After overcoming a difficult start to 2025, Porsche Penske Motorsport has rediscovered its form in the most recent two outings of the FIA World Endurance Championship, following up its runner-up result in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a double top four finish in the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo.
The first three events of the season yielded a best finish of just eighth place for the factory Porsche outfit, which last year swept commandingly to the coveted Drivers’ crown at the international pinnacle of the discipline.
Le Mans, however, witnessed a much stronger performance as the #6 963 prototype grittily challenged the all-conquering Ferraris race-long, eventually winding up second, and that momentum carried over to Brazil.
After lining up second on the grid around the 4.309km Autódromo José Carlos Pace, the #5 entry grabbed the lead on lap one as former Porsche ‘Junior’ Julien Andlauer reprised his Le Mans heroics to boldly seize the initiative from Will Stevens in the pole-sitting Cadillac.
In front of almost 85,000 enthusiastic fans, the Frenchman held sway in the 18-car Hypercar field throughout the race’s opening two hours, determinedly fending off a dual Cadillac threat before ultimately having to give best to a hard-charging Earl Bamber.
Thereafter, as the two American cars increasingly stretched their legs, Andlauer and team-mate Michael Christensen settled into third place – although the former in particular demonstrated that he was not willing to give up without a fight by coming back at Sébastien Bourdais in the closing stages as his countryman got caught up in traffic, flashing past the chequered flag less than two seconds adrift of the #38 Cadillac in the scrap for the runner-up spoils.
“Third was a good result for us,” commented Christensen on the pair’s first podium appearance of the campaign. “We did our best, but the Cadillacs were simply faster. Julien got off to a great start, but we were unable to defend first place over the distance.
“We can be satisfied with our performance, even though our expectations are obviously different. Looking at the season so far, the development is pointing in the right direction – we’re getting stronger and stronger.”
In the sister 963, Laurens Vanthoor initially dropped a spot to eighth before regaining ground as the Belgian got the better of BMW’s Kevin Magnussen and René Rast as well as Peugeot rival Mikkel Jensen. Fellow defending world champion Kévin Estre then continued to move forward and despite picking up a five-second penalty for a pit-stop infringement, the pair went on to finish fourth.
“That was probably the best we could have achieved,” reflected Vanthoor. “The starting phase was very difficult because we first had to fight our way through the traffic. After that, there was already quite a gap to the front that we couldn’t close, since the Cadillac was simply the fastest car [in Brazil].”
“Third and fourth is a very good result for us in terms of the championship,” added Porsche’s Factory Motorsport LMDh Director, Urs Kuratle. “We weren’t able to beat Cadillac, but we had everyone else in our pocket. Our Porsche 963 worked perfectly, and the team and drivers did a flawless job over the entire weekend. We’re going in the right direction and looking forward to the rest of the season.”
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