Vanthoor beats his brother's BMW to win Petit Le Mans for Porsche
Laurens Vanthoor held off his brother's BMW to win Porsche's first prototype Petit Le Mans
Laurens Vanthoor won the 29th Petit Le Mans on Saturday in the #6 Porsche Penske 963, crossing the line at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta 1.205 seconds ahead of the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8. His younger brother Dries had shared that BMW with Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns, so the final ten-minute sprint in Georgia ended with a Vanthoor named on each of the top two cars.
Porsche's first prototype win at Petit Le Mans in 29 editions
The result was the first win for a Porsche prototype in the race's 29-year history, and the first overall Petit Le Mans victory for Team Penske. Porsche's only previous overall win came in the rain-shortened 2015 race, when Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet took it in a GT-class 911 RSR. Kevin Estre also scored his first IMSA win, at the end of a season in which he spent the last two rounds on probation.
Vanthoor's last stop: energy and two left-side Michelin tyres
Vanthoor took the lead from Filipe Albuquerque's Cadillac with a lunge at Turn 12 with an hour and two minutes left. He was the last of the leaders to make a final stop, with 50 minutes to go, and took energy and fresh left-side tyres only. He then ran off the track twice on his out-lap, handed the lead to Earl Bamber's Cadillac, and took it back through traffic two laps later. In the closing laps the team asked him to save fuel and keep the BMW behind at the same time. "That was a bit much," he said afterwards. The Porsche was quick through the second sector but slow on the straights, which made every restart his only real chance to pass.
A record 16 cautions and five GTP cars out after accidents
The race set a Petit Le Mans record of 16 full-course cautions, two more than the previous mark from 2017, and was red-flagged for lightning in the fifth hour. Five of the 11 GTP cars retired after accidents. Kevin Magnussen's #25 BMW went airborne into the Turn 5 barriers after contact with Alex Palou's Acura. With 90 minutes left, Felipe Nasr's #7 Porsche hit the front-straight wall and took off after checking up behind Vanthoor and Harry King's AO Racing Porsche. Nasr climbed out unaided.
Matt Campbell leaves Porsche for Ford's Hypercar programme
Matt Campbell, the 2025 GTP champion, made his final start as a Porsche factory driver and now moves to Ford's new Hypercar effort. Vanthoor drops to an endurance-only role with Porsche Penske in 2027, while racing full time for McLaren's new Hypercar team in the World Endurance Championship. "This is for now probably our last race together," Vanthoor said of the #6 trio. "To end it in style is pretty sweet."
Jack Aitken and Cadillac took the 2026 IMSA GTP titles
Jack Aitken won the GTP drivers' title as soon as his #31 Action Express Cadillac took the start, because his 151-point lead after qualifying made the points for 11th place enough. He is the first driver to take IMSA's top-class title on his own since Jörg Bergmeister in the 2006 Rolex Series. Cadillac won the manufacturers' title and Action Express the teams' crown, even though Bamber crashed the #31 out with 19 minutes left. It was also the last WeatherTech race for Acura and Meyer Shank Racing, and pole-sitter Tom Blomqvist fell from third to sixth when he had to pit for energy on the final lap.
AutoNext Take
Porsche won Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans in 2026 and still left Road Atlanta without the drivers', teams' or manufacturers' title. The #7 car won the first two, the #6 car the last one, and Cadillac took the championships through consistency instead, with Aitken's crew on the podium in seven of their first eight races.
The #6 car arrives at Daytona in January 2027 without Campbell and with Vanthoor available only for the long races, so Estre needs a new full-season partner. Until the 963 recovers the performance it lost under this year's rules, our read is that Porsche keeps winning the races people remember and keeps losing the table that decides the champion.
