The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car became the first Hypercar to win more than one race in the 2024 World Endurance Championship season at the Six Hours of Fuji.
The Porsche 963, driven by Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer secured victory by 16.6 seconds in Fuji, having won the season opener in Qatar back in March.
The victory marks Lotterer’s 12th WEC victory and first in Japan, as well as Estre’s 10th and Vanthoor’s third in the series.
The No. 6 car’s win has given Porsche a 10-point advantage over their Toyota in the manufacturers’ championship, after the Japanese outfit struggled on home soil with the No. 7 car retiring and the No. 8 only managing 10th.
Laurens and Dries Vanthoor become only the second brothers to achieve a podium in WEC history
As Porsche took victory, BMW came home second with the No. 15 M Hybrid V8’s first podium of the season, piloted by Raffaele Marcello, Marco Wiltman and Laurens Vanthoor’s brother Dries.
Alpine locked out the podium through Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiverre with the No. 36’s first podium of the season and Schumacher’s first ever in the WEC.
With Laurens and Dries Vanthoor finishing first and second for Porsche and BMW respectively, the brothers have become only the second siblings to finish on the podium together.
The only other time that has happened in WEC history was back in 2014, as Kirill and Anton Ladygin achieved podiums at Spa and Shanghai with SMP Racing in the LMP2 category.
Speaking with Sportscar365, Laurens Vanthoor shared his emotions as his family him and his brother achieve their podiums.
“It’s a little bit emotional,” he said.
“It’s a world championship. I’m not sure that happens very often. For the both of us it’s a career dream and I’m sure Dries will also win a race soon.
“Everyone at home, they’re all happy and I saw some with a tear in their eyes, so it’s definitely a special moment that all of us will remember for a long time.”
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Porsche look set to win both WEC championships in 2024
The No. 6 car’s second win of the season has all but secured Estre, Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor the Hypercar drivers’ championship.
The Porsche drivers go into the final round at the Eight Hours of Bahrain 35 points ahead of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, after the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse moved up to second over Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries following their retirement at Fuji.
With a maximum of 39 points up for grabs in Bahrain – 38 for the win and an extra point for pole position – both Ferrari and Toyota will need a miracle result for Porsche to lose the drivers’ championship at this stage.
While nothing is confirmed until the chequered flag falls in Sakhir, it is looking very good for the German manufacturer heading into the final race of 2024.