Porsche Penske Motorsport ended the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve with a podium finish. Laurens Vanthoor, Kévin Estre and André Lotterer crossed the finish line in third place after six hours in their Porsche 963. For the works team it is the second major success with the LMDh prototype within a few hours: in Long Beach, USA, their teammates won the 100-minute race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the second Porsche 963 came third. A Porsche team also finished on the podium in Portugal in the GTE Am classification: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting fought for victory for a long time with the Iron Dames 911 RSR. They reached the finish in third place.

For the first time, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team has completed two races on two continents almost simultaneously on one weekend. The transatlantic cooperation between the teams in IMSA and the World Endurance Championship has paid off for the sports car manufacturer. At Long Beach, Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Matthieu Jaminet (France) drove the Porsche 963 to victory at the end of a highly dramatic 100-minute sprint race. Their teammates Felipe Nasr (Brazil) and Matt Campbell (Australia) were celebrated for a hard-fought third place.

At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, the WEC team's two Porsche 963s started the 6-hour race from positions five and seven. Laurens Vanthoor was able to overtake one of the two Ferraris in the number 6 hybrid prototype in the first few meters. The Belgian had to give up fourth place after ten minutes. A strategic move after the first stint had a much better effect: Both Porsche 963s decided not to change tires when refueling. The saved pit stop time of a good ten seconds put them in third and eighth place.

Problems from some competitors meant that the number 6 was still on course for the podium and the sister car was able to move up to fifth place up until the halfway point of the race after three hours. A good 100 minutes before the end of the race, however, a problem in the area of the power steering forced the number 5 prototype to take a longer break in the pits for repairs. He returned to the track just under an hour later in eleventh place in the Hypercar classification.

At the beginning of the last 60 minutes, the safety car came into action for the first time because a vehicle had to be rescued. For the Porsche 963 with André Lotterer at the wheel, this came at the worst possible time: For the number 6, who was again third, a pit stop was imminent. After the race was restarted at around 5:10 p.m. local time, the number 51 Ferrari, the direct pursuer, also had to stop. Lotterer was able to defend his position. A few laps before the end, another refueling break provided additional tension: Before that, too little fuel had flowed into the vehicle due to a sensor error. However, the advantage over the now fourth-placed Cadillac was enough for the Porsche to finish behind the victorious Toyota of Brendon Hartley (New Zealand),

"One first place and two third places on the same race weekend: This fantastic result shows that our parallel commitment in the WEC and IMSA is bearing fruit - we've picked up speed," explains Urs Kuratle, Head of Works Motorsport LMDh. “We had to fight here in Portimão, but overall it worked out and we are more than happy with third place. Our number 5 had a problem with the power steering. We will now analyze why. We also take another close look at the reason for the last refueling stop that our Porsche 963 with starting number 6 had to make shortly before the end. But it was nice to see how concentrated and focused the crew reacted to this difficult situation in both cases.”

In the GTE Am category, the 911 RSR of the Iron Dames customer team was able to put its stamp on the second WEC season round for a long time. Sarah Bovy started the race from second on the grid, but initially lost one position. After a long duel with Ben Keating's (UK) Chevrolet Corvette, the Belgian fought her way back after 45 minutes and then again after the first pit stop. The Swiss Rahel Frey further extended the lead. Only in the last third of the race did the pink Porsche let the Corvette and Ferrari with the number 83 go. The 911 RSR from Project 1 – AO finished sixth. At the wheel: Matteo Cairoli (Italy) and the two Portuguese Miguel Ramos and Guilherme de Oliveira. Directly behind it was the identical number 77 911, driven by Julien Andlauer (France).

Driver quotes after the race
Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): “This podium finish is really cool. That was hard work! Our mechanics have had many short nights. The third place is the reward for that. It really feels like a win. But we still have to develop and improve the car. And we have to remain flawless in the future as well.”

Frédéric Makowiecki (Porsche 963 #5): “Congratulations to our sister car! I'm happy that a Porsche 963 is on the podium. Our race was really tough. We couldn't keep up with the pace of the others and now we have to take our time to analyze what caused it, what was right and what was wrong. At the next race in Spa we want to get back to the music.”

Rahel Frey (Porsche 911 RSR #85): “Of course we'll take the podium with us, those are important points. However, we had thought that there was something more in it for us. We made small mistakes again, we still have to eliminate them before Spa and, above all, Le Mans. Nevertheless: Our pace was strong, I'm proud of the girls. Although we went full attack on the track, the Corvette and the Ferrari were a bit quicker. We still have to find one or the other.” Hypercar class

results

: 1. Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa (CH/NZ/J), Toyota #8, 222 laps
2. Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (I/E/DK) , Ferrari #50, 221 laps
3. Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor (F/D/B), Porsche 963 #6, 221 laps
10. Cameron/Christensen/Makowiecki (USA/DK/F), Porsche 963 #5, 189 laps

GTE-Am class:
1. Keating/Varrone/Catsburg (USA/ARG/NL), Corvette #33, 206 laps
2 .Perez Companc (ARG), Wadoux (F), Rovera (I), Ferrari #83, 206 laps
3. Bovy/Frey/Gatting (B/CH/DK), Porsche 911 RSR #85, 206 laps
6. Ramos/ de Oliveira/Cairoli (P/P/I), Porsche 911 RSR #56, 205 laps 7th
Ried/Pedersen/Andlauer (D/DK/F), Porsche 911 RSR #77, 205 laps
9th Hardwick/Robichon/Tincknell (USA/CDN/UK), Porsche 911 RSR #88, 204 laps
11 Wainwright/Pera/Barker (UK/I/UK), Porsche 911 RSR #86, 204 laps 12
Schiavoni/Cressoni/Picariello (I/I /B), Porsche 911 RSR #60, 203 laps

All results at: fiawec.alkamelsystems.com