Porsche again elects to enter four GTE Pro cars at Le Mans in 2019
Porsche will again field four factory cars at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the defence of its GTE Pro crown at the 2018/19 World Endurance Championship finale

The US CORE Autosport squad, which represents the German manufacturer in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America, will make its second Le Mans appearance alongside the Manthey-run WEC squad at the French endurance race on June 15/16 next year.
Porsche expanded its attack on the GTE Pro class at Le Mans last year as part of an increased commitment to GT racing after the culmination of its LMP1 programme at the end of 2017.
CORE regulars Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet will again team up in one of the US squad's pair of cars, which will be entered under the Porsche GT Team banner.
German Sven Muller, who made his Le Mans debut last year, will share the team's other Porsche 911 RSR with two race rookies - Mathieu Jaminet and Dennis Olsen.
The two Porsche 'young professionals' replace outright Le Mans winners Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas.
The WEC Porsche GT Team will field an unchanged driver line-up across its pair of 911 RSRs.
Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Laurens Vanthoor will attempt to follow up on their 2018 victory, while Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki will again race the second Manthey car.
Porsche will contest the next two WEC superseason rounds at Sebring and Spa with its regular Bruni/Lietz and Estre/Christensen line-ups as scheduled.
Tandy and Pilet will share one car, with Makowiecki again joining them for the Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans events.
Vanthoor and Bamber maintain their partnership, but this year will be joined by Jaminet for the long-distance races that make up three quarters of the renamed Michelin Endurance Cup.
The move follows Jaminet's appearance alongside Vanthoor and Bamber at the Petit Le Mans IMSA round at Road Atlanta in place of Bruni, who was racing for the WEC squad at Fuji on the same weekend.
All the drivers on Porsche's factory roster have been retained for 2019. This includes the six 2017 members of its ultra-successful LMP1 squad.
The one addition to the factory squad for 2019 is New Zealander Jaxon Evans, who is joining Porsche's junior programme.
Evans, this year's Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion, claimed a factory contract after a shootout involving 10 other drivers from the manufacturer's one-make series.
There is now a total of 24 drivers under contract at Porsche.
Porsche GT Team 2019 line-ups
Le Mans:
Manthey Racing
#91 Gianmaria Bruni/Richard Lietz/Frederic Makowiecki
#92 Michael Christensen/Kevin Ester/Laurens Vanthoor
CORE Autosport
#93 Earl Bamber/Patrick Pilet/Nick Tandy
#94 Sven Müller/Mathieu Jaminet/Dennis Olsen
IMSA:
CORE Autosport
#911 Nick Tandy/Patrick Pilet/Frederic Makowiecki*
#912 Earl Bamber/Laurens Vanthoor/Mathieu Jaminet*
* Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta only

Previous article
Proposed hypercar powertrain regulations clarified by ACO rulemakers
Next article
Andreas Seidl was set to lead Porsche motorsport before F1 role

About this article
Series | WEC |
Teams | Porsche Team |
Author | Gary Watkins |
Porsche again elects to enter four GTE Pro cars at Le Mans in 2019
Trending
How 'Brilliant' Bob Wollek lived up to his nickname
Sportscar racing lost one of it's greatest talents 20 years ago today when Bob Wollek was knocked from his bicycle prior to the Sebring 12 Hours. The enigmatic Frenchman never won the Le Mans 24 Hours, but many still remember today why 'Brilliant Bob' became a legend
Top 10 moments of an underrated British great
Brian Redman was one of the best sportscar drivers of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as a three-time champion on the fearsome American Formula 5000 scene. To celebrate his 84th birthday Autosport contacted him about his best races – and he decided to write the piece himself…
How an endurance racing boom could help one of LMP2's top teams
The G-Drive squad has been a mainstay of endurance racing in recent years, and has linked up with Russian manufacturer Aurus in recent years to promote its brand. With a change of rules in endurance racing's top tables, the team could be well-placed to take advantage of a potential boom...
How Ferrari’s Hypercar project could bolster Leclerc’s legacy
OPINION: Ferrari's planned return to the top category at the Le Mans 24 Hours has further heightened anticipation for the 2023 race. Few concrete details are currently known, but already it has a high-profile superstar angling for involvement, which would make a refreshing change
Why Ferrari is ending its 50-year top-flight sportscar exile
Making a return to top-flight sportscar racing after 50 years away, Ferrari will enter the Le Mans Hypercar ranks in 2023. The Italian marque denies the link with Formula 1's new cost cap that frees up resources, but it's certainly no coincidence...
The ground-up refresh behind Toyota's new Le Mans challenger
Toyota's new GR010 contender for the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar era has little in common with the LMP1 TS050 that preceded it. But within the confines of the scaled back new rules, its latest challenger will be no less formidable a prospect
The Porsche icon that forged sportscar racing's greatest era
Porsche is returning to the top class of Le Mans with an LMDh prototype that it hopes will write its next successful chapter in sportscar racing. But it will have to go some to emulate its 956/962, a car which defines the Group C age more than any other
How Kristensen forged the Mr Le Mans legend
He is synonymous with success at the Circuit de la Sarthe, but Tom Kristensen's sportscar legacy amounts to much more than his record-breaking nine Le Mans wins, as the most successful driver ever at Sebring and a world champion to boot