The winter break has come around quickly, and the outcome of the World Endurance Championship 2018-19 Super Season is still anyone’s guess! There are three rounds remaining. Three major races: Sebring, Spa and Le Mans.

24H Le Mans

Le Mans Series

24 Heures du Mans

FIA WEC

Manthey Racing won the LMGT3 class for the second year in a row as the Manthey 1st Phorm #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 followed up on the Manthey EMA #91 car’s 2024 success. Austrian Richard Lietz was driver on both occasions – this time sharing the wheel with Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera.

The #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 entered by Manthey 1st Phorm won the LMGT3 class &ndash; the second consecutive win for the German team. Placed in the capable hands of American Ryan Hardwick, Italian Riccardo Pera and Austrian Richard Lietz, the #92 Porsche crossed the finish line 33 seconds ahead of the #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Vista AF Corse.

Qualifying in fifth position on the LMGT3 grid, the crew enjoyed a solid start to the race in a highly competitive field. The three drivers applied pressure right from the off and gradually moved through the pack,&nbsp;taking the class lead after 10 hours of the race. A long face-off then ensued with the Vista AF Corse #21 Ferrari until the early hours of the morning. The #92 Porsche managed to open up a decisive gap at dawn before taking the chequered flag after 24 hours of intense racing.

&ldquo;I still can&#39;t believe our class win! This is definitely one of the best experiences of my entire life,&rdquo; said a thrilled Ryan Hardwick. &ldquo;My family, close friends and business partners were here with me. Only the best teams win at Le Mans. Manthey and Porsche gave us the best possible support. I&rsquo;m surely the only person in the world to have won both the world jet-ski championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours&hellip; I think I&rsquo;ll keep that record for some time!&rdquo;

<h2>Lietz makes history</h2>

This win was Richard Lietz&rsquo;s sixth in the GT classes at Le Mans &ndash; all with Porsche. The ever-loyal Lietz has been behind the wheel of the German brand&rsquo;s machines for almost two decades and joins the ultra-select club of drivers with the most victories in the history of the GT classes at the French endurance classic.

&ldquo;To win as many times, first you need to be very old!&rdquo; the 41-year-old Austrian joked. &ldquo;Le Mans has often been kind to me since 2007. Manthey offered me a new opportunity at a time when I was thinking of retiring. Here we are, two years later and two more wins&hellip; We have a fast car that is perfectly balanced to look after the tyres. It was a true, old-style endurance race and I love that.&rdquo;

Although he had already appeared twice on the Le Mans podium, this was the first time Riccardo Pera made it to the top step. At the finish, the emotional Italian hailed the all-round performance of the crew and the team. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve already a WEC win to my name but here at Le Mans, I&rsquo;d never been in first place,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After a P2 and a P3, I told my teammates that we could do better this year. And we did! The car was so fast and the team was perfect. I&rsquo;m speechless!&rdquo;

With this latest LMGT3 triumph, Porsche increased its total number of class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to 112 and reinforced its status as the most successful make in the history of the race.

Our photo gallery below captures the highlights of the successful week enjoyed by the Manthey 1st Phorm #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans.

LMGT3: Manthey 1st Phorm and Richard Lietz hit the heights

At the 2025 24 Hours, McLaren officially announced its Hypercar destined for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2027. The British constructor has hidden a series of numbers on the car's bodywork, and here's a breakdown.

<h2>At the Front: Remembering&nbsp;a Collective Exploit</h2>

134513

This curious&nbsp;number combination sums up one of McLaren&#39;s greatest endurance racing feats. It is the finishing positions of the five&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/24-hours-centenary-mclaren-an-f1-takes-on-le-mans-57424" target="_blank">McLaren F1 GTRs</a>&nbsp;at the 1995&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans&nbsp;: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th&nbsp;and&nbsp;13th. For the marque&#39;s&nbsp;first official participation, the&nbsp;performance was astounding.

<h2>On the Left Flank: A Nod to 1995 and Modern Era Endurance Racing</h2>

1995/95

The year of McLaren&#39;s win at the&nbsp;24 Hours.

F1 GTR

The iconic model that won&nbsp;Le Mans.

L.D.S

The&nbsp;initials of the winning&nbsp;trio: J.J Lehto, <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/24-hours-centenary-the-incomparable-yannick-dalmas-57020" target="_blank">Yannick Dalmas</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/masanori-sekiya-the-first-japanese-winner-of-the-24-hours-of-le-mans-58259" target="_blank">Masanori Sekiya</a>.

681024

A lesser known figure, but just as symbolic, this is the number of minutes in a full season of the WEC, a subtle way of suggesting&nbsp;McLaren is geared up&nbsp;to face every minute of competition.

<h2>On the Right Flank: Between Sporting Legacy and the Future in Hypercar</h2>

01.R

The chassis&nbsp;number of the McLaren F1 GTR winner in 1995.

59

The racing number of the same car, now a 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans legend.

748495

A combination of&nbsp;three key dates in the history of McLaren:

<ul>
	<li>74: 1st victory at the Indianapolis 500 (with&nbsp;Johnny Rutherford)</li>
	<li>84: 1st win at the Grand Prix of&nbsp;Monaco (with&nbsp;Alain Prost);&nbsp;McLaren holds the&nbsp;record at 16</li>
	<li>95: the year of McLaren&#39;s triumph at the 24 Hours</li>
</ul>

2027

The year of McLaren&#39;s official entry in Hypercar in the&nbsp;WEC.

Every code tells a part of McLaren&#39;s story. The carmaker clearly intends to begin a new chapter in its endurance racing legacy while in no way&nbsp;forgetting its history.

<h2>What We Know About McLaren&#39;s Hypercar</h2>

<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/2025-24-hours-of-le-mans-mclaren-introduces-the-world-to-its-hypercar-59772" target="_blank">The presentation of the car</a>&nbsp;revealed more about the&nbsp;programme launching in&nbsp;2027. The cars will be entered in partnership with United Autosports, a top contender in LMP2 since&nbsp;2017. The Hypercar will be equipped with&nbsp;a twin-turbo V6 engine designed by&nbsp;McLaren and&nbsp;McLaren Automotive.&nbsp;Finally, the chassis will be developed and constructed&nbsp;by Dallara. The Italian manufacturer also designed the chassis for the Cadillac V-Series R, Porsche 963&nbsp;and BMW M Hybrid V8.

The car is on display at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lemans-musee24h.com/en" target="_blank">24 Hours Museum</a>&nbsp;through Sunday 29 June.

Unlocking the mystery of McLaren's Hypercar

The 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans produced an exciting battle in the LMP2 category that concluded in another success for Polish outfit Inter Europol Competition. Two years after a historic victory at the Centenary race, the team returns to winning ways thanks to the #43 Oreca 07-Gibson, shared by Jakub Śmiechowski, Tom Dillmann et Nick Yelloly, that eventually saw off the challenge from VDS Panis Racing in the #48 Oreca, and Pro/Am victors AO by TF in the #199 Oreca.

With just 30 minutes left on the clock, it was anyone&rsquo;s guess which one of two cars &ndash; the #43 or the #48 &ndash; would emerge on top of the LMP2 standings.&nbsp; VDS Panis Racing (#48 Oreca), well positioned to go on and seal victory, saw its hopes shattered by a broken suspension &ndash; a &ldquo;15-euro&rdquo;&nbsp; part, according to Olivier Panis&rsquo;s team &ndash; in the final minutes. Inter Europol Competition, despite being penalised for breaking the pitlane speed limit, edged out the French team by&nbsp;1 minute and 55 seconds&nbsp;at the chequered flag.

Polish driver Jakub Śmiechowski, the mainstay of the Inter Europol Competition project, was sympathetic to their rivals&rsquo; predicament. &ldquo;Obviously, it&#39;s a great feeling,&rdquo; he said after the race. &ldquo;Tom and Nick did a great job today and yesterday; without them, we couldn&#39;t win, and without the whole team support, we wouldn&#39;t be able to win either. 
I know a little bit the VDS views, because last year we also had a technical issue that potentially prevented us from winning last year as well, and we finished second.&nbsp; So, it&#39;s always a difficult feeling. It&#39;s not nice, but like it&#39;s the case in many of the 24-hour races, you don&#39;t always win when you deserve it [...].&nbsp; I think we both deserved to win today as we were fighting really hard until the end of the race [...]. Obviously, I&#39;m happy it&#39;s us, but I feel really bad for them, because it&#39;s not the way to lose a race like this.&rdquo;

Tom Dillmann had previously raced in Hypercar with Floyd Vanwall Racing Team but this maiden Le Mans win justified his decision to switch to LMP2. &ldquo;It was a really intense race with Panis,&rdquo; the Frenchman enthused. &quot;We were within 10 seconds for the last six hours, pushing every lap.&nbsp; We won Sebring this year already. I was really happy to win a legendary race like that, but Le Mans is another level. So just amazing. After competing in Hypercar, I decided to switch to LMP2. The opportunity arose with Inter Europol Competition and I love beng part of this team.&rdquo;

Nick Yelloly, on the other hand, talked about the error that almost cost his team victory. &ldquo;I knew I&#39;d made the mistake,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I locked the rears going into the pit lane, just trying to make a little bit more time, so we were safer with our fuel numbers. Then, we got pinged for speed in the pitlane. Obviously, I was pretty annoyed at myself. I won&#39;t repeat what I said in the helmet, but it was quite angry. I thought those two mistakes were going to cost us the race. Then, unfortunately for them [VDS Panis Racing], they had some suspension issue or something. I&#39;m looking forward very much to coming back again.&rdquo;

<h2>AO by TF wins Pro/Am</h2>

The third LMP2 prototype to cross the finish line, the #199 Oreca 07-Gibson entered by AO by TF, won the Pro/Am title with PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Louis Del&eacute;traz. A fine performance by the Anglo-American outfit that underlined its consistency and commitment in endurance in the face of increasingly fierce competition. Like last year, the team&rsquo;s &ldquo;Spike the Dragon&rdquo; livery was a big hit with the crowd. Some fans are already dreaming of seeing Spike line up in 2026 along with the Porsche Rexy in LMGT3!

One thing is certain: the LMP2 class has once again lived up to all its promise. Suspense, strategy, emotion and a winner that has taken another step towards 24 Hours of Le Mans legend. Inter Europol Competition has shown that the 2023 victory was no fluke, but indeed the result of sustained hard work and performance.

Enjoy a look back at the #43 Oreca 07-Gibson&rsquo;s appearance at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans in the photo gallery below.

Inter Europol Competition wins the LMP2 class after a nail-biting tussle

AF Corse's #83 Ferrari 499P shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson has won the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Here are their reactions to this historic win!

<h2>Robert Kubica: The Culmination of a Love Story</h2>

Winning Le Mans is a special feeling. Since the 2021 edition, when I lost the victory due to a technical problem on the last lap, I fell in love with this race, which reawakened feelings I hadn&#39;t felt since my karting days. Now I&#39;m very excited, full of adrenaline but physically tired at the same time.

<h2>Yifei Ye: The realisation of a Dream</h2>

The 499P was fantastic, we were in a position to fight for the win right from the start. We also made up for last year&#39;s bad luck, when we led the race for 83 laps, the same number as the car, but a technical problem forced us to retire. Winning Le Mans with Ferrari is something unique.&nbsp;

<h2>Phil Hanson: Relief at the Chequered Flag</h2>

The last few laps weren&rsquo;t easy. They seemed to go on forever. Only when our 499P crossed the finish line did I breathe a sigh of relief and realise that we had actually won. You can never relax at Le Mans. In the past, it has always thrown up surprises right up to the end.

With this win, AF Corse has reinforced its lead to 57 points on&nbsp;Proton Competition in the 2025 FIA Hypercar World Endurance Teams&#39; Championship classification.

In the 2025 FIA Hypercar World Endurance&nbsp;Manufacturers&#39; Championship standings, Ferrari is ahead of&nbsp;Toyota by&nbsp;111 points trailed by&nbsp;Porsche in third.

Relive&nbsp;AF Corse&#39;s race and victory with the #83&nbsp;Ferrari 499P through the photo gallery below.

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – AF Corse's Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson talk victory

Gala dinners and award ceremonies abound at this time of year and the names on some trophies are engraved well before the season ends, but the World Endurance Championship remains wide open. With three monumental races still to be run, the 2018-19 Super Season is living up to its name. Fans have the 1000 Miles of Sebring to look forward to on 15 March, followed by the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 4 May and the grand finale, the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 15-16 June. At 15:00 on 16 June, we shall simultaneously applaud the winners of the 87th running of the French classic and crown the world champions.

Don&rsquo;t miss the video of what&rsquo;s in store.

24H LE MANS

Video: WEC 2018-19 Super Season still on tenterhooks

Related News

LMGT3: Manthey 1st Phorm and Richard Lietz hit the heights

Unlocking the mystery of McLaren's Hypercar

Inter Europol Competition wins the LMP2 class after a nail-biting tussle

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – AF Corse's Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson talk victory

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