Porsche is keen to add to its illustrious record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the 92nd edition of the world’s biggest endurance race, the three Porsche 963 racing cars fielded by the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team are targeting their 20th outright victory. For each lap completed by the three factory cars, Porsche will donate 750 euros towards the “Racing for Charity” initiative. A total of 23 prototypes from nine different brands, including three customer Porsche 963 from Hertz Team Jota and Proton Competition, will pit themselves against each other in the top Hypercar class. In the new LMGT3 category, 23 vehicles from nine manufacturers will also battle for victory. Porsche is represented in this class by two 911 GT3 R entries from its Manthey partner team.
6 Porsche 963 of which 3 of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Team
To increase the chances of clinching its 20th overall win, Porsche Penske Motorsport again fields three Porsche 963 this year. The works cars can be differentiated by the colours of their wing mirrors, the Porsche lettering on the windshield and the rear fin. As usual, those parts of the two regular cars from the FIA WEC will be painted black (No. 5) and white (No. 6). The No. 4 vehicle will feature red accents on those areas. Top drivers from the Porsche works squad will crew the 511 kW (695 hp) hybrid prototypes from Weissach. The odds in the fiercely contested Hypercar class also look promising for the three identical racing cars from the customer teams Hertz Team Jota and Proton Competition.
“There can only be one goal for Porsche at Le Mans – to win. We hold the record number of victories and we’re determined to add another triumph to our record. That puts big pressure on everyone involved. We’re by no means underestimating our rivals,” says Thomas Laudenbach, outlining the intention of the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer. The Vice President Porsche Motorsport adds: “The top Hypercar class is extremely competitive with a total of 23 prototypes from nine different manufacturers. That’s precisely what motivates us. We want to underline our expertise and technical skills in the world’s toughest race. That applies not only to our factory team but also to the strong customer teams with their Porsche 963. We’re also looking strong in the LMGT3 category. Manthey’s two 911 GT3 R will be well placed to fight for class victory.”
“Our preparations have gone very well – at the first races of the year on both sides of the Atlantic as well as at last Sunday’s test drives,” explains Urs Kuratle. The Director Factory Motorsport LMDh is excited about the highlight of the FIA WEC season: “It’s great to see how the suspense continues to build among everyone in the team. Everyone is working with total concentration. We’re united by one big goal: we want to bring home Porsche’s 20th overall victory. I’m curious to see how the competition evolves over the next few days.”
“We got off to a great start on the test day for this year’s Le Mans race,” states Jonathan Diuguid, in reference to the official pre-test last Sunday. Looking ahead to the race week, the Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport adds: “We expect similarly good conditions in practice, qualifying and on both race days. If this happens, then our insights from the test will have been very valuable. We’ll then need to focus on making further tweaks to the cars.”
An overview of the drivers and vehicles
Hypercar class (Porsche 963):
Porsche Penske Motorsport #4: Mathieu Jaminet (F) / Felipe Nasr (BR) / Nick Tandy (UK)
Porsche Penske Motorsport #5: Matt Campbell (AUS) / Michael Christensen (DK) / Frédéric Makowiecki (F)
Porsche Penske Motorsport #6: Kévin Estre (F) / André Lotterer (D) / Laurens Vanthoor (B)
Hertz Team Jota #12: Callum Ilott (UK) / Norman Nato (F) / Will Stevens (UK)
Hertz Team Jota #38: Jenson Button (UK) / Phil Hanson (UK) / Oliver Rasmussen (DK)
Proton Competition #99: Julien Andlauer (F) / Neel Jani (CH) / Harry Tincknell (UK)
LMGT3 class (Porsche 911 GT3 R):
Manthey EMA #91: Richard Lietz (A) / Morris Schuring (NL) / Yasser Shahin (AUS)
Manthey PureRxcing #92: Klaus Bachler (A) / Alex Malykhin (UK) / Joel Sturm (D)
Book your hotel in Le Mans
Edited Porsche Factory Press Release
Pictures & Video courtesy Porsche AG
