Porsche Takes Aim At WEC Manufacturer's Championship
With the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season about to start, Porsche says it's aiming for the manufacturer's championship as well as defending its driver's title from last season. That might rile competitors and fans of other teams, but we like to see a little swagger in motorsports. Time will tell if Porsche has what it takes or if the factory team will fall short of the lofty goal.Porsche will be competing in the Hypercar class using the 963. Danish driver Michael Christensen and two French drivers - Mathieu Jaminet and Julien Andlauer - will be sharing the No.5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car. As for the No. 6 car, it will be driven by reigning world champions Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, plus Australian Matt Campbell.
As we've recently covered, Ferrari aims to be number one in the WEC Hypercar class, so expect to see the Germans and Italians butt heads as the season progresses. We love seeing teams rise to the challenge of a worthy competitor.
For the LMGT3 category, two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs will be fielded. One is from the factory team with car No. 85 driven by Rahel Frey from Switzerland, Célia Martin of France, and Michelle Gatting from Denmark. Customer team Manthey, which is the defending champion, is fielding the No. 92 piloted by American Ryan Hardwick and Italian Riccardo Pera
'The Porsche 963 is meant to continue the legacy of legendary endurance racing prototypes like the 917, 935, 956, 962 and 919 Hybrid,' said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. 'These icons from Weissach have shaped endurance racing for years. We intend to achieve the same with our current hybrid prototype."
The first race in the 2025 FIA WEC season will be held February 28 at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. Porsche will be competing in the top Hypercar class and so will a customer team, Proton Competition. Last season, the two teams swept the same race, so we'll see if a repeat performance is in the cards.
Images via Porsche
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