Porsche take victory in wet weather hectic Lone Star Le Mans
- Aaron Carroll
- Sep 8
- 7 min read
The No.6 Porsche Penske car has taken the victory in a hectic race in COTA. Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell withstood the conditions to reign supreme.
The 2025 Lone Star Le Mans got off to a slow start in wet condtions, with the race beginning under the safety car (SC).
From there, the early part of the race was plagued by the endless SC and low visibility. Julien Andlauer in the No.5 Porsche found that out the hard way, spinning around at low speed, losing positions.
After about 15 minutes under caution, LMGT3 cars began to come into the pits, resetting their stint timers and taking splashes of fuel. This was just to pre-empt a green flag, one that never came.
During these stops, René Rast in the No.20 BMW Hypercar stopped on the outside of turn 2 with a hybrid issue. That spelled the end of the race for half of the BMW Hypercar effort, before it ever really got going.
Then came what some would describe as one of the strangest motorsport moments. The race directors realised about an hour into the race that the SC needed to be refuelled.
This would mean bringing SC A into the pits, and swapping out for SC B. However the change was not properly communicated to the teams and drivers. So when the first SC pit, the leading No.83 followed it in. As did most of the confused field.
A handful of cars stayed out, leading to the No.36 Alpine leading, and the No.95 McLaren LMGT3 in third place overall. To sort the confusion, the race was red flagged.
After about half an hour of stoppage, the race director called each of the cars away one by one in the order they had been in on the lap before the incident.
We then got our first laps of green flag racing with almost two hours gone, after another handful of laps under the now refuelled SC.
The drivers were clearly eager to get going, as the action came flying in left, right and centre. Both Andlauer in the No.5 and Alex Riberas in the No.009 Aston Martin flew up the order, the two being clearly the fastest early on.
About 10 minutes into the green flag running though, the No.15 BMW ran wide in turn 2, then the No.007 Aston Martin followed, but the Valkyrie collected the wall. The No.36 Alpine followed both, hitting the barrier heavy. Both the No.36 and No.007 had damage, but got going again after.
There was another 20 minute SC, which included pit stops and driver changes for most of the field. When we went green it was the No.83 Ferrari that led the way still, from the No.51.
At this point, Loic Duval in the No.94 Peugeot and Earl Bamber in the No.38 Cadillac began making moves up the order. Simon Mann in the No.21 GT3 Ferrari had a short spin, while Duval and Bamber caught Riberas in the No.009.
They both got through, while the lead battle closed in. James Calado was all over Phil Hanson, as the latter's rear tyres were beginning to fall off a cliff. Calado was eventually let by in the No.51 to take the lead.
In LMGT3 the two McLarens were scrapping over third place, with the No.59 beating out the No.95. Behind them it was the No.46 BMW defending from the championship leading No.92 Porsche.
The No.5 Porsche was catching the No.99 Proton Porsche, but the privateer 963 went off the road in the final sector and beached it in the gravel. This brough out yet another SC, as the martials got Nico Varrone on his way.
Everyone took this opportunity to pit again as we approached the halfway mark in the race. The No.83 crew had a very slow stop, ending up in fifth after entering the pits in second.
That meant on the green flag, the No.51 Ferrari led the No.6 Porsche, with the No.50 Ferrari in third.
The No.38 and the No.7 Hypercars both had spins in tight LMGT3 traffic, narrowly avoiding collisions with other cars. The No.15 BMW and No.5 Porsche also had spins soon afterwards.
There was also some intense racing between the two BMWs for lower positions in LMGT3, with the No.10 and No.88 cars also fighting it out.
The next SC came for the No.7 Toyota, which spun twice in the same lap. The second left the car beached in the gravel. The No.33 Corvette was also stopped on the road, with a separate mechanical issue.
When we went back to green flag racing, the No.6 Porsche of Kevin Estre went down the inside on the race leading Ferrari. The two made light contact but the Porsche took the lead. It turned out that the contact had given the Ferrari a puncture, destroying their race.
After about 10 minutes of green flag running, the No.87 Lexus hit the wall and was stuck just before pit entry. The incident would mean the end of the race for that entry. The No.33 Corvette also had a suspension failure, but was able to limp back to the pits.
We went green then again, with Kubica in the No.83 in fifth looking vulnerable to the No.007 Aston Martin of Harry Ticknell behind. In LMGT3, the No.95 McLaren on Marino Sato and the No.77 Ford of Ben Tuck had an aggressive battle for the lead.
The Ford hung on, but there was a lot of banging and shoving from those two.
Then Alex Lynn in the No.12 Cadillac was trying to get by the No.50 for second, while Tickenell made the move on the No.83.
The No.83 continued to fall down the order, behind the No.94 Peugeot too. The FCY was then deployed after the No.88 Ford tagged the No.60 Mercedes and the Iron Lynx car was stranded on the side of the track.
On the green flag, the battle to watch was for second overall. Lynn in the No.12 Cadillac was all over the back of the No.50, however unable to get by.
Estre still lead however in the No.6, setting the fastest lap of the race on the first full green lap.
As we headed into the final hour, strategy became more prominent. A dry line was appearing, but it was plausible to get to the end without pitting.
Around this time, the No.83 was given a drive-through penalty, which put them outside the points scoring positions.
In LMGT3, the No.54 Ferrari went for a move on the No.95 McLaren and made it stick to get into second place in the class. Behind them, the No.92 Porsche was in fifth, looking for a way past the sister No.59 McLaren.
The No.5 Porsche was also overtaken by the No.94 Peugeot for fourth overall. Ahead the No.12 of Lynn was still looking for a way past Miguel Molina in the No.50.
The No.007 Aston Martin reported engine issues too at this stage as they slowly fell down the order. Behind them was the recovering No.51 Ferrari, at the hands of Alessandro Pier Guidi.
The No.93 Peugeot soon also got by the No.5 Porsche, like the sister car had done before it. The No.009 also pit with 45 minutes to go, taking fuel and new wet tyres.
There was a spin for Kubica in the No.83, allowing the two Aston Martins to get close to the back. The yellow Ferrari was tagged by the No.31 BMW LMGT3, and sent spinning.
Ricard Lietz in the No.92 Porsche was still battling the McLaren, while the No.12 Cadillac pit for tyres and fuel and the No.51 Ferrari got by the No.5 Porsche for fifth. The No.77 racing leader in GT3 pit too.
The No.15 BMW Hypercar was the first of the cars to gamble on slicks. It was immediately clear it was too early, as Dries Vanthoor was slower than LMGT3s when he emerged.
The No.31 BMW was the second to take the gamble, immediately after Vanthoor had repitted for wets. The No.54 Ferrari that was fighting for the lead took slicks too, as did many other LMGT3s. The No.92 Porsche was one of the few to stay on the wets.
With just 35 minutes remaning, the No.007 Aston Martin ground to a halt on pit exit. The stranded car brought out a FCY.
The Manthey Porsche and the No.77 leading Ford were the only two cars to not take slicks it turned out. They benefitted from having temperature, but it was yet to be seen if the slicks would come back to be more favourable.
As we went back to green the No.009 Aston Martin pulled into the pits to retire too, a double DNF for the British marque on what looked to be such a promising day.
Kubica got past Sebastian Buemi for eighth on the road, as Estre set the fastest lap out in front.
The No.7 Toyota went out on slicks, but spun around in the first sector, showing slicks may not be ready yet.
It turned out that none of the front runners would bite for slicks, and the wets were the best tyres. The No.94 Peugeot of Stoffel Vandoorne took net second place from the No.50 of Molina, the Ferrari all over the back of the Belgian.
Molina went down the inside of turn 13 and muscled his way by the 9X8 and into second.
The battle for the lead in LMGT3 was heating up too, as the No.92 Porsche was right behind the No.77 Ford. But the slick tyre runners were quickly approaching. Davide Rigon in the No.54 Ferrari was four second a lap quicker than the leaders.
He easily sailed by both to take the lead, although there was some contact as he tried to get by the ford. The No.95 McLaren and the No.46 BMW soon followed, as the Ford and Porsche plummeted down the order.
In the end, Estre held on to win overall for Porsche and the No.6 crew as the sun shone for the first time all day on the final lap.
The No.50 Ferrari was second, ahead of the No.94 and No.93 Peugeots in third and fourth. The No.51 Ferrari recovered to fifth.
In LMGT3 it was the No.54 Ferrari that won with their tyre gamble, the No.95 McLaren was second and the No.46 BMW finished third. The two cars on wets dropped to seventh and eighth respectively.
But post race the Ferrari was handed a five second penalty for contact with the No.77, so the McLaren ended up on top.
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