Ferrari and Toyota are Le Mans favorites – but what about Porsche?

Yahoo

6 hours ago

Last year, Porsche arrived at Le Mans as one of the favourites, riding the momentum of a strong start to its WEC campaign. But when it came down to it, the real fight was between Ferrari and Toyota. In 2025, the German manufacturer comes to La Sarthe in a very different situation, after a quiet opening trio of races.
What Porsche needs to lean on, if it's to chase what would be a record-extending 20th Le Mans win, is exactly what made it strong in last year's championship run.
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'Our strengths are consistency and reliability. We didn't have any reliability issues last year during the whole season, and not at Le Mans either, so I think that's a big asset,' explains Kevin Estre. 'We had a lot of problems in year one, but last season was great in terms of reliability. We didn't have any trouble, and the team almost won every race in IMSA, in the U.S.'
'We've shown we have the ability, the talent to win big races, to win championships. I think we ran a great race last year at Le Mans - we were just missing a bit of outright performance.'
'There's strong competition, like we've seen over the last three years, but I feel like this year it's even tighter.
'The newcomers from last year are still learning and improving. You look at the start of the season for BMW, Alpine, and even Peugeot showing up here and there, plus Cadillac arriving with four cars. I think it's going to be a real battle on track.'
Porsche remains Porsche
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
Rainier Ehrhardt
Rainier Ehrhardt
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With its know-how, experience, and an LMDh prototype that delivered a drivers' title last year, would you count Porsche out? The former winners remain a solid bet for victory, especially when you factor in a Balance of Performance (BoP) unique to the Le Mans circuit, which could very well shake things up. That's what Kevin Estre, who shares the No. 6 car with Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell, is banking on.
'You always have to count on Ferrari and Toyota, that's a given,' the French driver admits. 'Cadillac always has great top speed, they've never quite put it all together, but they're strong. Jota's a great team at Le Mans, we know that. Alpine has had a really solid start to the year, and Peugeot could be in the mix…'
'It's hard to rank the pecking order. I think Ferrari and Toyota are probably still the favourites, and maybe us. They're proven contenders at Le Mans, they've shown it time and again. It's tough to say, but I hope we've improved our package a bit and that we've got the performance needed to fight for the win.'
Kevin Estre, Porsche Motorsport
Kevin Estre, Porsche Motorsport
Rainier Ehrhardt
Rainier Ehrhardt
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As Estre rightly points out, the start of the championship almost becomes irrelevant when it comes to Le Mans: 'It's a completely different track compared to the rest: we reach top speeds that are 30 to 40 km/h higher than on other circuits in the championship.'
'There's a new BoP, the track characteristics are different, so it reshuffles the deck. We'll see if we can be as strong as last year over a single lap, and a bit better in the long stints during the race.'
'We've got a new driver with Matt replacing Andre [Lotterer], but the same engineers, the same mechanics — there's no reason why it shouldn't work. We know how to win races, we know how to win championships — we just need to find the performance.'
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