Ferrari’s 499P continued its dominance on the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend, claiming a 3rd consecutive victory on the Circuit de la Sarthe, every with a distinct driver lineup. This 12 months, Robert Kubica, Philip Hanson, and Yifei Ye took the historic win, with all three celebrating their first general triumph within the race
Twenty years on from the final privateer triumph within the legendary twice-round-the-clock contest, the #83 AF Corse entry acquired the higher of the 2 Ferrari AF Corse ‘works’ vehicles to win the largest race of the season – with Le Mans doubling up because the fourth spherical of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship marketing campaign.
In 2023, the #51 499P Hypercar grew to become the primary Ferrari to win Le Mans outright since 1965, whereas final 12 months, it was the #50 that conquered its phenomenal problem. Each of the manufacturing facility vehicles had been firmly within the combine as soon as once more within the occasion’s 93rd version, however a sequence of penalties and an in a single day puncture opened the door for the #83 to steal the highlight – and in entrance of a record-breaking crowd of 332,000 enthusiastic followers, its crew wanted no second invitation.
Each Hanson and Ye drove beautifully, but it surely was Kubica who produced the heroics, as the previous grand prix-winner accomplished 43 per cent of the successful automotive’s laps – together with an astonishing 5 consecutive stints on the finish of the race to finally wind up 14 seconds away from his closest pursuer following a consummate show.
The primary Pole ever to prevail at Le Mans, the consequence represented redemption for Kubica, who was denied LMP2 victory by a throttle sensor challenge on the final lap in 2021 after which scooped the runner-up spoils in-class in each 2022 and 2023. Hanson added general honours to his 2020 LMP2 class win, whereas Ye is the primary Chinese language driver to triumph at La Sarthe – and the trio achieved the feat from down in thirteenth on the grid, with solely two crews having beforehand gained from additional again.
“What an amazing job from everybody,” Kubica enthused. “It hasn’t been utterly easy, however we deserve the win – we’ve been quick and powerful, and we solely made a number of errors. I wasn’t purported to do 5 stints on the finish, however I managed to regulate every thing and produce the automotive safely house.
“I’m joyful for Ferrari; to win three years in a row with three completely different crews and vehicles is superb. Proper now, it’s a combination of tiredness and adrenaline and I’m simply wanting ahead to resting a bit and having fun with it. It’s a really big day and it’s emotional, as a result of we didn’t count on this.”
Arguably simply as spectacular because the AF Corse trio’s efficiency was that of the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which scythed from twenty first and final on the Hypercar grid after being disqualified from qualifying to take the chequered flag second.
Certainly, throughout the house of solely 23 laps, Kévin Estre had climbed throughout to second behind team-mate Julien Andlauer within the sister #5 automotive. The reigning Drivers’ world champion was one of many stars of the present all through as he, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell doggedly saved the stress on the pace-setting Ferraris en path to comfortably their greatest results of the season to-date.
Regardless of a late engine-related concern, the championship-leading #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi rounded out the podium in third – the latter ruing a late-morning error that noticed him spin on the entry to the pit-lane and briefly seashore the scarlet machine within the gravel. The #50 499P piloted by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina was in shut firm behind, with the pole-setting #12 Cadillac Hertz Group JOTA finishing the highest 5 finishers.
The American producer’s pair of V-Collection.Rs had been unable to breed their stellar qualifying kind and had been by no means really within the hunt for a trophy, however native hero Sébastien Buemi was ready to remove the comfort of a brand new lap document within the Hypercar class. It was a race to neglect, in the meantime, for defending Producers’ world champions Toyota, with sixth place for the #7 GR010 Hybrid the most effective it will get for the Japanese marque, which has been 5 occasions an outright winner of the occasion.
MANTHEY MASTERS LMGT3 AGAIN
Manthey maintained its undefeated LMGT3 class document at Le Mans because the German squad secured back-to-back triumphs on the Circuit de la Sarthe, with the #92 crew of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick largely steering away from hassle to pip the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and #81 TF Sport Corvette to glory. For Lietz, the consequence marked his sixth profession success within the race.
A number of motorcycling world champion Valentino Rossi led for a very long time in Group WRT’s #46 BMW, just for the automotive to be compelled out by {an electrical} challenge with Kelvin van der Linde on the wheel.
LATE DRAMA AND HEARTBREAK IN LMP2
Inter Europol Competitors seemed to be on-course for victory within the LMP2 class with its #43 ORECA-Gibson prototype, however a late drive-through penalty for pit-lane dashing subsequently handed the benefit to the intently following VDS Panis Racing automotive.
That seemed to be that, till Esteban Masson abruptly slowed within the remaining 20 minutes, enabling Nick Yelloly to comb again previous and cement Polish outfit Inter Europol Competitors’s second Le Mans win in three years.
Spherical 5 of the 2025 FIA WEC marketing campaign – the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo in Brazil – will happen on 11-13 July on the iconic Autódromo José Carlos Tempo (Interlagos).
