WEC Texas: Porsche steals wild, wet Lone Star Le Mans

Reigning WEC champions Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, sharing with Matt Campbell, steered their Porsche 963 to Lone Star Le Mans victory in Texas on Sunday. McLaren, meanwhile, celebrated its maiden WEC LMGT3 win as Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung emerged on top after a thrilling fight to the finish.

Both factory Ferraris finished in the top five, consolidating the Italian team’s stranglehold on the 2025 Manufacturers’ Championship. The fifth-placed crew of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi also extended Ferrari’s advantage in the Drivers’ title chase.

The race began in driving rain behind the safety car before being red-flagged until conditions improved. Once restarted, it effectively became a four-hour sprint, with conditions improving dramatically to set up a wild finish. Estre’s #6 Porsche 963 pounced on Pier Guidi’s #51 Ferrari for the lead just as the sixth safety car period came to an end.

Contact in the decisive overtake caused a puncture on the Ferrari, for which Estre was reprimanded. While the Ferraris led early, the Porsche had stronger pace in the drier latter stages. The incident left the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen to fight back to second, ahead of the Peugeot 9X8 crew of Loïc Duval, Mikkel Jensen and Stoffel Vandoorne.

It was an impressive outing for Peugeot, which bounced back from a harsh qualifying penalty to take third, with the Paul di Resta, Jensen and Jean-Éric Vergne car finishing fourth. Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi clawed back to fifth, extending their and Ferrari’s firm grip on the 2025 World Endurance Championship.

Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais and Jenson Button brought home the best of the Cadillacs in sixth, the V-Series.Rs recovering strongly after starting at the back of the Hypercar pack on the wrong qualifying tyres. Le Mans winner Robert Kubica, meanwhile, put the yellow privateer AF Corse Ferrari on pole, and he, Ye Yifei and Phil Hanson ran strongly until a chaotic pit stop dropped them to seventh.

The second Cadillac of Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Earl Bamber followed, chased by the Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, which finished as the better of the Japanese cars. The Porsche of Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Mathieu Jaminet completed the top ten after an adventurous outing.

It was a weekend to forget for Alpine, with Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi slumping to eleventh, and equally so for BMW. Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen survived to twelfth after their sister car failed to escape the safety car hours.

The privateer Proton Porsche also fell back after a spin ended a strong wet-weather run. Toyota’s second car recovered to 14th after being craned out of the gravel, while the crash-repaired second Alpine was the final classified Hypercar. Aston Martin’s most promising outing yet came to nothing as the Valkyries were sidelined by debris-clogged radiators in the final hour.

Behind the Hypercar drama, Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung triumphed in a superb LMGT3 race to deliver McLaren’s first WEC win with the 720S GT3 EVO. They crossed the line just behind Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr’s Ferrari 296 GT3, which had been penalised, handing McLaren the victory.

But the Ferrari was penalised five seconds for earlier barging Ben Barker’s leading Ford Mustang GT3 out of the way. That dropped the 296 GT3 to third, behind the #46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy, which had itself fought back from two penalties.

The other BMW of Shahin, Boguslavskiy and Farfus followed, ahead of the second McLaren of Cottingham, Baud and Saucy, and the Aston Martin Vantage of James, Robichon and Drudi. The pole-sitting Ford Mustang of Barker, Tuck and Sousa slipped to eighth on the wrong tyres for the drying final stint.

Hardwick, Pera and Lietz brought home the best LMGT3 Porsche in ninth, ahead of the Mustang of Gattuso, Levorato and Olsen, both of which dropped from the top three after being caught out on tyres.

That result leaves the Pera-Lietz-Hardwick Porsche with a 19-point LMGT3 championship lead over the Ferrari of Rovera, Heriau and Mann, and the Corvette of Keating, Juncadella and Edgar. Ferrari, meanwhile, extended its Hypercar Manufacturers’ Championship lead to 65 points over Porsche, which now sits second, just four points clear of Cadillac.

Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado lead Philip Hanson, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye by fifteen points in the Hypercar title chase.

Porsche duo Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor sit third, just four points ahead of Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, with Cadillac men Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Earl Bamber close behind. Hanson, Kubica and Ye’s yellow Ferrari has all but clinched the 2025 WEC Privateer Teams’ Cup.

Importantly, Texas marked a return to World Endurance Championship Balance of Performance status quo after recent rounds raised questions. If anything, those who struggled in Austin did so by their own missteps.

It’s a short three-week turnaround to the penultimate round, the 6 Hours of Fuji. Ferrari has claimed thirteen world endurance championships since 1953, the last being the World Championship of Makes in 1972. Can Ferrari finally relieve multiple champions Toyota Gazoo Racing of its crown on home soil in Japan? The answer comes on 28 September.