Porsche Penske Motorsport won the 29th Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The No. 6 Porsche 963 shared by Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell took the 10-hour race, giving Porsche its first victory in the event's top class.
The finish was far less straightforward than the result line suggests. Porsche says the race featured 16 safety-car periods, a red-flag interruption and heavy rain in the opening stages. It ultimately came down to a short sprint after the final caution. Vanthoor kept the lead and crossed the line 1.205 seconds ahead of the opposition.
The result matters beyond Road Atlanta. Porsche says that, after 963 victories in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, it became the first manufacturer to win the endurance classics at Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta in the same season. This was not a sweep by one crew. The factory No. 7 Porsche 963 won Daytona and Sebring, while the No. 6 car delivered the Petit Le Mans victory.
Porsche also secured the manufacturer, team and driver titles in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. That achievement needs to be separated from the full IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Porsche finished second in the main GTP manufacturers' standings, so the Road Atlanta result did not amount to a clean sweep of the entire season.
Even so, it was a notable closing result for the 963 program. IMSA points out that Porsche had won Petit Le Mans overall before, in 2015, when a GTLM-class Porsche 911 RSR beat the prototypes in a rain-hit race. The 2026 result was the marque's first top-class victory at the event with a prototype. The hybrid LMDh 963 therefore added another major endurance win to a program that has been active since the current regulations began in 2023.