Porsche celebrates double victory at Le Mans 24 Hours

Alvin Uy June 22,2018

Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche GT Team (92), Michael Christensen (DK), Kevin Estre (F) Laurens Vanthoor (B), Le Mans 2018
Le Mans: 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018 on June, 12, 2018, (Photo by Antonin Vincent )

Porsche celebrates another historic victory by winning both GTE classes at the world’s toughest long distance race. In the pro-category, car #92 Porsche 911 RSR driven by trio Kévin Estre (France), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) led for almost the entire distance totalling 344 laps in the 13.626-kilometre racetrack. Their win in the 86th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours is the 106th class victory for Porsche.

Sister car #91 driven by Richard Lietz (Austria), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) rounded off the double victory for Porsche in the GTE-Pro class in second place, extending Porsche’s lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ classifications of the FIA WEC world championship.

“An absolutely perfect weekend for Porsche,” said Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. “You can’t wish for more than this in our anniversary year. It’s impossible to plan such a thing, but when it happens it’s an indescribable feeling. Congratulations to the drivers, the teams and all the employees who made this success possible. It makes me very proud.”

Porsche GT Team (91), Frederic Makowiecki (F), Richard Lietz (A), Gianmaria Bruni (I), Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser (Porsche-Motorsportchef), Porsche GT Team (92), Michael Christensen (DK), Kevin Estre (F) Laurens Vanthoor (B), Le Mans 2018

Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche GT Team (92), Michael Christensen (DK), Kevin Estre (F) Laurens Vanthoor (B), Le Mans 2018

The #77 Porsche fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing also celebrated an impressive win in the GTE-Am class. Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell (Australia), Christian Ried (Germany) and Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer (France) further notched up the 107th class win for Porsche. At just 18 years of age, Julien Andlauer has become the youngest class winner at Le Mans.

Unfortunately, the second car fielded by the Dempsey-Proton Racing team (#88) was sidelined with suspension damage, the 510 hp 911 (#99) run by Proton Competition narrowly missed out on a podium spot in fourth place. The Porsche 911 RSR with the starting number 80 (Ebimotors) and 56 (Team Project 1) finished the Le Mans 24-hour marathon on sixth and seventh respectively. The vehicle campaigned by Gulf Racing (#86) was relegated to the back of the field at the beginning of the race after becoming entangled in an accident caused by another competitor. Pulling out all stops, the team fought their way back up the order to finish on tenth.

Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche GT Team (91), Gianmaria Bruni (I), Richard Lietz (A), Frederic Makowiecki (F), Le Mans 2018

“We prepared meticulously for this race and have worked towards this for months. The entire team did a perfect job. We’re incredibly proud of this double victory in the GTE-Pro class and of winning the amateur classification. This is a fantastic achievement from our employees. Porsche belongs to Le Mans and Le Mans belongs to Porsche,” said Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche AG, on the double victory.

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