New face in Porsche Penske Motorsport 2025 driver line-up
Porsche Penske Motorsport will field a revised driver line-up in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2025, with Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor remaining on-board the #6 Porsche 963 prototype as Julien Andlauer joins Michael Christensen in the #5.
Along with André Lotterer, Estre and Vanthoor are on the verge of title glory in WEC’s headlining Hypercar category this year, holding a commanding 35-point advantage at the summit of the Drivers’ standings with only 39 remaining in play in Bahrain next month, meaning just an eighth-place finish in the season finale will seal the deal. Porsche similarly leads the chase for the Manufacturers’ crown.
Today’s announcement confirms that Estre and Vanthoor will continue to compete for the German sportscar maker’s works outfit for a third consecutive campaign, and they will be partnered for selected races – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans – by Matt Campbell, with the Australian moving across from the #5 entry he has piloted in 2024. In his place comes former Porsche ‘Junior’ driver Andlauer, who will team up with Denmark’s Michael Christensen – the pair set to be supported on occasion by Mathieu Jaminet.
Three-time Le Mans winner Lotterer and France’s Frédéric Makowiecki will both part company with the squad come the end of the current season.
“I’d like to thank André and Frédéric for their incredible work over the past few years,” commented Porsche Motorsport Vice-President, Thomas Laudenbach. “They have played a significant role in us being able to celebrate great successes with the Porsche 963, in just its second year of competition.
“We remain dedicated to our very successful initiative by supporting another former Porsche ‘Junior’ to climb to the top of the career ladder. Over the past few seasons, Julien Andlauer has impressed us at the wheel of every Porsche racing car from Weissach. He absolutely deserves this promotion to the works driver line-up.”
Indeed, following in the footsteps of Christensen, Jaminet and Campbell, 25-year-old Andlauer will become the fourth Porsche ‘Junior’ to race for Porsche Penske Motorsport. Champion in the Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2017, he made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut the following year in a Porsche 911 RSR run by Dempsey-Proton Racing – and promptly won his class at the first time of asking.
The Frenchman has continued to turn heads ever since with his exploits for Porsche GT customer teams, stepping up to Hypercar level in 2024 with Proton Competition and leaving a lasting impression in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in particular by posting fastest lap and pulling off some spirited overtaking manoeuvres.
“We put much thought into our squad for next season’s international racing campaign,” reasoned Urs Kuratle, Director of Porsche’s Factory Motorsport LMDh programme. “With the new line-up, I believe we have put together a winning combination. We’ll have two very experienced drivers plus two drivers in the sister car who have come up through the ranks of Porsche’s ‘Junior’ programme and completely won us over as talented youngsters.
“I’d also like to thank André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki, who have contributed to getting Porsche Penske Motorsport to where it now stands in global endurance racing – at the top.”
“Porsche Penske Motorsport has enjoyed a successful campaign in WEC in 2024, and our success is largely due to the strong performances of our driver pairings,” added Porsche Penske Motorsport Managing Director, Jonathan Diuguid. “For 2024, we relied upon consistency and continuity and made only a few targeted tweaks to the squad. That decision proved to be right, and spurred on by these successes, we’ll adopt a similar approach in 2025.”
