The “semi-private” Ferrari No 83, in the hands of former Polish F1 driver Robert Kubica, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, far ahead of the two Swiss drivers entered in this Hypercar category.
Saint-Gallois Neel Jani (Porsche Proton) finished 14th, 4 laps behind, while Vaudois Sébastien Buemi (Toyota) finished two places further back, 7 laps behind. Still at the forefront shortly before midday, the Aiglon and its partners had to become disillusioned after losing a wheel and suffering a puncture.
For Ferrari, the No 8 offered the Italian brand a fabulous hat-trick, after its successes in 2023 and 2024. This victory also hides a historic first: Ye Yifei, the teammate of Kubica and Briton Phil Hanson, becomes the first Chinese to win in the most prestigious automobile endurance race on the planet.
The Prancing Horse team came close to also taking a hat-trick on the finish line, which it had done twice in 1961 and 1965. It was deprived of it by the talent of the drivers of the Porsche No 6, including the Frenchman Kévin Estre, who snatched second place two hours from the finish.
Glamor
This third consecutive victory for Ferrari – after the prestigious success of the centenary of Le Mans in 2023 and the 2024 edition – is obviously a triumph for the Italian manufacturer.
But the happiness of the fans will perhaps not be shared without reservation in Maranello. As the winning car was not entered directly by the manufacturer, but by the AF Corse team, the points for its victory were not credited to Ferrari for the world endurance championship, the WEC.
This success of the most glamorous brand in motorsport will also help to establish the growing reputation of the world championship. Abandoned by the big teams in the 2010s, outrageously dominated by Toyota which had no competitor equal to it, the WEC reinvented itself in 2021 by launching the “Hypercars” category.
Magnificent prototypes, but with a more affordable budget for the big manufacturers than the old LMP1s, and sometimes controversial regulations, designed to promote spectacle: a “balance of performance” which allows organizers to balance the performances of the cars, by imposing weight and/or power handicaps on the fastest of them.
The idea appealed since 21 “Hypercars” were at Le Mans this year, representing a total of eight prestigious brands.
This championship has also restored the 24 Hours of Le Mans to its former glory, after editions that were sometimes poorly contested under the “Toyota era”, due to a lack of competition. On Sunday, for the first time in the history of Le Mans, the first four were separated at the finish by less than 30 seconds.
Being the show
The race was played out in several acts. After an initial fight between major teams in the first four hours, Ferrari took control of operations. At 8 p.m. on Saturday, the three Scuderia cars took the lead and, after emerging victorious from a long night of fighting, they could even, with three hours to go, hope to monopolize the first three places.
But the drivers of the No. 6 Porsche pulled out all the stops. Already the day before, Frenchman Kevin Estre put on a show by moving up from 21st place on the grid to fourth, in just 1 hour 15 minutes. And during the night, the No 6 had constantly tickled the Ferraris.
Around 1:00 p.m., after a thunderous stint from Belgian Laurens Vanthoor, to catch up with the Ferraris, Australian Matt Campbell took third place before 2:00 p.m. Kevin Estre defended the position, knocking the crew of the Ferrari No 50, winners last year, off the podium.
Rossi gives up
Behind, Cadillac honored its pole position obtained in qualifying, placing a car in 5th position. Alpine on the other hand, which aimed to join the fight, did not keep up the pace. The two blue cars with the A arrow finish two and three laps behind the winner.
Finally, for Peugeot, no miracle. The French brand with the Lion finished in 11th and 17th place, at the level where it had been all season in the world championship.
Furthermore, the former king of MotoGP Valentino Rossi, who was participating in his second 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGT3 category (cars from the series), was forced to retire for the second time in two years.
