There are only five short weeks left before the start at the first round of the 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) Super Season! Every team is hard at work, and Aston Martin Racing is no exception.

24H Le Mans

Le Mans Series

24 Heures du Mans

FIA WEC

Porsche Penske Motorsport aims to make 24 Hours of Le Mans history next June with a 20th overall victory in the French endurance classic. The German manufacturer is working on every last detail of its 963 hypercar to meet this monumental challenge.

<h2>A strategy focused on Porsche 963 performance and innovation</h2>

Porsche has learned the lessons of <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/fia-wec-a-positive-2024-season-for-porsche-penske-motorsport-59162" target="_blank">a&nbsp;successful 2024 season</a>&nbsp;(wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Qatar 1812 Km and the 6 Hours of Fuji in the FIA WEC, and pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans), albeit one slightly tarnished by being ultimately pipped at the post in the race for the manufacturers&rsquo; title, losing out by just two points. &ldquo;The competition will be even tougher in the 2025 season,&rdquo;&nbsp;warns&nbsp; Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach. &ldquo;Our rivals will progress, and new competition will come onboard too. We feel well prepared. In the past few months, we have carried out intensive analyses. The results have already been incorporated into our preparations for the coming season.&rdquo;

Key to this strategy, therefore, is the work of the engineers in Weissach and at Porsche Penske Motorsport who are introducing significant alterations to the suspension of the Porsche 963. These adjustments are designed to optimise the hypercar&rsquo;s behaviour according to the characteristics of each circuit. An essential asset for a competitive edge in both the FIA WEC and in IMSA.

<h2>The 24 Hours of Le Mans, a core objective</h2>

On top of the technical preparations and organisational adjustments, Porsche hopes to strengthen its hand at Le Mans by potentially entering a third car. The German carmaker has picked up this third golden ticket along with its 2024 IMSA title. A decision will be made in the coming weeks. Lining up a third challenger would naturally improve the odds in the face of some tough competition.

As usual, Porsche Penske Motorsport is leaving no stone unturned in its ultimate quest &ndash; adding a 20th 24 Hours of Le Mans win to the manufacturer&rsquo;s role of honour. With improved suspension, <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/porsche-reshuffles-lineups-for-2025-59081">top-notch driver line-ups</a> and a restructured global organisation, all the signs seem to be positive for making 2025 a historic year for the German marque.

<h2>FAQ &ndash;&nbsp;Find out all about Porsche&rsquo;s 2025 Hypercar&nbsp;programme</h2>

What are Porsche Penske Motorsport&rsquo;s objectives for 2025?

The main target is to earn a history-making 20th win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to clinch the FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers&rsquo; and drivers&rsquo; titles.

What alterations have been made to the Porsche 963?

The engineers have improved the suspension to better adapt the Hypercar to the track characteristics of the various championship venues.

Who are Porsche Penske Motorsport&rsquo;s new drivers for 2025?

Julien Andlauer is joining the factory team and will partner Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche 963. The #6 car will be driven by K&eacute;vin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. Porsche will add a third driver to these line-ups for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mathieu Jaminet will join Andlauer and Christensen, while Matt Campbell will be in the #6 car.

Will Porsche enter a third car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

The decision has not yet been made, but Porsche won an invitation with its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title this season. This could boost its chances of success in the race. With the Proton Competition customer team also in the mix, there might well be four Porsche 963s on the grid at next year&rsquo;s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Who are Porsche&rsquo;s main rivals in the Hypercar class?

In 2025, Porsche will face prestigious manufacturers such as Toyota, Ferrari, Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Peugeot and Aston Martin in its quest for victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Will Porsche’s new suspension provide springboard for 20th Le Mans win?

Two thrilling races got the Asian Le Mans Series 2024-25 season off to a flying start in Sepang. With closely fought battles, unpredictable weather and awesome feats on the menu, the Malaysian weekend certainly lived up to its promise.

<h2>RD Limited make a stunning impact in Race 1</h2>

Race 1 of the 4 Hours of Sepang offered a breathtaking finale with a historic win for RD Limited, the team set up owned by two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas. Fred Poordad, James Allen and Tristan Vautier clinched victory in an epic finish with their Oreca 07-Gibson edging out the AF Corse #83 car driven by Matthieu Vaxiviere by just 55 thousandths of a second after four hours of racing.

Despite four safety car periods, the intensity continued to ramp up as the race progressed. The final lap saw a spectacular tussle between Vautier and Vaxiviere, with the AF Corse driver briefly taking the lead before the RD Limited Oreca regained the advantage on the final turn.

In LMP3, Matteo Quintarelli of French team Ultimate saw off High Class Racing&rsquo;s Anders Fjordbach to win in the #35 Ligier JS P320-Nissan prototype. The #57 Ferrari 296 GT3 fielded by Car Guy took the GT class ahead of the #51 of AF Corse.

&nbsp;

<h2>Algarve Pro Racing storms to victory in Race&nbsp;2</h2>

Race 2 of the 4 Hours of Sepang was shook by a violent storm which forced the race to be red-flagged in the last hour. An audacious tyre change saw reigning LMP2 champions Algarve Pro Racing emerge victorious. Malthe Jakobsen, Michael Jensen and Valerio Rinicella led the #25 Oreca 07-Gibson to the chequered flag after switching to slicks at the right moment.

The temperamental weather tested the teams&rsquo; nerve as it turned the event into a real strategic puzzle.

Ultimate repeated the previous day&rsquo;s feat in LMP3, thanks to St&eacute;phane L&eacute;meret, Bence Valint and Matteo Quintarelli, hereby building a comfortable lead in the championship race. In GT, the #81 Mercedes-AMG of Winward Racing, driven by Rinat Salikhov, Gabriele Piana and Jules Gounon, overcame fierce competition to secure the win.

&nbsp;

4 Hours of Sepang Race 2 Highlights

Asian Le Mans Series 2024-2025 : les meilleurs moments de la course 2 des 4 Heures de Sepang

<h2>Battle has commenced!</h2>

The first two races of the season have begun to reveal which teams will be a force to be reckoned with. Here&#39;s how they stand:

<ul>
	<li>LMP2: RD Limited lead the way with a seven-point lead over AF Corse with Pure Rxcing a further three points behind.</li>
	<li>LMP3: Ultimate hold an eight-point lead over High Class Racing.</li>
	<li>GT: Car Guy have taken control, leading AF Corse by seven points and Kessel Racing by ten.</li>
</ul>

The 4 Hours of Sepang have laid the foundations for an exciting season with intense track battles in store in every class. All eyes now turn to the 4 Hours of Dubai where the competitors will again run two races on 8-9 February 2025.

Asian Le Mans Series – RD Limited and Algarve Pro Racing shine in Sepang

Le Mans, Ignite your Senses | At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, dawn is a fleeting moment when the soft, slanting light of the early hours bathes the circuit in a magical glow. There is something unique about it that captivates photographers and racegoers alike.

<h2>A challenge and a quest for photographers</h2>

For&nbsp;Alexis Goure, one of the official photographers at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, sunrise is a hard-earned reward after several gruelling days of work. Yet, it&rsquo;s a moment that can never be taken for granted. It demands patience, preparation and a good dose of instinct.&nbsp;&ldquo;The light at daybreak is very precious. We&rsquo;re not guaranteed a gorgeous sunrise every year.&nbsp;You need to know the best vantage points, understand the sun&rsquo;s path, and sometimes dash from one spot to another to make the most of those&nbsp;15 or 20 minutes&nbsp;of magical light,&rdquo;&nbsp;the photographer explains.

The low-angled light streaming through the trees, the shifting shadows and the dramatic backlighting lend the atmosphere an ethereal beauty at this time of day. For photographers, it&rsquo;s a golden opportunity to capture iconic images, like the one taken in 2014 with a Porsche&nbsp;919 Hybrid almost lost in a cloud of dust at the Forest Esses.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the kind of shot that tells a story, revealing both the power and the fragility of these racing machines,&rdquo;&nbsp;explains Alexis.

<h2>Daybreak, a sacred moment for spectators too</h2>

For racegoers, dawn is just as special. Michel, a devoted fan who has been coming to the 24 Hours for over sixty years, describes it as almost sacred.&nbsp;&ldquo;That in-between time, between night and day, is magical&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;it&rsquo;s when a lot of the fans are waking up and we find ourselves wrapped in&nbsp;a veil of mist. Dawn is when we start reflecting&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;wondering what it all means, and what the drivers are really chasing as they go round and round the track for hours.&rdquo; 
At this point in the race, the drivers are battling exhaustion and seem to adopt a different attitude. Michel, who often watches this phase of the race from the Arnage corner, comments: &ldquo;Their driving becomes almost instinctive, pure.&nbsp;Their reactions are different compared to the start of the race. You can feel the tiredness and you can tell that it&rsquo;s been a long race for them.&rdquo;

Dawn is also&nbsp;a test for the spectators. Staying awake until daybreak feels like a personal victory, so it&rsquo;s a way of connecting with the drivers. &ldquo;When you see the day dawning, you share in their endurance, their struggle against the fatigue,&rdquo; Michel continues. 
And the visual experience? There&rsquo;s a striking contrast between the cars&rsquo; headlights, still piercing the early morning shadows, and the soft glow of the new day. The sun&rsquo;s rays filter through the trees, casting reflections on the track and creating a scene where, just for an instant, the race seems to take a back seat to the sheer beauty of the moment.

<h2>Alexis Goure&rsquo;s tips for sunrise photography</h2>

For Alexis, daybreak is the ideal time to&nbsp;broaden your perspective: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t limit yourself to the cars on the track.&nbsp;This is your chance to capture the atmosphere&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;the fans emerging from their sleeping bags, details from around the circuit, all bathed in this special light.&rdquo; 
It&rsquo;s an opportunity to see the 24 Hours from a different angle, to appreciate it as an extraordinary human and visual experience.

Daybreak at Le Mans is about more than the competition&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;it is a celebration of resilience and beauty. In that fleeting moment, spectators and photographers alike reconnect with the very essence of endurance racing:&nbsp;staying the course, pushing forward and finding the light.

Sunrise at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: lighting the way ahead

Applications to enter the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans open today, so what better time to unveil the track action scheduled for June 2025? We are introducing a new format to determine the starting grid and have a host of exciting support races lined up!

The Scrutineering sessions held at Place de la&nbsp;R&eacute;publique in Le Mans on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 June are free to attend. These sessions kick off the countdown to the race. The administrative and technical checks involve the 62 cars and the 186 drivers entered for the endurance marathon.&nbsp; 
 
Track action begins on Sunday 8 June. The whole field takes part in Test Day, when teams experiment their settings and rookie drivers get their first taste of the taxing circuit, recently voted France&rsquo;s favourite monument. As well as these two sessions, spectators can cheer on the Ligier European Series competitors in the Le Mans round on the same day. 
&nbsp;

<h4>NEW, EVEN MORE SPECTACULAR QUALIFYING FORMAT</h4>

At the finish of the last 24 Hours of Le Mans there were nine cars in the same lap. Nine! That fact proves the importance of starting the race among the leaders.&nbsp; 
 
This year, to offer competitors and spectators an ever more spectacular race experience, the qualifying sessions have been reviewed. 
 
On Wednesday 11 June, LMP2 and LMGT3 teams take to the track for the 30-minute qualifying session. The top 12 will go through to the Hyperpole session the following day, which decides the top slots on the starting grid.&nbsp;The Hypercar session will take place shortly afterwards. The top 15 prototypes go through to Hyperpole.&nbsp; 
 
On Thursday 12 June there will be two Hyperpole sessions (H1 and H2).&nbsp;

The 24 LMGT3 and LMP2s qualified for Hyperpole take to the track for a 20-minute battle (H1). Then the top eight in each class go through to H2 (15 minutes), which determines the starting grid.&nbsp; 
The Hypercars follow a similar format. The 15 qualified prototypes compete in H1 to decide which 10 go through to H2. Then comes an epic 15-minute showdown to determine who will start the race in the best position on Saturday.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<h4>SPECTATOR-FRIENDLY SUPPORT RACES</h4>

Hear that sound? We&rsquo;re sure you recognise the growl of a Ford Mustang V8 engine. The LMGT3&rsquo;s little sisters will be at Le Mans for the first time, in the Mustang Challenge. All Mustang Challenge entrants and qualified owners of a Ford Mustang Dark Horse R are invited to compete. Join us on Wednesday for two Free Practice sessions and on Thursday for Qualifying. The races take place on Friday and Saturday.

 
The Porsche Sprint Challenge is a major fixture of endurance. Fans enjoy the familiar roar of the famous flat 6 engines. Free Practice for this series is scheduled for Wednesday 11 June, Qualifying on Thursday 12 June, with the two races on Thursday and Friday. 
 
Finally, Road to Le Mans will pit LMP3 and GT3 prototypes against each other during the two races on Thursday and Saturday. Prior to the races, the competitors, who numbered <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/road-to-le-mans-grid-maxed-out-once-again-with-58-entries-58580">58 last year</a>, will have the opportunity to test the course on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 June during Free Practice and Qualifying.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<h4>PREDICTING THE WINNER IS A HAZARDOUS ENTERPRISE</h4>

The 62 competitors set off in pursuit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy at 16:00 on Saturday 14 June. No less than 13 makes are on the grid of the fourth round in the FIA World Endurance Championship, eight in the top class:&nbsp;Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the two Aston Martin Valkyries entering the fray this year. Nine makes line up in LMGT3: Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren and Porsche. FIA WEC newcomer Mercedes-AMG has two cars fielded by Italian team Iron Lynx.&nbsp;

If you haven&rsquo;t booked tickets yet, there&rsquo;s still a chance to see the field in action. There <a href="https://ticket.24h-lemans.com/selection/event/date?productId=10229239928157&amp;gtmStepTracking=true">are great offers on tickets</a> for the practice and qualifying sessions, including the nail-biting Hyperpole sessions (from &euro;23 for students). For the ultimate 24 Hours of Le Mans experience, there are several VIP packages available.&nbsp; 
 
Le Mans is more than a race, it&rsquo;s a festival for the senses, with a host of trackside activities and live music to enjoy. Watch this space for details of all the off-track entertainment!&nbsp;

Head to <a href="https://ticket.24h-lemans.com/content">ticket.24h-lemans.com</a> to see all our offers.

On track at the next 24 hours of Le Mans!

24 Heures du Mans 2018

It&#39;s almost that time! The&nbsp;2018-2019 Super Season of the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) - the result of an exceptionally adjusted calendar that will cover a year and a half and come to a close with the 2019 edition of the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans - is about to kick off.

In addition to BMW&#39;s arrival in the FIA WEC and on the international stage, there is another new element to the highly competitive LMGTE Pro class. The&nbsp;Aston Martin Racing team will field an all-new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lemans.org/en/news/wec-the-new-aston-martin-vantage-gte-unveiled/47741" target="_blank">Vantage</a>&nbsp;it has been developing at the MotorLand Arag&oacute;n circuit in Spain (video)&nbsp;and at&nbsp;Spa-Francorchamps (tweet). Aston Martin won the&nbsp;LMGTE Pro class at last year&#39;s&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans thanks to Darren Turner, Jonny Adam and&nbsp;Daniel Serra after an epic duel with the #63&nbsp;Corvette shared by&nbsp;Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and&nbsp;Jordan Taylor. This year, Darren Turner, Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen, Jonny Adam, Maxime Martin and&nbsp;Alex Lynn will represent the British marque.

Only five weeks remain before the launch of the 2018-2019 Super Season of the FIA WEC at the&nbsp;Total 6 Hours of&nbsp;Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on May&nbsp;5th. The round serves as a rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 16-17).

24H LE MANS

The countdown to the WEC Super Season has begun for Aston Martin Racing (video)

Related News

Will Porsche’s new suspension provide springboard for 20th Le Mans win?

Asian Le Mans Series – RD Limited and Algarve Pro Racing shine in Sepang

Sunrise at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: lighting the way ahead

On track at the next 24 hours of Le Mans!

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