Porsche scores first 2025 victory at CotA

Text: Rick Kiewiet

Images: Porsche, Peugeot, United Autosports

Porsche Penske Motorsport claimed its long-awaited first win of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season at the rain-soaked Lone Star Le Mans, with Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell mastering the changing conditions to triumph at Circuit of The Americas. In a race repeatedly reshaped by neutralisations, including a red flag after the first hour being driven behind Safety Car, Estre’s decisive move on Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi at a late restart proved the turning point. Behind them, Ferrari salvaged second with its #50 entry while Peugeot celebrated its strongest collective finish to date with p3 and p4. In LMGT3, the class victory changed hands after the flag, as a penalty for AF Corse gifted United Autosports and McLaren their first win in the category.

Hypercar

The six-hour race began behind the safety car due to unseasonal Texan rain and was briefly halted by a red flag, leaving just under four hours of green running to decide the outcome. Ferrari initially controlled proceedings from the front row, with the pole-sitting #83 AF Corse and the #51 factory entry dictating the pace. But once running stabilised, the #6 Porsche of Vanthoor, Campbell and Estre established itself as the biggest threat.

A slow stop for the #83 car elevated Porsche into second before Campbell’s solid middle stint set up Estre for the run to the flag. At the four-hour mark, Estre seized his chance, diving past Pier Guidi at Turn 1 on a safety car restart. Contact between the two left the Ferrari with a puncture soon after, while Estre pulled away at every restart to secure victory by just under ten seconds.

Ferrari’s hopes of victory rested on the sister #50 car, with Miguel Molina bringing it home in second ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne’s #94 Peugeot. A late repass of the Belgian denied Peugeot what would have been its best WEC result, though a 3-4 finish for the French marque – with the #93 in fourth – marked its strongest showing to date.

Pier Guidi, after his puncture, charged back through the field to fifth in the #51, narrowly extending Ferrari’s drivers’ championship lead. The best of the Cadillacs, the #38, split the AF Corse entries in sixth, while the São Paulo-winning #12 briefly climbed to third before fading to eighth. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari endured a brace of penalties on its way to seventh, though that was enough to seal the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams. Toyota endured another subdued outing, with the #8 finishing ninth, while the sister Cadillacs and Aston Martins slipped out of contention after issues in the closing stages.

LMGT3

In LMGT3, the final half-hour turned the order upside down. With the track drying, most of the field gambled on slicks, while the leading Proton Ford Mustang stayed on wets – a call that dropped it down the order. AF Corse’s Davide Rigon was the star of the slick-shod runners, carving through the field in the #54 Ferrari to cross the line first after passing both Richard Lietz’s Manthey Porsche and Ben Barker’s Ford.

But contact in that move on Barker resulted in a five-second penalty, stripping AF Corse of the win. The sanction promoted the #95 United Autosports McLaren of Marino Sato, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael to a breakthrough victory – the first in WEC LMGT3 competition for both team and manufacturer.

Behind the penalised Ferrari, the #46 WRT BMW shared by Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy inherited second, while AF Corse completed the podium on the road. Barker’s Ford slipped to sixth, with Lietz and the points-leading #92 Porsche settling for seventh after being unable to make progress on wets. A converted drive-through penalty for the #31 BMW further shook up the order, promoting rivals a place each.

The result means Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick hold a 16-point advantage in the LMGT3 standings heading into the penultimate round at Fuji, as the battle tightens between Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and now McLaren in the fight for class honours.