Vanthoor: Chances of Racing at Le Mans “Almost Zero”

Laurens Vanthoor has stated the chances of him racing in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours are “almost zero” as he all but ruled out contesting the race following Porsche’s withdrawal from the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class.

The Belgian driver has made ten starts in the French endurance classic since 2015, missing only the 2017 race in that time, but looks set to be absent from the grid this year as he focuses on his new full-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship duties.

With Porsche now certain to be missing from the top-class grid after efforts to keep the 963 in WEC with Proton Competition and Penske fell through, Vanthoor’s only realistic chances to race at Le Mans would be in the LMP2 or LMGT3 classes.

Asked about such a prospect, the 34-year-old gave the idea short shrift, stating his only interest is in contending for overall victory at La Sarthe.

“The chances of me being at Le Mans are very small; I would say almost zero unless something strange happens,” Vanthoor told Sportscar365.

“Porsche won’t be there with the 963, so I don’t really see the point of doing something else [in one of the other classes].

“I have a job to do here in IMSA, I am focused on this. I’ve won it in a GT car in 2018, which was one of the biggest year for GTs, and we came second overall last year. So there’s only one thing left to achieve, which is an overall victory.

“Just to go there to do it, I don’t really see the value in that.

“You never know, and winning Le Mans overall is still number one on my list to achieve. But I don’t think it will be pursued this year.”

Vanthoor’s co-driver Kevin Estre on the other hand stated that he is keeping an open mind about the possibility of returning to Le Mans in either the LMP2 or LMGT3 ranks despite also moving to the WeatherTech Championship this year.

The Frenchman contested the LMP2 class on his Le Mans debut in 2015, and was a regular fixture of Porsche’s GTE-Pro attack from the following year through 2022.

“I will see,” Estre told Sportscar365. “I haven’t spent much time yet to think about it or explore opportunities, or to even speak to Porsche if I could do it or not.

“It’s still in the back of my mind. I will definitely still want to do Le Mans. But let’s see if there are some opportunities coming, either in LMGT3 or LMP2.

“I have to see with the calendar, do the first [IMSA] race here and think about what the opportunity can be.”

Julien Andlauer, who like Vanthoor and Estre was also moved over to Porsche’s full-time WeatherTech Championship roster WEC, gave a similar response to Estre.

“My priority is IMSA, but if I find an exciting project on the side for Le Mans, and Porsche agrees, I would be more than happy to join,” he told Sportscar365, adding that a berth in LMP2 would be more likely than LMGT3.

Andlauer has never raced at Le Mans in an LMP2 car, with the bulk of his starts having come in the GTE-Am category that he won on his 2018 debut, but is familiar with the Oreca 07 Gibson from the Asian Le Mans Series.

John Dagys contributed to this report