PORSCHE LEADS CADILLAC NARROWLY AT PETIT LE MANS HALFWAY MARK AFTER BATTLING BACK THROUGH GTP FIELD

Five hours into the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans, Porsche leads over Acura and BMW as the No. 6 Porsche Penske 963 chases the 2025 drivers' championship over its sister car and the manufacturer championship over Acura. As they run, Porsche would win the manufacturer's championship with the No. 6 in the lead and the No. 7 in ninth, while Acura, which entered the race two points behind the German manufacturer following their pole for the No. 60 Acura ARX-06, follows both cars, in fourth and 1oth.

In between the first Acura and second Porsche falls the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8, and the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63, and No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie.

The No. 60 was second behind Mathieu Jaminet until about 15 minutes remaining in the fifth hour when Colin Braun fell to fourth behind the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V Series. R of Earl Bamber and BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng.

The No. 31 made an interesting strategy call in the third hour when it went to the pits for two seconds of fuel, giving up third place at the time. Over the course of the next two hours, they battled back to second place, just 0.2 seconds behind the No. 6 of Jaminet.

Jaminet and Matt Campbell have split the No. 6 through the first half of the race, with Laurens Vanthoor taking his first stint in his second car shortly after the halfway mark. Vanthoor is filling in for Julien Andlauer at the last minute following a medical emergency for the French driver.

The No. 60 Acura started on pole after Tom Blomqvist set a new track record in the GTP category. Blomqvist had control through the first two hours of the race, with the first hour being eaten up mostly by full-course cautions following a lap-one head-on collision in the GTD class. Manny Franco of the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari team was taken to a local hospital following the incident, where he was hit head-on. The team has reported that he is okay.

While leading in the third hour, Blomqvist nearly saw his race altered when the No. 80 AMG Lone Star Racing, piloted by Lin Hodenius, was losing a wheel, which flew over the leading No. 60 Acura ARX-06 before jumping the wall and rolling into the forest.

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2025-10-11T21:41:27Z