WEC | Porsche takes it all in Spa and goes wide: “Now Le Mans!”

It’s a huge celebration at Porsche at the end of the 6h of Spa-Francorchamps, where a triple victory with also a double was achieved for the second time in the 2024 season of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship.

What prevailed at the end of the highly controversial Belgian race was the private 963 of Jota, which with the duo formed by the very fast Callum Ilott and Will Stevens not only triumphed overall by maintaining a great pace on the restart after the red flag, but also sets for the second time in the ranking of private teams in the Hypercar category.

The luck for the Weissach manufacturer was to find itself with the aforementioned LMDh of the English team and the official 963 #6 of Penske in the hands of Laurens Vanthoor/André Lotterer/Kévin Estre which had just stopped when the accident occurred of the Cadillac that stopped the race.

With the Stewards’ decision to restart the contest by adding 1h44′ on the clock, the two Porsches were in fact put in a position to take off comfortably, while all the other cars had to return to the pits when operations resumed, inevitably losing ground.

“It was absolutely incredible! I knew we would be strong this weekend, our pace was good and we managed to take advantage of the red flag perfectly. In the end, we benefited from it. Sometimes things pay off as they should!”, he beams Ilott.

Stevens adds: “Incredible victory, if we consider that we debuted with this car just a year ago right here in Spa. The whole team worked hard to achieve this result. We were certainly lucky to have refueled just before the red flag, but we also had a very strong car that in the end showed great potential and pace, improving race by race since last year.”

For the #6, however, a very precious second place arrives because it keeps it at the top of the championship, as Vanthoor underlines: “This time we had luck on our side in difficult conditions. But we also did everything possible to put ourselves in the right position. In In terms of the championship, we are happy to have achieved another second place: being the leader is a great feeling. However, we still have work to do for the next race in Le Mans.”

Too bad for the #5 of Christensen/Campbell/Makowiecki, which ended up out due to an error by the Dane when he was in contention for the top: “I had a problem in ‘Blanchimont’, the wind created variable conditions in this high-speed corner : sometimes it allows you to push hard and sometimes it doesn’t. I ended up a little too wide, despite still being within the limits of the track, when the underbody hit the curb.”

“As a result, I lost control of the car and it’s a shame for the whole team. Up until that point, we were doing very well in the race. Sometimes small mistakes have big consequences.”

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Honorable mention for the Porsche #99 of Proton Competition, which with Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer had also led in the initial stages with great skill, before also being mocked by the red flag and so on.

“It was the best weekend so far for us, our preparations went very well in the test sessions for the first time this season. The set-up was right, as were the tyres, the strategy and the energy management – the the rest was pure competitive spirit”, comments Andlauer, in Top5 at the end and author of sensational overtakings that also drew applause in the press room, especially those at the Eau Rouge-Raidillon.

“After the red flag, we initially slipped from third to ninth place. In the last two hours I tried to make up as much ground as possible and gave it my all, but I wasn’t able to do better than fifth place. Now we are very motivated for the next one appointment”.

Great satisfaction cannot be missed in the words of Urs Kuratle, Director of Porsche’s official LMDh program: “We probably experienced one of the craziest endurance races in history. There were some serious accidents, but all the people involved remained unharmed: this is the most important thing”.

“Heartiest congratulations to Jota who did an incredible job. They deserved this victory. Proton Competition also put in a high level performance and looked promising for a long stretch, but was ultimately hampered by the red flag. Once again we took the second step of the podium ahead of Le Mans, we feel excellently prepared.”

Roger Penske echoes this: “While we always look to the next challenge, we are proud to have achieved the 100th sportscar Pole for Team Penske. These competitions are an important part of our team’s heritage, so this represents a significant milestone.” .

“The success of Porsche Penske Motorsport this season is a reflection of the hard work and commitment of our team members and partners in building this program. We appreciate the achievement of 100 Poles and are now focused on reaching the next milestone : get our hundredth victory.”

GT3 podium: Spa 6 Hours winner #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz, second place #92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler, third place #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Franck Perera

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The memorable day for the German manufacturer is even more so for what happened in the LMGT3 Class, where the 911 GT3 R of Manthey EMA prevailed in a breathtaking finale which saw the Lietz/Shahin/Schuring trio take the victorious finish line they #91.

But the masterpiece was achieved by the neighbors from Manthey PureRxcing, rebuilding the #92 car that was destroyed in Alex Malykhin’s accident during Friday Qualifying.

Having completed the operations at dawn on Saturday, the Russian together with Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm recovered from the bottom of the standings to finish in second place, after having battled with the #91 for the lead ceded by the Lamborghini of Iron Lynx, forced to refuel on the last lap, holding onto the championship lead.

“After rebuilding our #92 Porsche practically overnight, we can say that this was an extremely intense race weekend,” says Nicki Raeder, CEO of Manthey.

“However, we managed to take home the victory. The sister car #91 simply had more fuel reserve at the end, while the #92 had to save a lot of fuel to keep the Lamborghini at bay. I am extremely proud of everyone. It was truly special teamwork.”