Porsche Penske Motorsport switches up its driver squad for the 2025 season

For the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, Michael Christensen from Denmark and the Frenchman Julien Andlauer will join forces as the regular crew in the No. 5 Porsche 963. The No. 6 sister car will be helmed predominantly by Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium and Kévin Estre from France. 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 (France) 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 (IMSA). 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 from Brazil and Englishman 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,” states 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," explains 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.”

Julien Andlauer: Successful thanks to early support in the junior programme  With the signing of Julien Andlauer in the 2025 factory driver lineup, Porsche holds strong to its successful path: finding exceptionally talented youngsters early and supporting them in the junior programme, which includes the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. The subsequent integration into top-tier customer racing projects then assists the company’s talented youngsters advance into the top categories of endurance racing. After Christensen, Jaminet and Campbell, the 25-year-old Frenchman will be the fourth former Porsche Junior to compete for the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team next year.

Andlauer gained his first taste of motor racing in karting and the French Formula 4. He then switched to the Porsche Carrera Cup France, which he won in 2017. At Porsche’s annual selection process, the young driver beat other top-class competitors to become a Porsche Junior for the 2018 season. That year, Andlauer contested the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, where he achieved fourth place with two victories, and debuted at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving a Porsche 911 RSR for Dempsey-Proton Racing, he promptly won his class. In the following years, the Frenchman turned heads at his outings for customer teams at the wheel of various Porsche GT vehicles and gained his first experience in Le Mans prototypes. This year, Andlauer advanced to the Hypercar class of the FIA WEC. In Proton Competition’s Porsche 963, the 25-year-old made a lasting impression in Spa-Francorchamps with blistering lap times and spirited overtaking manoeuvres.

Three-time Le Mans outright winner André Lotterer first climbed into the cockpit of the Porsche 919 Hybrid in 2017, contesting the former LMP1 class of the FIA WEC. He then switched to Formula E – with success. In the debut year of the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E works team, he finished second in the very first race of the 2019/2020 season. Lotterer joined the Porsche Penske Motorsport squad in 2023. In March this year, the ex-Formula 1 driver contributed to the Porsche 963’s maiden victory in the World Endurance Championship at the race in Qatar.

Dane Cameron joined Porsche in 2022 as an experienced prototype driver in the IMSA series. The American driver played an integral role in the rapid and consistent development of the Porsche 963. After his appearances in the FIA WEC in the 2023 season, Cameron returned to the North American endurance racing scene. This yielded success: the Californian cemented his collaboration with Porsche Penske Motorsport in October this year by winning the IMSA championship.

Frédéric Makowiecki has raced for Porsche since 2014. The seasoned pro from France secured four class victories at the helm of the Porsche 911 RSR in the FIA WEC – including a triumph at the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours in the fiercely competitive GTE Pro class. In 2018, he was one of the four drivers in Manthey Racing’s 911 GT3 R that won the Nürburgring 24 Hours. After two years with the 963 hybrid prototype in the World Endurance Championship, Porsche Motorsport and Makowiecki have mutually agreed to part ways at the end of this season.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport driver lineup for 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship WEC:

Porsche 963 #5: Julien Andlauer (F) / Michael Christensen (DK) / Mathieu Jaminet (F)*

Porsche 963 #6: Kévin Estre (F) / Laurens Vanthoor (B) / Matt Campbell (AUS)* * selected races only, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship : 

Porsche 963 #6: Matt Campbell (AUS) / Mathieu Jaminet (F) / Kévin Estre (F)*

Porsche 963 #7: Felipe Nasr (BR) / Nick Tandy (UK) / Laurens Vanthoor (B)* * selected races only, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup