader Andre Lotterer and Le Mans GTE Pro and Nurburgring 24 Hours winner Frédéric Makowiecki — a factory driver for 11 years — are all set to be released at the end of the year.

“I’d like to thank Dane Cameron, André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki for their incredible work over the past few years. All three have played a significant role in us being able to celebrate great successes with the Porsche 963 on both sides of the Atlantic in just the second year of competition,” saidThomas Laudenbach, vice president of Porsche Motorsport. “We compete in 2025 with a changed line-up. Our squad continues to be among the top echelons of endurance racing internationally.

“Plus, we’re remaining dedicated to our very successful initiative by supporting another former Porsche Junior to climb to the top of the career ladder. Over the past few seasons, Julien Andlauer has impressed us at the wheel of every Porsche racing car from Weissach. He absolutely deserves this promotion into the works driver squad.”

Urs Kuratle, the director of LMDh factory motorsport at Porsche, said, “With the new line-up, I believe we’ve put together a winning combination for 2025. We’ll have two very experienced drivers in both series, plus two drivers in sister cars, all of whom have come up through the ranks of Porsche’s junior program and completely won us over as talented youngsters.

“I’d also like to thank Dane Cameron, André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki. All three have contributed to getting the Porsche Penske Motorsport campaign to where it now stands in global endurance racing: at the top.”

Jonathan Diuguid, the managing director of Porsche Penske Motorsport, noted that the 2025 WEC and IMSA calendars opened the door for Porsche to mobilize its driver pairings more often.

“For 2024, we relied on consistency and continuity and made only a few targeted tweaks to the squad,” he said. “This decision proved to be right. Spurred by these successes, we’ll take a similar approach for 2025. The door has opened for (driver) involvement in both series.”

CGR Cadillac scores swan song Petit win over champion PPM 963s

In a storybook ending for Chip Ganassi Racing, the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon came back from a miserable early race to win Petit Le Mans. With a dramatic dive to the inside of Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in Turn 1 with 15m left in the 10-hour race, Renger van der Zande turned around what had looked like a hopeless day to win the last race before CGR exits the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the time being.

To add a bit of last-second drama, the Cadillac, which had run much of the evening with only one headlight, lost it’s headlights completely with under 5m to go. That would have surely earned a mechanical black flag, but the lights came back on shortly thereafter. They continued to go off intermittently, but were on enough to finish the race.

Porsche Penske Motorsports finished second and third, the No. 6 963 finishing ahead of the No. 7. The third-place finish earned the No. 7 squad of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, aided by Matt Campbell in the endurance races, the GTP championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup. Cadillac Racing closed the gap to the No. 6 team, but in the end fell short of breaking up the PPM one-two in the championship.

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The No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA and drivers Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea dominated LMP2 after the polesitting No. 2 United Autosports ORECA exited the fight in an early-race crash. TDS denying the Riley Motorsports squad their first victory, as the No. 74 of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon finished second, also preserved the championship lead for Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann and Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

Jordan Pepper in the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 held off a charge by Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 to take the GTD PRO victory for himself, Frank Perera and Mirko Bortolotti. The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis finished third, which wasn’t enough to wrest the title from Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing.

The No. 77 AO Racing Porche 911 GT3R had a rough race, encountering an electrical issue that affected shifting. Fixing the problem put the car down six laps and Heinrich, with Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer, finished 11th. Had Gunn been able to take second in the race, the championship would have been his. In the end, the points from Saturday’s qualifying where Heinrich scored pole made the difference.

Conquest Racing was a surprise winner in GTD, Albert Costa Balboa taking advantage of a late caution to get the No. 34 Ferrari 296 into position to attack Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan and earn victory for himself, Manny Franco and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli. Winward Racing took the championship with Russell Ward and Philip Ellis and, along with Indy Dontje, the Michelin Endurance Cup, with a ninth-place finish.

Full reports to follow

RESULTS

Porsche looking strong at Petit Le Mans’s quarter distance

Jack Aitken and the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing team were generally in control during the first quarter of IMSA’s Motul Petit Le Mans, but serving a drive-through penalty for a pass under yellow put them on the back foot, and the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 with Jesse Krohn at the wheel led at the end of the first quarter of the race, although it was off sequence and due for a pit stop.

Aitken explained that he made the pass after the incident, but not after the next flag station, which is why he believed the team was given the penalty.

The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 went off strategy early and was running second in the hands of Jordan Taylor, but like the No. 24, would need a stop soon. The championship-leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 was third with Felipe Nasr in the cockpit, followed by Mathieu Jaminet in the PPM No. 6. Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura was fifth, soon to be third.

The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R which has shown pace all weekend received a mechanical blag flag for “Scrutineering System Requirements.” That, plus subsequent stops to replace sensors, had the car a lap down and it would later serve a drive-through after Renger van der Zande hit the No. 20.

AO Racing’s GTD PRO championship bid has been dealt a serious blow with an intermittent electrical issue that was causing a shifting problem. The car stopped on track at one point, and a reset seemed to cure the issue, but the problem reared its head again. The car spent a long time in the pits receiving some new electrical connections. The car emerged six laps down in 12th, a position that would cost Laurin Heinrich and the team the title should the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo finish on the podium.

Alex Riberas was running fourth in the No. 23, while an off-sequence No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in the hands of Kyle Kirkwood was leading over Mirko Bortolotti in the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, which was looking quite strong with Jordan Pepper at the wheel earlier. Davide Rigon was third in the No. 62 Ferrari 296 for Risi Competizione, but that team was off sequence for pit stops as well.

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Disaster struck for LMP2 polesitter Ben Keating in the second hour, and that disaster took the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R with it. Keating, leading at the time, was passing the No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA LMP2 at Turn 6 and spun, possibly after contact. Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette was next on the scene, hit Keating’s No. 2 United Autosports ORECA, and then went off track and hit the wall. Both Keating’s ORECA and the Corvette sustained heavy damage and were taken straight to the paddock.

Paul-Loup Chatin in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA led LMP2 after 2.5h over Lila Wadoux Ducellier in the No. 88 Af Corse entry. Hunter McElrea had been running quite strong in the lead in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA, but a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility after contact with the No. 45 WTRAndretti Lamborghini Huracan pushed the No. 11 down the order.

Wright Motorsports led GTD with the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R, Elliott Skeer having taken over the car from Jan Heylen. Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus was chasing, ahead of Anders Fjordbach in the off-sequence No. 86 MDK Motorsports Porsche.

The first quarter of the race has had three cautions for a total of 33m. The first came for Scott Andrews putting the GTD polesitting No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG into the gravel at Turn 5. The second was for the incident between Keating and Milner, and the third was for Sheena Monk spinning the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, the result of making contact with the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S right after she pitted and was on still-cold tires.

The only official retirement in the race is the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage Evo, which suffered a half-shaft failure only 30m in.

HOUR 3 RESULTS

Penske Porsche says Indy penalty the result of ‘procedural’ error

The penalty for the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 following Indianapolis, which significantly altered the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship point spread in GTP going into next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, was the result of a …

Following the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, IMSA conducted in-depth tech inspections of several cars. One of those was the No. 6 PPM 963 that finished third in the six-hour race. IMSA found “modifications to its wiring harness/loom that were outside of homologation,” and the No. 6 was moved to next-to-last in the GTP field. That changed the championship fight from a near-dead-heat between the two PPM cars to a significant margin for the No. 7 team.

While noting that PPM respects IMSA’s procedures and rules, Diuguid notes that the rule violation was not intentional. There also appears to be no evidence that it provided any sort of competitive advantage.

“IMSA decided to do some additional in-depth inspections on the cars post-Indy road course race, of which ultimately we’re fully supportive,” he said. “Entering that process, none of us inside the group were nervous about anything or concerned. Ultimately, the outcome was, IMSA found that a homologation procedure hadn’t been followed. I know that IMSA penalty was pretty vague in the sense that it said wiring loom, but we’re specifically talking about a right-hand sidepod loom, which feeds the leader light panel and the transponder on the right-hand side of the car. Basically, a procedural process for an update to a length and the routing wasn’t followed.”

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The changes to the wiring loom were to eliminate some Controller Area Network (CAN) errors that the team had experienced, and the updates will be on all of the 963s by Petit Le Mans next weekend.

“It was updated on the PPM cars, and ultimately not done on the customer cars,” Diuguid said. “While it was disappointing, the process and the rules and regulation exist. An update had been made on the Porsche side due to some CAN errors that we’d experienced in 2023 and in the early part of 2024, and none of those CAN errors existed since the update happened. And all the Porsche 963s are going to have the wiring loom that the PPM No. 6 raced at the Indy road course fitted to the car for Road Atlanta.

“In the end, it was a procedural issue that wasn’t followed, and regulations are pretty clear. I would say that the discussions with IMSA were positive, but at the end of the day, they’re there to enforce regulations as they are written.”

Diuguid said the penalty doesn’t really change the team’s approach to the overall championship since Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr were going to be leading no matter what. But with the wider gap now to Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy, it opens up some options to go after the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup title a little more aggressively.

“I think we’ll utilize our two-car team to take some strategies that would put ourselves in the position at the hour intervals where the Endurance Cup points are scored, even if it’s to the overall negative finishing position of the 6 car,” he said. “I think we’ll use as an opportunity to capture some of those intervals, even if it means staying out to get those endurance points and then having to pit three or four laps later. I think we’ll definitely try to capture every single championship that’s possible. That’s our goal.”

Cameron, Nasr and the No. 7 team go into next weekend’s season finale at Road Atlanta with a 124-point margin in the overall standings over Tandy and Jaminet in the No. 6. The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais is another 40 points back, so in position to take over second in the championship. The No. 7 leads the No. 01 in the IMEC standings by four points. The No. 6 isn’t in a likely position to claim that championship, but the team could certainly position it to take points away from the No. 7’s pursuers.

Porsche Penske in the driver’s seat for IMSA championships

With two races left, one team is in the driver’s seat for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titles, and that driver’s seat was built in Weissach and carries a gold crest. Porsche Penske Motorsport is on the brink of both the driver and …

With two races left, one team is in the driver’s seat for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titles, and that driver’s seat was built in Weissach and carries a gold crest.

Porsche Penske Motorsport is on the brink of both the driver and team championships. In order for Porsche to not end the season with the manufacturer’s title, the PPM drivers would have to violate Racing Rule No. 1 (Don’t. Hit. Your. Teammate!) in the two remaining races, tomorrow’s six-hour tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks and Motul Petit Le Mans. The No. 7 and No. 6 Porsche 963s are one-two in the championship and while nothing is guaranteed, the chances of another team overtaking both are pretty slim.

That’s especially true if the team can display the first-and-second-place dominance it showed last year at Indy. While that’s unlikely in the second year at the Speedway, a win by either car would effectively put the championship out of reach.

There’s a possible 165-point swing in each race; for that gap to occur, one car has to take pole and win, the other has to finish last in both qualifying and race. For that to happen once … possible. For it to happen two races in a row would be ridiculousness on the highest level.

The No. 7 with Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron has 2386 points. The No. 6 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy is 100 points back. PPM’s closest challengers are the two Cadillac Racing teams, the No. 01 V-Series.R of Chip Ganassi Racing, Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande (185 points behind the No. 7); and the Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken-driven No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing entry (242 points back).

The No. 7 leads the team’s charge. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Those are pretty big gaps to overcome. Even the 100-point gap between PPM teams is tough, especially given the No. 6’s record in endurance races. If you’re Nasr and Cameron, or PPM as a team, it’s a pretty nice position to be in.

“I would say you’re never comfortable … it has to be every time in a race car, you’re trying to maximize the package, regardless if you’re leading the championship or second,” says Nasr. “I think it’s more how you manage the risk in a race and making the right decisions.

“And I don’t see the reason we should we should change any of the approach we’ve been having all season long. Car 7 has had a strong run all year long, with plenty of podiums, two victories in our pocket, so it’s been working pretty well. And I don’t see the reason to change any of that approach.”

Being in a strong position as the championship heads to a close is one thing. Having a teammate between you – both in the points and on track – is even better.

“For sure, it’s better to have a sister car second in the championship. And you know, as a driver and for the whole Porsche Penske motorsport team, all I can say is we are all working towards the same goal, which is to prioritize the team and manufacturer win,” Nasr adds.

The drivers in the No. 6 have the same priorities – make sure PPM wins the drivers and teams titles, and Porsche take home the manufacturer trophy. But Jaminet and Tandy would like to be the driver champions … and if the No. 7, or better yet both cars – goes into the finale under no threat from the Cadillac squads, the gloves are off.

“We need to see where we’re going to be, but if it’s the same gap, and the P3 car especially is further away, let’s say then everybody’s doing their race,” declares Jaminet. “They don’t need our help … I think we’ve been helping them quite a bit this year already, so we’ve done our part of the job. And I think from now on, we go racing and try to do best we can on car 6, and especially if we arrive [at Road Atlanta] with a bigger gap to P3, then the championship is done anyway, so it’s going be one of the two cars. So it’s good for us.”

At this point, it’s probably unnecessary for PPM to play favorites; but they will if they think it needs to be done. In the most recent GTP round at Road America, the No. 7 was chasing the No. 6 for the victory. But the No. 7 was under intense pressure from Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06; trying to orchestrate a different PPM finishing order could have ended up in a loss for both.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura is applying the pressure. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

“I think our goal is to maximize points coming out of Indy, and ideally we have a championship locked up before we go into the last race,” explains PPM Managing Director Jonathan Diuguid. “But we don’t control everything. I think as we looked at the points championship, we talked about team orders and everything in Road America.

“And to be honest, the battle was so tight right there … I think if we swapped the cars, we probably had a chance of losing the win, which we weren’t prepared to do. So I think the main focus is the manufacturers championship. In that regard, it doesn’t matter if the 6, or the 7, or even the Proton or [JDC-Miller MotorSports] cars win in IMSA, that’s the goal, to get the manufacturer championship.

“I think specifically at Road America with the pressure the 10 car was applying, there was just no opportunity to do it. I think if it was a different scenario, we likely would have; but in that regard, our focus was to make sure a Porsche won the race.”

And a Porsche did. While another 30 points for the No. 7 would have made the gap harder to close, the fact that PPM and Porsche have two cars in excellent position for the title that can be lost only in the most unlikely of circumstances is a dream, especially considering the position the team and manufacturer were in 18 months ago.

“We’re proud,” declares Urs Kuratle, Porsche’s director Factory Racing LMDh. “Obviously, we know how much work it was and what we did, in hindsight, but also we are really proud about those positions. One-and-a-half years ago, it looked different, and it’s nice to see how things are coming together now and the work – and it was a lot of work – everybody put into the these things, how that comes into place and now it starts to work.

“We are nowhere near finished with the whole thing, we still have to make further steps, optimize it more and the car, but I think we can be proud, not only me, but everybody in the team.”

Restarts and luck key to Porsche, AF Corse wins at Watkins Glen

As the clock started on the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, the sixth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, polesitter Louis Deletraz quickly found his No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 GTP car swamped by competitors and as he slid backwards in the field. Five-and-three-quarter hours later, as he led the field to the green on the final restart, it happened again as Felipe Nasr pushed his No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 past in Turn 1.

Nasr then held off Renger van der Zande and the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R to take the second win of the season for he and Dane Cameron after the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the third win of the season for Porsche Penske Motorsport. Nasr and Cameron became the first repeat GTP winners in 2024 and padded their championship lead.

“I knew I was going to have one chance, and that one chance came right at the restart,” explained Nasr. “All I did was work my tires and brakes as hard as I could just to get temperature in everything and as soon as we got the get-go in the last corner I could see the car ahead of me struggle and I said, ‘Man, I’m going for it,’ and made the move stick. Then it was all about managing the traffic ahead.”

We’re back to GREEN FLAG racing!
Only 15 Minutes to go.#IMSA | @WGI pic.twitter.com/C4JHK9F8NM

— IMSA (@IMSA) June 23, 2024

In between that first start and the final restart were four hours of survival and a red flag for a track with an inch of water on it. The race had an almost full reset with 16 minutes of all-out sprint racing to end it.

Weather was expected to play a part, and it did, often throwing a wrench into strategy and reversing the course of several team’s fortunes. The first shower came at almost exactly halfway. At that point, Nick Tandy was demonstrating the speed of the PPM 963s by pushing the No. 6 to a 15s lead.

The No. 7 was slightly off sequence and stayed out while the rest of the field pitted during a full-course caution that came out with 3h51m remaining. When the rain started, most cars pitted for rain tires, but Cameron hadn’t brought the No. 7 in when a full-course caution came out for a crash that ended up blocking pit-in. Running low on energy, it looked like Cameron was out of luck, but as the field circulated under yellow, the rain stopped and the track began to dry. When Cameron was finally able to pit the No. 7 for fuel, the team kept the slicks on the car.

“In the moment, honestly, it felt like we were a bit unlucky and we thought we had kind of got it wrong,” said Cameron. “It seemed okay — little bits of rain — and then suddenly a big downpour came on the front. I thought we were a bit in the s***, and I thought we missed it. Then it went yellow and suddenly it’s like, ‘Well, it’s going to be dry. We’re going to be fine here.’”

At the restart, Cameron had the car in the lead after a lap, and then all the others pitted for slicks as well. The PPM Porsche luck seemed to run out later when the second rainstorm began with 1h46m left. All the GTP leaders came in for wets. Both Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s got trapped in their pit boxes in the crowded pit lane, and while the No. 6 and No. 7 had been first and third, respectively, they ended up fifth and sixth while the two Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06s led the field, the No. 40 leading the No. 10.

The downpour sent several cars sliding off track, which triggered a full-course caution. That became a red flag as water overwhelmed the track and cars could barely stay on the pavement even behind the safety car. By the time the race went green with 16 minutes left, it had undergone a complete reset.

When the red changed back to a full-course caution and the field was back under the safety car, all the cars that had pitted for wets came back in for slicks, as the track was nearly dry again. Deletraz led in the No. 40 Acura, but Nasr had come out of the stop in second, followed by van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac, Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 PPM 963 and Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8.

The restart was delayed by the No. 10 Acura losing a wheel, leaving only 16 minutes of intense racing to go. When it came, it was almost a replay of the start 5h45m hours prior, when Deletraz was swamped by the cars behind as he struggled to get temperature in the tires. Nasr and van der Zande were by quickly, Nasr making his move in Turn 1 at the green. Jaminet followed a short time later, pushing Deletraz back to fourth.

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“It’s that [intense] feeling of no time to waste and that’s how we went into that final with the traffic,” said van der Zande of the chase. “[The GT cars] are also obviously also fighting for their position, so at one point going into the chicane with a Corvette and I think an Aston Martin, they were fighting each other and then I come around as well. It’s quite tricky, and it’s really a dance between those cars and us to not touch each other, but we made it happen. This championship is the only championship in the world [that] has that kind of racing, which is very particular and very cool.”

The No. 6 PPM 963 of Jaminet and Nick Tandy was third, and Deletraz and Jordan Taylor fourth as the top four finished in championship order.

The No. 25 BMW of De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly was an improbable fifth. De Phillippi had crashed the car in the closing minutes of the second practice session on Saturday morning, damaging the monocoque. The test car had to be shipped in from Indianapolis, and BMW M Team RLL crew had to get to work in the early hours of the morning to move most of the back half of the crashed car onto the substitute chassis.

The crew got it done in time for the race, but missed the installation lap. That meant the car had to start from pit lane and serve a subsequent drive-through penalty.

The No. 25 crew was aided by problems for the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, which needed a new nose after Pipo Derani had contact with traffic, and the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 serving a long penalty for contact with the Michelin RFID readers at pit exit.

Cameron and Nasr now lead the GTP points by 93, with 2044 to van der Zande and Bourdais with 1951. Jaminet and Tandy are third with 1912, followed by Jordan Taylor and Deletraz with 1845.

With newly minted 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 ORECA for its final stint, AF Corse took the LMP2 victory, with Nielsen, Luis Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux Ducellier.

“It’s been a good couple of weeks I would say,” Nielsen said. “I’m happy to take my maiden win in IMSA as well — super competitive championship. I think we’ve been fast and competitive the whole IMSA season, but we’ve just been a bit unlucky. Obviously with the contact and then the fire in Sebring, that didn’t really help us, but I’m very happy to bounce back here.”

The No. 88 was nearly taken out a couple of times, once on the first lap as Dwight Merriman poked the nose of the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA inside and spun Companc, and at the end of the race when Felipe Fraga tried a similar move, but only spun his own No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA. It was one of several moments of luck that led to victory.

“We were actually a bit lucky with the first big shower we had when we had the safety car then replaced by the red flag, because we actually started the refueling and then it started to rain heavily in the pit lane and then we decided to go on the wets. Once the restart happened it was more or less already dry again, so I would say we were lucky and then we were a bit unlucky again. More or less everyone had to box for either tires a fuel,” explained Nielsen.

“In the end there was just a hard fight with Colin Braun and Felipe [Fraga]. Racing here is always tough.”

Fraga recovered to finish third on the track, but the second-place No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR team of Colin Braun, George Kurtz and Toby Sowery fell afoul of drive time rules, so Fraga, Gar Robinson and Josh Burdon claimed second. The No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA of Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillman and Nick Boulle finished third.

Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch maintain their LMP2 points lead, but they’re now only four points better than the Riley Motorsports squad, 942 to 938.

RESULTS

No. 7 PPM 963 claims second IMSA enduro of the year at Watkins Glen

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen was a matter of 4h40m of survival, some massive strokes of luck that looked awful and turned positive, and 16 minutes of sprint racing. A sudden downpour that began with 1h46m left in the race sent several cars …

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen was a matter of 4h40m of survival, some massive strokes of luck that looked awful and turned positive, and 16 minutes of sprint racing.

A sudden downpour that began with 1h46m left in the race sent several cars sliding off track which triggered a full-course caution. That became a red flag as water overwhelmed the track and cars could barely stay on the pavement even behind the safety car. By the time the race went green with 16 minutes left, it had undergone a complete reset.

Before the yellow flew, all the GTP leaders came in for wets. Both Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s got trapped in their pit boxes in the crowded pit lane, and while the No. 6 and No. 7 had been first and third, respectively, they ended up fifth and sixth while the two Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06s led the field, the No. 40 leading the No. 10.

When the red changed back to a full-course caution and the field was back under the safety car, all the cars that had pitted for wets came back in for slicks, as the track was nearly dry again. Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Acura led, but Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche had come out of the stop in second, followed by Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 PPM 963 and Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8.

The restart was delayed by the No. 10 Acura losing a wheel, leaving only 16 minutes of intense racing to go. When it came, it was almost a replay of the start 5h45m prior, when polesitter Deletraz was swamped by the cars behind as he struggled to get temperature in the tires. Nasr and van der Zande were by quickly, Nasr making his move in Turn 1 at the green. Jaminet followed a short time later, pushing Deletraz back to fourth.

With the No. 01 Cadillac now on the tail of the No. 7 Porsche, van der Zande started pressuring Nasr, but Nasr’s decisive moves in traffic kept van der Zande at bay. Nasr crossed the finish 0.749s ahead of the Cadillac, giving him and Dane Cameron their second win of the season after the Rolex 24 at Daytona and padded their GTP championship lead over van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais. In this sixth race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Cameron and Nasr became the first team to win more than one race. The sister 963 of Jaminet and Nick Tandy was third, and Deletraz and Jordan Taylor fourth as the top four finished in championship order.

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With newly minted 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 ORECA for its final stint, AF Corse took the LMP2 victory, with Nielsen, Luis Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux Ducellier. The No. 88 was nearly taken out a couple of times, once on the first lap as Dwight Merriman poked the nose of the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA inside and spun Companc, and at the end of the race when Felipe Fraga tried a similar move, but only spun the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.

Fraga recovered to finish third on the track, but the second-place No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR team of Colin Braun, George Kurtz and Toby Sowery fell afoul of drive-time rules, so Fraga, Gar Robinson and Josh Burdon claimed second. The No. 52 Inter

Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA of Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillman and Nick Boulle finished third.

The GTD PRO and GTD classes really came down in large part to luck. Cars that didn’t get into the pits for wets before the full-course caution and closed pit that preceded the red flag seemed screwed at first, but were saved by the long red flag. With dry tires already on the car when the race restarted, they didn’t need to visit the pits again and gained track position.

GTD PRO’s top three followed suit, led by Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and Marvin Kirchhöfer in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S Evo.

Gunn hounded Milner and attacked several times, but couldn’t get the move done. Milner’s defense of the lead came to nought because the Corvette had had its final pit stop earlier than the others and was low on fuel. Milner pulling into the pits for a splash as the final lap began handed the victory to Gunn and Alex Riberas. It was Heart of Racing’s first victory of the season in the WeatherTech Championship, as well as the first for the Evo version of the Vantage GT3.

Winward Racing found itself in a similar situation, having been on slicks through the red flag and ready to go as the race resumed on a dry track. Winward took the GTD victory for Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Mercedes AMG. It was the team’s fourth GTD victory in five races this season, and Winward has swept the Michelin Endurance Cup races so far.

Ellis had to fend off the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with Jan Heylen at the wheel at the end, but Heylen, Elliot Skeer and Adam Adelson didn’t end up with second due to a drive time violation. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli was second, followed by John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

RESULTS

Penske Porsche’s Cameron leads opening Watkins Glen practice

The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 sat at the top of the time chart after the 90-minute first practice session for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, courtesy of Dane’ Cameron’s 1m34.175s (129.97mph) lap, accomplished quite early in the session. The time was about a second off the GTP lap record, which was set in last year’s race after qualifying was rained out.

The first session was expected to be impacted by weather, as is Sunday’s race, but the worst was a few drops on windshields, never enough to cause tricky track conditions. The session was interrupted twice by red flags, both for the same car. John Farano spun the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 car and made contact with the barrier in Turn 1 about 18 minutes into the session, causing a six-minute stoppage. The car was repaired quickly with a new wing and bodywork, and then Charlie Eastwood had a bigger crash with 14m remaining, causing a 10-minute red flag.

Tom Blomqvist set the second-quickest time in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, 0.172s off Cameron’s best, with Filipe Albuquerque third at 1m34.452s in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06. Philip Eng made it four manufacturers in the top four in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, with Nick Tandy completing the top five in the No. 6 PPM 963.

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Mikkel Jensen edged out Felipe Fraga for the top time in LMP2 by only 0.046s, his 1m35.531s (128.13mph) lap in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA enough to keep the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA off the top. Nico Varrone, fresh off an LMP2 Pro-Am victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a late addition to the No. 81 DragonSpeed entry, was third at 1m35.636s. Eastwood put the No. 8 in fourth before his crash, and Connor Zilisch completed the top five in the championship-leading No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA.

AO Racing got off to a good start in its attempt to take three consecutive GTD PRO victories in the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, as Laurin Heinrich topped all the GT cars with a 1m45.242s (116mph) lap. He was followed in the GT ranks by the GTD-class No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG, Scott Andrews putting in the best lap at 1m45.402s.

Bryan Sellers put the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M 4 GT3 into second in GTD PRO at 1m45.590s, 0.174s quicker than Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. Antonio Garcia (No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R) and Daniel Serra (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3) rounded out the top five in GTD PRO.

A pair of Ferraris were second and third in GTD behind Andrews, Alessio Rovera turning in a 1m45.862s time in the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione 296 for second and Miguel Molina 0.137s back in the No. 21 AF Corse 296. Andy Lally put the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo into fourth, with Robby Foley fifth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4.

The second practice session takes place tomorrow morning, the 90-minute session beginning at 9:10am ET.

RESULTS

Estre takes Porsche to the top of methodical Le Mans Test Day

The No. 6 Porsche Penske 963 set the fastest time during the 2024 Le Mans Test Day, Kevin Estre lapping the Circuit de la Sarthe in 3m25.907s during the afternoon session. It was a highly productive day of running for most of the 62-car field, held …

The No. 6 Porsche Penske 963 set the fastest time during the 2024 Le Mans Test Day, Kevin Estre lapping the Circuit de la Sarthe in 3m25.907s during the afternoon session.

It was a highly productive day of running for most of the 62-car field, held in ideal conditions, with no rain and the sun out. It was also particularly crucial for the batch of rookie drivers who needed to complete their mandatory laps to qualify for the event next week.

The times gradually improved throughout the day as the circuit began to evolve and teams completed setup work.

The No. 4 Penske Porsche ended up second in the combined times with a 3m27.142s from Felipe Nasr, who improved right at the death of the afternoon session to get within 0.3s.

Best of the rest was the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID, Brendon Hartley setting the car’s 3m27.615s to slot in third. Sebastien Buemi, installed towards the end, set multiple quick individual sector times but didn’t string a lap together to top the timing screens.

The top five, meanwhile, was rounded out by the No. 5 Porsche and the first of the Ferraris (No. 50).

How do these times compare to last year? Estre’s best was significantly quicker than the best from the 2023 Test Day — a 3m29.504s from the No. 51 Ferrari — coming as a surprise to the manufacturers RACER polled. There’s a lot more to come, too, as last year’s pole time was a 3m22.9s.

Mileage, as ever in a test, is more important than outright speed. The No. 20 BMW Team WRT M Hybrid V8 completed the most, with 75 laps. On the other end of the scale, the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche managed just 35 across the two sessions.

In LMP2, the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA ended the day on top with a lap of 3m34.704s from Oliver Jarvis, 1.3s up on Olli Caldwell, who put the No. 25 from Algarve Pro in second. A further 0.35s adrift was the Duqueiene Team ORECA in third.

In LMGT3’s first action at Le Mans, the No. 82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R set the best time of the day, Sebastian Baud reeling off a 3m59.883s during the afternoon in the final hour of running.

While times shouldn’t be read into at this stage, it was encouraging to see five brands represented in the top five of the combined times during the afternoon. Corvette, Aston Martin, BMW, Lamborghini and McLaren were all in the mix.

After Baud in the classification, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin ended up second in the combined ranking with a 3m59.920s. It was the first car to set a sub-4m lap when Alex Riberas was at the wheel.

Remarkably, the No. 31 WRT BMW ended up setting an identical time, Augusto Farfus also touring the circuit in 3m59.920s.

There should be a lot more to come in LMGT3, though, in terms of raw speed. While LMGT3 is new to the Le Mans 24 Hours, GT3 cars have been racing on the full Circuit de la Sarthe as part of the Michelin Le Mans Cup support races for a number of years. Valentino Rossi’s WRT BMW M4 GT3 set times in the 3m56s in qualifying last year.

During the day there were a handful of significant dramas to report.

The first was the No. 15 WRT BMW stopping on track with a mechanical issue during the morning session. When it returned to the pit lane it was on the back of a flatbed with no visible damage. However, underneath the bodywork, the car had suffered an issue which prompted a full engine change on “safety” grounds.

It did however end up turning laps during the afternoon, completing 11 tours of the circuit and setting a best time of 3m29.580s.

The second was the No. 37 COOL Racing ORECA suffering a substantial off at the exit of the Porsche Curves right at the end of the session.

A team source told RACER that Lorenzo Fluxa had the car unsettled by one of a series of bumps in that section of the track, lifted off to correct it, but lost the rear end. The impact came front-left, the car spinning and damaging the rear clip. Thankfully the chassis was ok and, after repairs, the car made it out in the afternoon.

Early in the second session, red flags came out for an incident at Indianapolis. Stephane Richelmi in the No. 10 Vector Sport ORECA hit the barriers nose-in at the escape road entry. That left the front-left corner of the car damaged and ended the car’s day prematurely.

It’s been a tough start to the event for the British team, which had to acquire a replacement chassis on short notice last week after a testing incident at Spa.

Toward the end of the session, the “Spike”-liveried AO by TF ORECA also had an off, PJ Hyett making contact with the barriers at Arnage, damaging the car’s front-right corner.

Beyond that, it was a taxing day for the set of drivers also on DTM duty.

Six drivers — Kelvin van der Linde (No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus), his brother Sheldon and Sledon’s co-driver Rene Rast (No. 20 WRT BMW), Marco Wittmann (No. 15 WRT BMW), Jack Aitken (No. 311 Cadillac), and Mirko Bortolotti (No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini) — all took part in the morning test session at Le Mans before jumping on a private jet.

The drivers took the same flight directly from the airfield behind the pit lane grandstands to Amsterdam for the second DTM race of the weekend at Zandvoort.

Aitken, who won the first DTM race of the meeting Saturday, completed 64 laps at la Sarthe this morning and set a best time of 3m32.414s before the flight.

“I knew [this weekend] was going to be busy any way we cut it and would try to make the best of the situation,” he explained. “I’m not too worried about being prepared. I’ve been here a couple of times before, and as a team, we’ve made a few big improvements from last year.

“I’m just looking forward to getting on track more Wednesday. Thankfully, Cadillac has been very generous in allowing me to take part in the DTM weekend at Zandvoort – not only Friday and Saturday but also Sunday’s race.”

RESULTS