24 Hours of Le Mans: Porsche starts in 1951 design

Preparations for the 2026 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans are currently in full swing in Le Mans. Technical scrutineering of the vehicles in the city centre begins this Friday (5 June 2026). The race is then scheduled for 13/14 June 2026. Only two Porsches will actually take part in the 24-hour race in 2026. These will be entered by Manthey. However, the two 911 GT3 R LMGT3s will be given a very special livery for Le Mans.

This is mainly in silver and is based on the design of the 1951 Porsche 356 SL Coupé driven by Auguste Veuillet and Edmond Mouche. This was the first entry of a Porsche in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Veuillet/Mouche immediately took the class victory and 20th place in the overall standings. In total, they covered 2,840.65 kilometres at an average speed of 118.36 km/h.

Porsches have taken part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans every year since its debut in 1951. "Not only are we the record holder for overall and class victories, but we are also the only manufacturer to have had at least one car on the starting grid at Le Mans without interruption since 1951," says Thomas Laudenbach (Head of Porsche Motorsport). "These statistics make us very proud. It emphasises how much Porsche relies on the motorsport development stage. The internally ventilated disc brakes, the now indispensable PDK dual-clutch gearbox and the 800-volt high-voltage technology are just three examples of this. We have made these innovations from Weissach ready for series production through racing, including at Le Mans."

As mentioned, only two Porsches will compete at Le Mans in 2026. Timur Boguslavskiy, James Cottingham and Ayhancan Güven will drive under the Manthey DK Engineering name. The sister car will run as The Bend Manthey and will be driven by Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Yasser Shahin.