Last weekend, the Porsche 956 that won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1983 was auctioned off by the Gooding company for more than 10 million dollars, and established a new sales record for one of the German manufacturer's cars.

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In 1995, McLaren surprised everyone by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the iconic F1 GTR. Thirty years later, the British manufacturer’s hopes lie with United Autosports and the McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo. After a steep learning curve throughout the 2024 campaign, can McLaren challenge for victory in LMGT3 in 2025?

McLaren&rsquo;s LMGT3 entry in the FIA WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans could mark a watershed in the 2025 season. To pay tribute to the 30th anniversary of the make&rsquo;s overall victory in the French endurance classic, United Autosports will run two McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evos. &ldquo;It is a very special year to be racing with McLaren in the WEC,&rdquo; says United Autosports CEO&nbsp;Richard Dean. &ldquo;This season is about building on strong foundations, winning races and going for the championship title, and we are doing that in a car that is proudly, unmistakeably McLaren.&rdquo;

<h2>A mammoth challenge following a difficult 2024 campaign</h2>

Despite McLaren&rsquo;s lofty ambitions, the manufacturer&rsquo;s return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year proved to be somewhat tricky. Both United Autosports 720S LMGT3 Evos were forced to retire, reflecting the challenging nature of a d&eacute;but WEC season. The Anglo-American outfit wrapped up a disappointing campaign in 9th and 14th positions in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Teams standings. 
United Autosports has revised its approach for 2025 and hired new drivers. The #59 McLaren will be driven by James Cottingham and Gr&eacute;goire Saucy. The pair were already onboard in 2024 but will this time be partnered by S&eacute;bastien Baud, who clinched the LMGT3 pole at the 8 Hours of Bahrain with TF Sport.&nbsp; Car #95 will be shared by Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Marino Sato.

The McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo has already shown its potential in several GT championships. Its aerodynamics and twin-turbo V8 engine make it a fearsome competitor over long distances. &ldquo;Now that we have proven the McLaren GT3 EVO&rsquo;s speed and endurance at the highest level of competition,&rdquo; says McLaren Automotive CEO Michael Leiters, &ldquo;we enter the new season confident of competing for the WEC title with our racing partner United Autosports. Racing is in the DNA of all our supercars and the WEC, with the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans at its heart, is the ideal competitive environment for them, so we are excited for what we can together deliver on the track this year.&rdquo;

The competition in LMGT3 will be tough with Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche all looking to play a leading role. However, McLaren will expect the lessons of the 2024 season to pay dividends and, with a reinforced squad, will hope to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Le Mans triumph in style next June.

<h2>McLaren celebrated at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum</h2>

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of McLaren&rsquo;s Le Mans triumph, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lemans-musee24h.com/en" target="_blank">24 Hours of Le Mans Museum</a>&nbsp;is currently hosting an exhibition entitled &ldquo;A Name for Eternity&rdquo;. Among the models and artefacts on display, visitors can admire the McLaren F1 GTR that won the 1995 race. A unique opportunity to relive this legendary feat.

Can McLaren renew with Le Mans success 30 years after a famous win?

The 2024-2025 Asian Le Mans Series has rendered its verdict, earning two new invitations to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans on 11-15 June. Algarve Pro Racing and Manthey have secured their entry tickets for the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

<h2>Algarve Pro Racing</h2>

Portuguese team&nbsp;Algarve Pro Racing has earned a spot on the starting grid at the 93rd&nbsp;24 Hours&nbsp;by winning the LMP2 class in the 2024-2025&nbsp;Asian Le Mans Series. With the #25 ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson entrusted to&nbsp;Malthe Jakobsen/Michael Jensen/Valerio Rinicella, the team executed a remarkable campaign, winning three of the six rounds on the championship calender. The car also clinched two fourth place finishes and one fifth. Algarve Pro Racing has scored an automatic invitation to compete once again in&nbsp;the LMP2 class. With eight participations at Le Mans to its credit, the outfit will be aiming squarely for the top step on the podium at the legendary race.

<h2>Manthey</h2>

The&nbsp;Manthey team is heading to this year&#39;s&nbsp;24 Hours after winning the&nbsp;GT class in the 2024-2025&nbsp;Asian Le Mans Series. Fielding a&nbsp;Porsche 911 GT3 R, the German outfit saw its efforts rewarded at the final race of the season when&nbsp;Antares Au/Klaus Bachler/Joel Sturm secured a decisive win and an automatic invitation to Le Mans. The team&nbsp;showed&nbsp;stunning consistency throughout the championship season, reaching the second step on the podium twice and a fourth and fifth place finishes.&nbsp;This blend&nbsp;of reliability&nbsp;and panache will allow Manthey&nbsp;to compete in LMGT3&nbsp;representing&nbsp;Porsche with the goal of holding its own against&nbsp;Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, McLaren and Mercedes-AMG.

Teams and drivers already invited to the 2025&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans:

<ul>
	<li>AO by TF, 2024&nbsp;ELMS champion&nbsp;(LMP2 invitation)</li>
	<li>Inter Europol Competition, 2024 ELMS runner-up&nbsp;(LMP2 invitation)</li>
	<li>AF Corse, 2024 ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am&nbsp;champion (LMP2 invitation)</li>
	<li>RLR M Sport, 2024 ELMS LMP3 class champion&nbsp;(LMP2 invitation)</li>
	<li>Iron Lynx, 2024 ELMS LMGT3 class&nbsp;champion&nbsp;(LMGT3 invitation)</li>
	<li>Porsche Penske Motorsport, champion&nbsp;(Hypercar invitation)</li>
	<li>Nick Boulle, LMP2&nbsp;champion and winner of the Jim Trueman trophy (LMP2 invitation)</li>
	<li>Orey Fidani, best&nbsp;Bronze driver in the&nbsp;IMSA last season and winner of the&nbsp;Bob Akin trophy</li>
</ul>

Two new invitations granted to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans

Portuguese team Algarve Pro Racing's #25 ORECA 07-Gibson has clinched the title in the 2024-2025 Asian Le Mans Series. Bretton Racing and Manthey were crowned in the LMP3 and GT classes.

The&nbsp;finale of the 2024-2025 Asian Le Mans Series season did not disappoint. The top step on the podium at Race 2, the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi, was claimed&nbsp;by AF Corse&#39;s #83 ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson shared&nbsp;by&nbsp;Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo/Alessio Rovera/Matthieu Vaxivi&egrave;re, but the LMP2 title went to the car that finished fourth, Algarve Pro Racing&#39;s #25 ORECA. Drivers Michael Jensen/Valerio Rinicella/Malthe Jakobsen&nbsp;had to fight their way from the back of the field&nbsp;after an unfortunate spin-out&nbsp;at the start..

High Class Racing&#39;s #49&nbsp;Ligier JS P320-Nissan won the&nbsp;LMP3 class and the championship title was secured by Bretton Racing&#39;s&nbsp;#26&nbsp;Ligier thanks to Jens Reno Moller and&nbsp;Theodor Jensen joined by&nbsp;Griffin Peebles for&nbsp;the four last races of the season.

In GT, Manthey&#39;s #10&nbsp;Porsche 911 GT3 R scored the title with gusto by winning the&nbsp;class at the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi. Antares Au has earned his first crown in the&nbsp;Asian Le Mans Series while teammates&nbsp;Klaus Bachler and&nbsp;Joel Sturm secured&nbsp;their second trophy in a row.

Algarve Pro Racing and&nbsp;Manthey have earned the teams coveted invitations to compete in the&nbsp;93rd&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans on 11-15 June.

Algarve Pro Racing wins the 2024-2025 Asian Le Mans Series

AF Corse has unveiled the #83 Ferrari 499P's new look destined for a second consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship season and the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans on 11-15 June.

The #83&nbsp;Ferrari 499P shared by Phil Hanson/Robert Kubica/Yifei Ye will once again sport a livery designed by&nbsp;Giallo Modena who already made it one of the most emblematic and popular cars in the Hypercar field after&nbsp;its debut last year.

This new livery reflects the distinctive lines of the 499Ps that triumphed at the 2023 and 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans&nbsp;with&nbsp;new red accents complementing&nbsp;the dominant yellow.

For&nbsp;its first season, the #83&nbsp;499P secured a&nbsp;victory&nbsp;at&nbsp;Lone Star Le Mans and earned two trophies in the FIA Endurance Hypercar Teams Championship by winning at Imola and&nbsp;Austin. The car was also a top contender at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans by leading the race for a staggering&nbsp;83 laps!

Team Manager Gabriele Marazzi: &ldquo;We are ready to start a new season in the FIA WEC. Over the winter we&#39;ve made some improvements to the composition of the team and, given the response from the pre-season tests, we can&#39;t wait to get on track in Qatar. The 2024 season was&nbsp;very positive, despite being our first experience with a private car in the premier class of the FIA WEC, but the goal is to continue to improve and collect more successes after those achieved in Imola and Austin.&quot;

Managing Director Giuseppe Petrotta: &ldquo;The 1812 km of Qatar will mark the start of a new and exciting season in the FIA WEC, in which AF Corse will once again compete as a private team with the Ferrari 499P number 83. After a first year in which we gained a lot of experience, we want to benefit from the hard work we have put in so far, with the aim of improving on our results in 2024.&rdquo;

Revamped livery, same ambitions for AF Corse’s #83 Ferrari 499P

In 1983, the win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans went to the trio Vern Schuppan, Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood. However, the history of the 956-003 chassis could have ended up reading quite differently: for no more than a few meters...&nbsp;

	<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iLaYb9CgK_U?feature=oembed" width="480"></iframe>

	&nbsp;

	Text: C&eacute;cile Bonardel / ACO -Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

	Video: YouTube - Goodingandcompany&nbsp;

24H LE MANS

Flashback to the winning Porsche 956 at Le Mans in 1983 (video)

Related News

Can McLaren renew with Le Mans success 30 years after a famous win?

Two new invitations granted to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans

Algarve Pro Racing wins the 2024-2025 Asian Le Mans Series

Revamped livery, same ambitions for AF Corse’s #83 Ferrari 499P

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