Ferrari’s 499P Hypercar has maintained its unbeaten run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend (14-15 June), as for the third consecutive year, the Prancing Horse came, saw and conquered at the Circuit de la Sarthe with an historic victory for Robert Kubica, Philip Hanson and Yifei Ye.
Two decades on from the last privateer triumph in the legendary twice-round-the-clock contest, the #83 AF Corse entry got the better of the two Ferrari AF Corse ‘works’ cars to win the biggest race of the season – with Le Mans doubling up as the fourth round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign.
In 2023, the #51 499P Hypercar became the first Ferrari to win Le Mans outright since 1965, while last year, it was the #50 that conquered its phenomenal challenge. Both of the factory cars were firmly in the mix once again in the event’s 93rd edition, but a series of penalties and an overnight puncture opened the door for the #83 to steal the spotlight – and in front of a record-breaking crowd of 332,000 enthusiastic fans, its crew needed no second invitation.
Both Hanson and Ye drove superbly, but it was Kubica who produced the heroics, as the former grand prix-winner completed 43 per cent of the winning car’s laps – including an astonishing five consecutive stints at the end of the race to ultimately wind up 14 seconds clear of his closest pursuer following a consummate display.
The first Pole ever to prevail at Le Mans, the result represented redemption for Kubica, who was denied LMP2 victory by a throttle sensor issue on the very last lap in 2021 and then scooped the runner-up spoils in-class in both 2022 and 2023. Hanson added overall honours to his 2020 LMP2 category win, while Ye is the first Chinese driver to triumph at La Sarthe – and the trio achieved the feat from down in 13th on the grid, with only two crews having previously won from further back.
“What a great job from everyone,” Kubica enthused. “It hasn’t been completely smooth, but we deserve the win – we’ve been fast and strong and we only made a few mistakes. I wasn’t supposed to do five stints at the end, but I managed to control everything and bring the car safely home.
“I’m happy for Ferrari; to win three years in a row with three different crews and cars is amazing. Right now, it’s a mixture of tiredness and adrenaline and I’m just looking forward to resting a bit and enjoying it. It’s a very special day and it’s emotional, because we didn’t expect this.”
Arguably just as impressive as the AF Corse trio’s performance was that of the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which scythed from 21st and last on the Hypercar grid after being disqualified from qualifying to take the chequered flag second.
Indeed, within the space of only 23 laps, Kévin Estre had climbed all the way through to second behind team-mate Julien Andlauer in the sister #5 car. The reigning Drivers’ world champion was one of the stars of the show throughout as he, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell doggedly kept the pressure on the pace-setting Ferraris en route to comfortably their best result of the season to-date.
Despite a late engine-related concern, the championship-leading #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi rounded out the rostrum in third – the latter ruing a late-morning error that saw him spin at the entry to the pit-lane and briefly beach the scarlet machine in the gravel. The #50 499P piloted by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina was in close company behind, with the pole-setting #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA completing the top five finishers.
The American manufacturer’s pair of V-Series.Rs were unable to reproduce their stellar qualifying form and were never truly in the hunt for a trophy, but local hero Sébastien Buemi was able to take away the consolation of a new lap record in the Hypercar category. It was a race to forget, meanwhile, for defending Manufacturers’ world champions Toyota, with sixth place for the #7 GR010 Hybrid the best it would get for the Japanese marque, which has been five times an outright winner of the event.
Manthey masters LMGT3 again
Manthey maintained its undefeated LMGT3 category record at Le Mans as the German squad secured back-to-back triumphs at the Circuit de la Sarthe, with the #92 crew of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick largely steering clear of trouble to pip the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and #81 TF Sport Corvette to glory. For Lietz, the result marked his sixth career success in the race.
Multiple motorcycling world champion Valentino Rossi led for a long time in Team WRT’s #46 BMW, only for the car to be forced out by an electrical issue with Kelvin van der Linde at the wheel.
Late drama and heartbreak in LMP2
Inter Europol Competition looked to be on-course for victory in the LMP2 category with its #43 ORECA-Gibson prototype, but a late drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding subsequently handed the advantage to the closely-following VDS Panis Racing car.
That looked to be that, until Esteban Masson suddenly slowed in the final 20 minutes, enabling Nick Yelloly to sweep back past and cement Polish outfit Inter Europol Competition’s second Le Mans win in three years.
Round five of the 2025 FIA WEC campaign – the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo in Brazil – will take place on 11-13 July at the iconic Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos).
