In an extension of the time sheet dominance shown by the Porsche 963 dating back to the Prologue on Monday (Feb. 26), Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 6 shared by Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor blitzed the field Saturday (March 2) to win the Qatar 1812km. It is Porsche Penske Motorsport’s first overall win in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“Thanks to [Porsche Penske Motorsport],” Estre said after the race. “They made a heck of a car. No issues, great balance. I was really, really pleased with where we ended up today compared to how we started last year. It’s quite an amazing jump.”
The win is the first-ever overall victory for an LMDh prototype in the Hypercar class. Hypercars won all seven races last year and 11 of the 13 since the class was introduced in 2022. The other two were won by Signatech Alpine with a grandfathered LMP1 car.
The race did reach the scheduled distance of 335 laps. At the time of the finish, there were just over four minutes remaining on the clock.
The margin of victory was 33.297 seconds over Hertz Team JOTA’s Callum Ilott, Norman Nato and Will Stevens. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 5 for Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki completed a Porsche sweep of the podium. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn finished a lap down in fourth, while the customer AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye were fifth.
The No. 5 Porsche of Michael Christensen started from the overall pole but lost his advantage almost immediately to Ferrari AF Corse’s Miguel Molina. Meanwhile, Toyota GAZOO Racing’s Mike Conway, who started second, dropped back quickly.
Worse off were Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Lynn and Peuegot TotalEnergies’ Paul di Resta. The two drivers had contact in the first corner, resulting in di Resta spinning out. Lynn’s Cadillac had damage and was forced to pit for repairs.
In the bright midday sunshine, Christensen got loose, allowing Peugeot TotalEnergies’ Nico Mueller to get by for second. Mueller then ran down and took the overall lead in his Peugeot 9X8.
Vanthoor started fifth and actually slipped back early as far as eighth. However, he quickly found the pace in his Porsche 963 and moved forward. Ninety minutes into the race, Vanthoor was able to get past Mueller to take the overall lead.
Once out front, Vanthoor was able to pull away from the field….
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