Метка: Andre Lotterer

Second WEC crown more prestigious than maiden triumph in 2012

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Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer believes that winning the World Endurance Championship title this year means more than his 2012 triumph with Audi.

The German, who sealed the crown in Bahrain on Saturday with Porsche Penske Motorsport team-mates Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, suggested that his second world crown conveys more prestige than the maiden triumph secured in the inaugural season of the reborn WEC.

“There is more recognition for such an achievement in today’s circumstances,” Lotterer told Motorsport.com.

“You have to look at how the championship has come a long way.

“A lot of manufacturers have come, and they haven’t come just to participate — everyone has come to win.

“The competition now and the Balance of Performance that levels the field means the execution, operation and strategy, doing the perfect job through the season, is what is rewarded.

“I would say it is quite meaningful.”

Race winners #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and #2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish crosses the line

Race winners #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and #2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish crosses the line

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images

Lotterer stressed that he wasn’t necessarily picking this year’s Hypercar title with the Porsche 963 LMDh over his 2012 success with the Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 as a more significant highlight of his career.

“I wouldn’t say it means more to me, it’s just different,” said Lotterer, who is leaving the PPM squad for next season after Porsche’s decision to reduce its full-season driver line-up to two drivers.

“But we were quite dominant in 2012 and there wasn’t that much competition if i am honest.”

LMP1 newcomer Toyota was Audi’s only factory rival that season after it made a late decision to undertake more than a limited number of development races, its original plan following Peugeot’s withdrawal shortly before the start of the season.

Lotterer suggested that the world title should no longer be viewed as the poor relation to victory at Le Mans.

While Porsche won the drivers’ title this year with Lotterer, Estre and Vanthoor, it could manage a best finish of fourth in the 92nd running of Le Mans. 

“Previously in LMP1, Le Mans was the thing everyone wanted; it was all about Le Mans back then, he explained.

He added that back in the early years of the WEC revival “you kind of thought you’d lost the season” with a failure to win at Le Mans.

He described winning Le Mans with co-champions Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler as the “heroic part” of a WEC campaign in 2012 that included a further two victories and four podiums.

That is a reference to the Lotterer and his team-mates coming out on top in the battle with the sister Audi driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello despite the failure of hybrid system on their R18 early in the race.

Lotterer, 42, has no intention of retiring after losing his PPM drive with the end of his contract.

He revealed before the Bahrain 8 Hours that he is in talks with Porsche about a possible new role and is also in contact with other manufacturers.

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Porsche drops Lotterer from 2025 WEC line-up

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer has been dropped from Porsche’s factory World Endurance Championship squad as part of a revamp of its 2025 LMDh line-up.

The veteran of the German manufacturer’s LMP1, Formula E and LMDh campaigns since joining from Audi in 2017, who is on the cusp of this year’s WEC title with Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre, is one of three drivers leaving the twin arms of Porsche Penske Motorsport for next year. 

Frederic Makowiecki, like Lotterer part of the WEC Hypercar class squad since 2023, and Dane Cameron, winner of this year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship GTP title with Felipe Nasr, are also departing. 

What was described by Porsche as only a “tweak“ of its driver roster programmes involves reducing the full-time line-up from three to two drivers in the WEC. 

Vanthoor and Estre, who with Lotterer have a 35-point advantage going into next month’s WEC finale in Bahrain, will race as a duo next year aboard the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh in the regular six-hour races.

Michael Christensen keeps his seat in #5 PPM entry he has shared with Makiowiecki and Matt Campbell this year and will be joined by Julien Andlauer. 

The French Porsche factory driver has gained a seat in one of the factory cars after impressing at the wheel of the Proton Competition customer 963 in the WEC this season. 

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Campbell will return to the IMSA ranks after a solo season in one of the WEC cars and will team up with Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 PPM car in North America.

Cameron’s seat alongside Nasr will be taken by Briton Nick Tandy, who moves over from the sister car he has shared with Jaminet for the past two seasons. 

Jaminet and Campbell will respectively join the #5 and #6 crews for Le Mans and, according to Porsche’s press statement announcing the changes, “selected races”. 

That can be taken to mean the 10- and eight-hour races in Qatar and Bahrain that will bookend the 2025 WEC season. 

Estre and Vanthoor have likewise been nominated to drive the #6 and #7 IMSA cars for selected races in IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup.

Frenchman Makowiecki, 43, is leaving Porsche after 11 seasons predominantly in its GT ranks, which included a GTE Pro class win at Le Mans in 2022 and an overall victory in the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2018. 

He and Porsche have “agreed to conclude their collaboration”, read Porsche’s announcement. 

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Frederic Makowiecki

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: Marc Fleury

It stated that Lotterer and Cameron’s contracts with Porsche expire at the end of this year, but did not specifically state that they are leaving the employment of the manufacturer. When contacted by Motorsport.com, Porsche was unwilling to clarify the drivers’ status.

Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach said: “I’d like to thank Dane Cameron, Andre Lotterer and Frederic Makowiecki for their incredible work over the past three years [since the 963 started testing in January 2022].

“All three have played a significant role in us being able to celebrate great successes with the Porsche 963 on both sides of the Atlantic — in just the second year of competition.”

PPM’s decision to go to two drivers for the regular six-hour WEC races follows a debate over whether three drivers should be mandated in Hypercar.

It was sparked by the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac team choosing to use just two drivers in the six-hour WEC races this year. 

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Running two drivers offers an advantage in terms of track time during practice and, potentially, a strategic benefit in the races. 

Moves for a change in rules, led by WRT BMW team boss Vincent Vosse, were rejected after they did not find backing from a majority of manufacturers. 

Porsche made play of Andlauer’s status as one of its former junior drivers: its statement pointed out that he will become the fourth former junior after Christensen, Jaminet and Campbell to join the PPM 963 squad. 

No reference was made to a potential third PPM entry at Le Mans next June, the right to which it has won after claiming the IMSA title. 

Laudenbach stated last week that he expected to take up the entry and run an additional car in the double-points WEC round, as Porsche did in 2023 and ’24. 



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Ferrari AF Corse sneaks past Toyota for win

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In a thrilling finish to Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race on the Circuit of The Americas, a customer AF Corse-run 499P driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman at Austin took the win after a battle with Toyota. All mere hours after Charles Leclerc’s Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza earlier in the day.

Shwartzman inherited the lead from the No. 7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH with 40 minutes of the race to run when Kamui Kobayashi took a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement. The Japanese driver, teamed with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, came out of the pits nine seconds behind the Ferrari but quickly made up ground. Kobayashi was still closing at the end, but ran out of time, ending up just 1.7 seconds behind at the checkered flag.

That closeness emphasized a pulse-pounding late stage of the race. Toyota appeared to have a win in the bag as the race entered its final stages, having managed to get the undercut on the yellow Ferrari, which had led the majority of the first two thirds of the Lone Star Le Mans. 

Kobayashi took the wheel for the final two hours and pulled way from Shwartzman, building up a lead of 10 seconds only to lose it as penance for ignoring yellow flags at Turn 11.

The No. 83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar

The No. 83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar

Photo by: JEP

Third place at COTA went to the Le Mans-winning factory Ferrari crew of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco. They lacked the pace of the sister works 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessasndro Pier Guidi — but the second 499P posted a rare retirement for the factory team. Driveline issues (that followed a collision with an LMGT3 runner that had damaged a wheel rim) and then a spin while Giovinazzi was lapping one of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs conspired against the team.

Cadillac took fourth — its best result of the season — with the Ganassi-run V-Series.R shared by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn.

Alpine followed in fifth in the A424 LMDh shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi. They fought back from an early penalty after Habsburg locked up on the first lap and was penalized for the contact with Bamber at Turn 12 at the end of the long back straight.

The Signatech-run Alpine benefitted from a late penalty for Kevin Estre in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh for a yellow-flag infringement, which left the Penske-run car co-driven by Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer sixth at the flag.

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn

Photo by: JEP

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre fought through the field from 14th on the grid — with Estre surviving a clash with Sebastien Buemi in the second Toyota in the race’s fifth hour. Buemi, on an outlap, made contact with the Porsche as he moved over on the back straight to protect his position. He continued to move to the left, resulting in a second contact. The Toyota sustained a rear puncture and bodywork damage, before being given a 30-second stop-go penalty for causing a collision that left the car 15th and last of the classified finishers in Hypercar.

The best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs — the No. 20 car driven by Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde — was also hit with a late penalty of 100s for an energy in infringement. It lost a top-six position as a result, ending up in 13th at the finish.

The LMGT3 class was dominated by the American-flagged Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad. Its Vantage GT3 crewed by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas crossed the line with almost half a minute in hand over its nearest competitor to take the victory. Bronze-rated James, who’s also Heart of Racing’s team principal, laid the foundation for the squad’s first WEC victory since joining the series last year. The Briton converted pole position in the race lead and raced away from Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to finish

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to finish

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Heart of Racing’s run to victory was made easier when a clash between the Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini (which Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting) and the best of the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (the No. 81 entry driven by Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood) took both cars from contention.

That allowed the two Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs — running 1-2 in the class points coming into the Austin race — to come through to claim second and third positions. All in spite of receiving a Balance of Performance hit and carrying significant success balance.

Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm, and Klaus Bachler took second with 30 kg of success ballast, while the sister car of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, and Richard Lietz took third with 25 kg after the Shahin received a drive-through for a track limits violation.

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre still lead the championship on 125 points; Molina, Nielsen, Fuoco and de Vries and Kobayashi tied on 113 points.



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Estre’s «exceptional» pole lap «not 100% representative» of Porsche Le Mans pace

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The Porsche Penske factory team barely got one 963 into Hyperpole with an initial eighth time in the first qualifying session for Estre, before the #7 Toyota lost its laps due to causing a red flag, promoting Jota’s #12 Porsche into the top eight.

Driving the #6 car, Estre went on to snatch pole position for the legendary World Endurance Championship race with a last-gasp Hyperpole effort which was 0.148s clear of the closest Cadillac.

Asked by Motorsport.com if this qualifying result matched what he had been expecting or turned out somewhat better, Estre’s team-mate Andre Lotterer said it was «a bit better» and had a lot to do with his French team-mate’s remarkable lap at Circuit de la Sarthe.

«After the Test Day, we thought we were good, but after FP1, FP2 and qualifying, we saw it wasn’t so easy to be at the front,» Lotterer said. «Kevin really did an exceptional job, putting it in the top eight, in Hyperpole. We saw that not many Porsches were able to.

«Then, in Hyperpole, everything worked out well. An exceptional lap from him. It maybe is not 100% representative of the performance.»

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Nikolaz Godet

Just three hypercars failed to qualify within two seconds of the fastest car in Q1 – Dries Vanthoor’s #15 BMW – despite Le Mans being a particularly long track, with 13.626km covered in under three and a half minutes by the top-class machines.

«I feel like everyone is pretty level,» Lotterer reflected. «If you don’t optimise your whole package, you quickly end up left behind.»

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The three-time Le Mans winner with Audi is not too sure what to expect in the race, with the fastest Porsche reaching 338.1km/h in the speed trap – the ranking being topped by Mikkel Jensen’s #93 Peugeot with 343.4km/h. Isotta Fraschini, Alpine, Ferrari, Toyota and BMW also went faster than Porsche, with only Cadillac and Lamborghini less rapid.

«We don’t have crazy top speed,» Lotterer admits. «We’re a bit vulnerable on this. But then, overall pace is good. I don’t know how this will translate over several hours of racing; that will be interesting.»

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