Porsche has big aspirations for the 2025 motorsport season

Porsche has big aspirations for the 2025 motorsport season

07/12/2024

On the occasion of the Night of Champions on Saturday 7 December, the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer announced its extensive motor racing commitments for the 2025 season. In the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team is determined to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the manufacturers' title with the 963 hybrid prototype. After winning the 2024 drivers' crown in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the manufacturers' crown is now the goal for next season. 19-year-old Theo Oeverhaus from Germany will contest the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, among others, as the new Porsche Junior alongside Alessandro Ghiretti.

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Porsche Motorsport can look back on an outstanding year as the 2024 season draws to a close: Fielding the Porsche 963 hybrid prototype, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team harvested seven titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team clinched the drivers' world championship with works driver Pascal Wehrlein from Germany. Porsche now aims to build on these resounding successes in the upcoming 2025 season.

"We're looking back on one of the most successful motorsport years in the history of our brand. This gave us the boost at a time when we really needed it. 2024 was an extremely challenging year for the automotive industry - for us at Porsche too," explained Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management of Porsche AG, to more than 400 guests at the annual Night of Champions at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach. "For us, motorsport is not an objective in its own right but has always been an integral part of our DNA. Porsche without motorsport simply doesn't work. Our racing cars represent our brand. They're on the world's racetracks as our brand ambassadors and are rolling innovation labs. The things we successfully test on the racetrack often find their way into our series development. That's what makes our production sports cars so unique - and so beloved by our customers."

Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management of Porsche AG

"This year, we have started the season with some ground-breaking successes. Pascal Wehrlein's victory in Mexico City, our success in the Daytona 24 Hours and at the WEC opener in Qatar have confirmed that we are on the right track. Numerous title wins, including two world championships, are the well-deserved reward," said Michael Steiner, Member of the Board of Management for Research and Development at Porsche AG. "2025 will be a very challenging year - in motorsport and for the brand. We have all jointly reviewed the existing motorsport commitments and have come to the joint decision to continue our chosen path. In IMSA, WEC and Formula E, our works teams are ready to defend their titles and tackle goals that have not yet been achieved."

Michael Steiner, Member of the Board of Management for Research and Development (on the right) with Thomas Laudenbach

20th outright victory at Le Mans is Porsche Penske Motorsport's major goal

In the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC, the global Porsche Penske Motorsport works team has set its sights on bringing home the 20th overall victory for the brand at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They are also determined to win the manufacturers' championship, which they missed by just two points in 2024. "Despite our banner year, we still have goals," says Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. "The competition will be even tougher in the 2025 season. 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. And we're competing with a modified driver line-up. We also have ambitious goals in Formula E. Winning the manufacturers' championship, which will be announced for the first time in 2025, is one of them."

Thomas Laudenbach

The R&D engineers in Weissach and at Porsche Penske Motorsport will fine-tune the suspension of the Porsche 963 for the 2025 season, among other things. This will ensure that the setup of the prototypes contesting the Hypercar class (FIA WEC) and GTP category (IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) will better suit the specific characteristics of individual racetracks. In the World Endurance Championship, former Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer will be promoted to the works driver squad. The Frenchman will share the No. 5 car with Michael Christensen from Denmark. The No. 6 sister car will be helmed by the reigning drivers' world champions Kévin Estre from France and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium. These driver crews will be supported by Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in selected races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

In the North American IMSA series, the Australian and the Frenchman share the No. 6 Porsche 963, while their brand colleagues Felipe Nasr from Brazil and Nick Tandy from Great Britain join forces in the No. 7 entry. In the USA, the two driver pairings will be supported by Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor in the longer races at Daytona, Sebring, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta. In the coming weeks, Porsche will decide whether to field a third works car again at the highlight of the motorsport year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Consistency and innovations: Porsche hunts Formula E titles

With Pascal Wehrlein winning the drivers' world championship, Porsche believes it has reached the summit of its single-seater racing history - for now. On July 21 in London, the German won the second major title for the highly efficient Porsche 99X Electric: He took the championship crown from UK racer Jake Dennis, who dominated the 2023 season in the same vehicle for the Andretti Formula E customer team. Wehrlein immortalised himself in London as the first-ever German Formula E champion.

Porsche now heads into its sixth Formula E season with several new features: The purple and green livery creates a link to the electric product spearhead, the Taycan Turbo GT, and underlines the company's aspiration to assume a leading role among traditional automobile manufacturers in the areas of electrification, sustainability and technology.

António Félix da Costa from Portugal competes alongside Wehrlein for the factory squad. Nico Müller joins the series as a new Porsche works driver, with the Swiss racer competing for the Andretti outfit. Both the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team and the successful American racing team field two of the latest generation (GEN3 Evo) 99X Electric racers. The American team Kiro Race Co, on the other hand, relies on 99X technology from the GEN3 world championship generation - representing a second Porsche customer team in Formula E. "Although much is new, our works team remains largely the same," commented Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E. "The tests were positive. We're looking good for the new season. We want to win the drivers' title again - and add the new world championship title for manufacturers."

Esports: Porsche works team targets Esports World Cup

The Porsche Coanda Esports Racing factory team has strengthened its driver lineup for the 2025 sim racing season: Australian Jordan Caruso joins the factory squad alongside fellow countrymen Joshua Rogers and Dayne Warren, as well as Charlie Collins from the UK. The 24-year-old won the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup in 2023 and is replacing Mitchell deJong. The American takes the role of reserve driver together with Elvis Rankin (USA). The team's core racing programme next year will again be the ESL R1 series on Rennsport's simulation software. This series also provides the foundation for two season highlights. The drivers' championship will be held from 20 to 22 February as part of the Rennsport Summit in the Motorworld Munich. The team crown will be decided in the European summer at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).

The seventh season of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup revs up on 1st February. Thirty sim racers have qualified to compete on iRacing and are fighting for a total prize purse of US$ 200,000. The one-make cup is one of the world's leaders of its kind and includes seven races plus a midseason tournament.

Customer racing: Porsche well represented in top classes and GT categories

The German customer team Proton Competition returns to the FIA WEC with a Porsche 963. Neel Jani is the first confirmed driver. The racer from Switzerland won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Championship in 2016 at the wheel of the Porsche 919 Hybrid. One customer team will also field the hybrid prototype from Weissach in the IMSA series: JDC-Miller MotorSports continues its racing commitment with the 963 in the top GTP class.

AO Racing also continues as a mainstay in the IMSA series. The American squad scooped the title pool in the fiercely competitive GTD Pro class in 2024. AO Racing will return in 2025 with its fan favourite "Rexy". Reigning champion Laurin Heinrich from Germany will share the cockpit of the Porsche 911 GT3 R decked out in the green dinosaur livery with the Austrian Klaus Bachler. At the endurance races in Daytona and Sebring, the two former Porsche Juniors will receive support from Belgian Alessio Picariello. The Iron Dames team will also line up on the GTD category grid.

The initiative to promote young female drivers will take centre stage in Porsche's customer racing commitments from 2025. Michelle Gatting from Denmark joins the ranks of Porsche's contract drivers as part of the "Porsche X Iron Dames" project. The Iron Dames will compete at the wheel of a 911 GT3 R in the IMSA, the European Le Mans Series, the Asian Le Mans Series and the FIA WEC. In the WEC, Manthey fields the Iron Dames' ca. 416 kW (565 PS) Porsche. The seasoned squad from Germany will campaign a second 911 with works driver Richard Lietz from Austria as part of the driver crew.

Manthey is working towards continuing its involvement in the DTM in the 2025 season. The newcomer Allied Racing team, which has enjoyed success in Porsche's one-make cups, among others, aims to establish itself in the German racing series. The Bavarian outfit fields two Porsche 911 GT3 R with the former Porsche Junior Bastian Buus from Denmark and Ricardo Feller. The Swiss driver joins the expanded Porsche Motorsport driver squad as a new member. Other Porsche customer teams contest numerous GT3 series around the world, such as the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, the Asian counterpart of this SRO racing series, and on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. These include Rutronik Racing, Schumacher CLRT, Absolute Racing, Phantom Global and Origin Racing.

Theo Oeverhaus contests 2025 season as the new Porsche Junior

Germany's Theo Oeverhaus is the new Porsche Junior. In an intensive selection process, the 19-year-old from Lower Saxony beat eight other talented youngsters from the national and regional Porsche Carrera Cups. Next season, the 2023/2024 champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East and third overall in this year's Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland will receive funding of up to 225,000 euros and contest the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, among others. In the international one-make cup, the youngster goes up against the Frenchman Alessandro Ghiretti, for whom 2025 marks his second year as a Porsche Junior.

Joel Sturm wins the Porsche Cup as the most successful amateur driver in 2024

Joel Sturm takes home the coveted Porsche Cup as the best amateur driver at the wheel of a Porsche racing car. The German topped the leaderboard with 11,707 points, besting Alex Malykhin (2nd/10,447 points). Together with the UK racer, Sturm clinched the FIA Endurance Trophy in the 2024 World Endurance Championship. The Rhinelander receives 150,000 euros in prize money. Third place is shared by the two Americans Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer, who achieved numerous successes at the wheel of Wright Motorsports' Porsche 911 GT3 R. This time-honoured Porsche Cup is based on the idea of Ferry Porsche and has been presented annually to successful amateur drivers since 1970. This year, for the first time, Ferdi Porsche's grandson officiated the award ceremony.

2025 Porsche Motorsport driver lineup

Works drivers
Julien Andlauer (FRA)
Matt Campbell (AUS)
Michael Christensen (DEN)
Romain Dumas (FRA)
Kévin Estre (FRA)
António Félix da Costa (POR)
Mathieu Jaminet (FRA)
Richard Lietz (AUT)
Nico Müller (SUI)
Felipe Nasr (BRA)
Thomas Preining (AUT)
Nick Tandy (GBR)
Laurens Vanthoor (BEL)
Pascal Wehrlein (GER)

Esport
Jordan Caruso (AUS)
Charlie Collins (GBR)
Joshua Rogers (AUS)
Dane Warren (AUS)
Mitchell deJong (USA)
Elvis Rankin (USA)

Porsche contracted drivers
Klaus Bachler (AUT)
David Beckmann (GER)
Bastian Buus (DEN)
Jaxon Evans (NZL)
Ricardo Feller (SUI)
Michelle Gatting (DEN)
Ayhancan Güven (TUR)
Laurin Heinrich (GER)
Wolf Henzler (GER)
Marco Holzer (GER)
Gabriela Jilkova (CZE)
Lars Kern (GER)
Nico Menzel (GER)
Sven Müller (GER)
Patric Niederhauser (SUI)
Alessio Picariello (BEL)
Patrick Pilet (FRA)
Marco Seefried (GER)

Porsche Juniors
Alessandro Ghiretti (FRA)
Theo Oeverhaus (GER)