The Porsche Penske Motorsport works team has contested round three of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

As the best-placed Porsche 963, the hybrid prototype of Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Pascal Wehrlein crossed the finish line in ninth place. The sister car of Michael Christensen, Julien Andlauer and Nico Müller finished twelfth after six hours of racing. In the LMGT3 class, the two Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey 1st Phorm and the Iron Dames scored world championship points.

Three safety car phases and many other caution phases characterised the turbulent 6-hour race on the 7.004-kilometre Grand Prix circuit in Belgium. To the delight of the almost 100,000 spectators, it was characterized by numerous intense battles for positions throughout the field in summery, sunny weather.

Thanks to a good start, the No. 6 Porsche 963 was able to fight its way up from twelfth to seventh place at the start of the race. After the first pit stop, the hybrid prototype was in eleventh position. In the final hour, he moved up to the top six again, but had to make a late refueling stop shortly before the end. The race car reached the finish line in ninth place. His cockpit at the Circuit de Spa was shared by three world champions: Kévin Estre from France and Belgian local hero Laurens Vanthoor are the current defending champions in the FIA World Endurance Championship, while their co-driver Pascal Wehrlein has been crowned champion in the FIA Formula E in 2024. The German will be driving a third 963 of the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team at Le Mans together with Britain's Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr from Brazil.

For the number 5 Porsche, the third race of the season began with a setback: a competitor had spun start driver Julien Andlauer off the track on the opening lap. The Frenchman had to rejoin the grid at the back of the Hypercar field and followed up with a catch-up race from 18th place. Until the first refuelling on lap 25, the former Porsche Junior was back in twelfth position. After the third pit stop, the race car, now with Swiss Nico Müller at the wheel, even moved up to seventh place. The Porsche works driver normally competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship with Team Andretti. A short refuelling stop flushed the 963 up to third place just over an hour before the end of the race. However, this necessitated another stop, during which the Dane Michael Christensen took over the cockpit for a second time. In the end, the trio reached the finish line in twelfth place.

"The team once again put in a good performance, even if we may not have done everything perfectly. Nevertheless, the drivers and the team fought until the end, a big thank you for that. We simply have to state that the framework conditions for a better result were not in place. As always, we will go deep into the analysis, especially since the 24 Hours of Le Mans is next. But I think there is also a massive need for action outside our organization. The race speaks for itself."

The Porsche customer team Proton Competition had to park its 963 on lap 22 due to a problem with the power transmission. Previously, the hybrid prototype had returned to the pits purely electrically.

LMGT3 class: Porsche customer team with both 911 GT3 R in the points

After winning its class at the previous WEC race at Imola, the 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey 1st Phorm was also able to lead the LMGT3 standings at Spa, Belgium, for a time, even though start driver Ryan Hardwick had been spun around through no fault of his own right at the start of the 6-hour race. As a result, the American, who shares the blue Porsche with Italian Riccardo Pera and works driver Richard Lietz from Austria, initially dropped from seventh to twelfth position. After the first pit stop, he was back in second place with the 911 GT3 R. In the end, the trio crossed the finish line in seventh place and were happy about important world championship points.

The Iron Dames also experienced a strong initial phase. Célia Martin was able to quickly work her way into the top 10 from 13th on the grid. After the first refueling stop, the Frenchwoman was already in seventh position. Together with her fellow riders Rahel Frey from Switzerland and Michelle Gatting from Denmark, she even got a taste of leadership afterwards. Their Porsche 911 GT3 R was classified tenth in the end. The Iron Dames can thus celebrate the first world championship point of the current WEC season.

The fourth round of this year's FIA World Endurance Championship is also the highlight of the endurance racing year: The 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on 14/15 June at the Circuit des 24 Heures.

Drivers' comments after the race

Nico Müller (Porsche 963 #5): "For me, it was a highlight to be here at Spa with Porsche Penske Motorsport. We imagined the race differently, we don't need to mince our words. We weren't fast enough and we weren't always on the lucky side from a strategic point of view. But we were definitely able to learn a lot from this race for the preparation for Le Mans. If we draw the right conclusions from this, that's fine with me."

Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche 963 #6): "It was good to get race laps with the Porsche 963 again and to work with Porsche Penske Motorsport for the first time. I learned a lot from that. But of course the result is not what we had hoped for. We were relatively far away from the pace and had a lot of tyre wear. We now have to see how we can improve in the next few weeks."

Rahel Frey (Porsche 911 GT3 R #85): "We had a mixed race – but of course we're happy to take the first championship point for tenth place. In between, we were even able to lead the race, then we went from the very front to the very back. Once you lose your front position and get stuck in traffic, it's incredibly difficult to catch up, especially here in Spa. Especially since overtaking wasn't one of our strengths today."

Riccardo Pera (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): "Overall, we can be satisfied with this race. We were in the lead for a while, but we didn't keep the strong competition behind us for long. Seventh place is the maximum that was within reach for us today. Now we start preparing for Le Mans. I can't wait to race there."

Results race

Hypercar class:
1st Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi (ITA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #51, 150 laps
2nd Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (ITA/ESP/DNK), Ferrari #50, +4.229 seconds
3rd Gounon/Makowiecki/Schumacher (FRA/FRA/DEU), Alpine #36, +5.148 seconds
9th Estre/Vanthoor/Wehrlein (FRA/BEL/DEU), Porsche 963 #6, +1m 01.871s
12th Andlauer/Christensen/Müller (FRA/DNK/SUI), Porsche 963 #5, +1m 27.554s
DNF Jani/Pino/Varrone (SUI/CHL/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, 22 laps

LMGT3 class:
1. Heriau/Mann/Rovera (FRA/USA/ITA), Ferrari #21, 137 laps
2. Gattuso/Levorato/Olsen (ITA/ITA/NOR), Ford #88, +40.230 seconds
3. Flohr/Castellacci/Rigon (SUI/ITA/ITA), Ferrari #54, +42.104 seconds
7. Hardwick/Lietz/Pera (USA/AUT/ITA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, +1 lap
10. Frey/Gatting/Martin (SUI/DNK/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, +1 round

All results and championship standings at https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com