Ferrari closes on WEC title with 3 cars in Texas top ten
Porsche Penske Racing stole its first World Endurance Championship win of the season when reigning champions Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor sharing with Matt Campell, steered their 963 to Lone Star Le Mans victory at Austin in Texas on Sunday. McLaren meantime took its maiden WEC LMGT3 victory when Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung emerged on top of a thrilling fight to the finish.
Both factory Ferraris finishing in the top five however consolidated the Italian team’s stranglehold on the 2025 Manufacturers Championship. Ferrari’s fifth placed crew, Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi meantime extended their advantage in the Drivers’ title chase.
The race started in driving rain behind the safety car, before it was red flagged until conditions improved. It essentially became a four hour race, once it finally went green. Conditions however improved dramatically to deliver a wild sprint to the finish as Estre’s 6 Porsche 963 pounced on Alessandro Pier Guidi’s 51 Ferrari for the lead just as the sixth safety car of the race came to an end.
Peugeot, Aston Martin Starred in Texas
Contact in the overtake caused a puncture on the Ferrari, for which Estre was reprimanded. However, while the Ferraris reigned early on, the Porsche had better pace in the drier latter stages. The contact left the Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nick Nielsen 50 Ferrari to fight back to second. From Peugeot 9X8 crew Loic Duval, Michael Jakobsen and Stefan Vandoorne.
It was an impressive outing Peugeot. It bounced back from a cruel qualifying penalty to end third with the di Resta Jensen Vergne car fourth. Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi significantly clawed back to fifth. To extend their and Ferrari’s firm grip on the 2025 World Endurance Championship.
Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button emerged the better Cadillac V Series R in sixth. The American machines fought back from using the wrong qualifying tyres and started at the back of the Hypercar pack. Conversely Robert Kubica put the yellow privateer AF Corse Ferrari on pole position. Before he Ye and Hanson ran strong until slowed by a chaotic pitstop to end seventh.
Porsche moved ahead on drying track
The second Lynn Nato Stevens Cadillac followed from Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa in the better Toyota. And the second Andlauer Christensen Jaminet Porsche followed in tenth after and adventurous outing. It was a weekend to forget for Alpine when Chatin Habsburg Milesi slumped to eleventh, and equally so for BMW. Vanthoor, Marciello and Magnussen survived to twelfth after the sister car failed to escape the safety car hours.
The privateer Proton Porsche was another to plummet when it spun after a strong run in the wet. The second Toyota came back to 14th after being craned out of the sand following a spin. The crash repaired second Alpine was the final finisher. Aston Martin’s best outing yet came to nought when the wailing Valkyries were scuppered by debris in the radiators in the final hour.
Behind the Hypercar drama, Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung came out on top of a superb LMGT3 race to take McLaren’s first win in their 720S GT3 EVO. They crossed the line a close second behind Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr’s Ferrari 296 GT3.
McLaren takes Texas LMGT3 on Ferrari penalty
But the Ferrari was penalised five seconds. For earlier barging Ben Barker’s leading Ford Mustang GT3 out of the way. That droped the 296 GT3 to third. Behind shared by Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy’s 46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, which itself fought back from two penalties.
The other Shahin Boguslavskiy Farfus BMW, the second Cottingham Baud Saucy McLaren and the James Robichon Drudi Aston Martin Vantage followed. The pole-sitting Barker Tuck Sousa Ford Mustang slipped to eighth on the wrong tyres for the drying final stint. Hardwick, Pera and Lietz were best LMGT3 Porsche in ninth from the Gattuso Levorato Olsen Mustang. Both of them dropping from the top three, also on less than ideal tyres in the end.
That leaves the Pera Lietz Hardwick Porsche in a 19 point LMGT3 championship lead over the Rovera Heriau Mann Ferrari and the Keating Juncadella Edgar Corvette. That saw Ferrari extended its Hypercar Manufacturer’s Championship lead to 65 points, now over Porsche, which now sits second, just four points clear of Cadillac.
Ferrari on brink of first title endurance since ‘72
Ferrari crews, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado lead Philip Hanson, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye by fifteen points in the Hypercar chase. Porsche duo Estre and Vanthoor sit third, just four points clear of Ferrari trio Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen, with Cadillac men Lynn, Nato, and Stevens close behind. Hanson, Kubica and Ye’s yellow Ferrari has all but clinched the ’25 WEC Privateer Team’s Cup.
Importantly, Texas more or less saw a return to the World Endurance Championship Balance of Performance status quo after races that raised some questions. If anything, the teams that struggled in Austin did so by their own devices.
It’s a short three-week stretch to the penultimate 2025 World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Fuji. Ferrari has won thirteen world endurance championships since 1953, the last of which was the World Championship of Makers in 1972. Can Ferrari relieve multiple champions Gazoo Toyota of its title at home in Japan? Tune in on 28 September!