STUTTGART, Germany — Porsche is tweaking its Porsche Penske Motorsport works team driver lineup for the 2025 season.
In contrast to the 2024 season, now just two drivers will regularly contest the FIA World Endurance Championship. Former Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer has been promoted to the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer’s works driver squad for next year.
Three-time Le Mans winner André Lotterer and four-time IMSA Champion Dane Cameron will leave the successful Porsche 963 programm after their contracts expire at the end of the year. Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki and Porsche Motorsport have agreed to conclude their collaboration after 11 years.
Ahead of next year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche Motorsports has named Michael Christensen and Andlauer as its main drivers aboard the No. 5 Porsche 963.
The No. 6 sister car will be helmed predominantly by Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre. The current plan is to call on a third driver for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to prepare for the WEC season highlight. The No. 5 cockpit has been earmarked for Mathieu Jaminet with the Australian Matt Campbell driving the No. 6 car.
Jaminet and Campbell will also helm the No. 6 vehicle in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The pair claimed the IMSA Championship in 2022 with another opportunity to repeat that success together in the coming season. The No. 7 car will be shared by defending IMSA champion Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, 2015 Le Mans overall winner with Porsche. Estre and Vanthoor will support the IMSA crews at selected Endurance Cup races.
“I’d like to thank Dane Cameron, André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki for their incredible work over the past few years. All three have played a significant role in us being able to celebrate great successes with the Porsche 963 on both sides of the Atlantic – in just the second year of competition,” stated Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “We compete in 2025 with a changed lineup. Our squad continues to be among the top echelons of endurance racing internationally.
“Plus, we’re remaining 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 into the works driver squad.”
“We put much thought into our squad for next season’s international racing campaign. With the new lineup, I believe we’ve put together a winning combination for 2025,” explained Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. “We’ll have two very experienced drivers in both series, plus two drivers in sister cars, all of whom 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 Dane Cameron, André Lotterer and Frédéric Makowiecki.
“All three have contributed to getting the Porsche Penske Motorsport campaign to where it now stands in global endurance racing: at the top.”
“Porsche Penske Motorsport has enjoyed successful campaigns in both the IMSA and WEC seasons in 2024. We won the 24 Hours of Daytona, scooped the title pool in the IMSA championship and now head to Bahrain leading the WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings,” says Jonathan Diuguid. The Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport adds: “Our success is also largely due to the strong performances of our driver pairings. For 2024, we relied on consistency and continuity and made only a few targeted tweaks to the squad.
“This decision proved to be right. Spurred by these successes, we’ll take a similar approach for 2025. The IMSA and WEC race calendars allow us to mobilise the driver pairings even more often. The door has opened for involvement in both series.”