MOTORSPORT – THE #83 AF Corse crew of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Philip Hanson claimed an historic victory yesterday in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours at Circuit de la Sarthe in France.
Behind the wheel of their Ferrari 499P Hypercar, the victors grinded it out against some tough opposition to take the chequered flag in first place with a total of 387 laps completed.
Kubica brought their stunning yellow contender home as he finished 14.084 seconds ahead of overall runners-up Porsche Penske Motorsport with their #6 crew of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell driving their Porsche 963 Hypercar.
Two other Ferrari 499P Hypercars followed, representing the two Ferrari AF Corse teams.
The #51 trio of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and James Calado completed the overall podium 28.487s from the winners, while the #50 trio of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina came fourth 29.666s back.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s #12 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar, driven by pole-sitters Will Stevens, Norman Nato, and Alex Lynn, came fifth; while the Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 GR010-Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries were sixth.
Rounding out the top eight overall and amongst the Hypercars were Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #5 Porsche 963 of Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen, and Mathieu Jaminet, and Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s #38 Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber, and Jenson Button.
A total of 21 Hypercars competed in Le Mans in the WEC’s top-tier class.
Meanwhile, the #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm team of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, and Richard Lietz took the victory in the LMGT3 category. Behind the wheel of their Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 car, they completed 341 laps en route to securing the top of the order.
They finished 33.259s ahead of runners-up in the #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of the Vista AF Corse crew of Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, and Alessio Rovera; while claiming third place more than a minute behind were TF Sport’s #81 crew of Charlie Eastwood, Tom van Rompuy, and Rui Andrade in their Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R.
Twenty-four entrants hit the track in the LMGT3 class.
Finally, taking the win amongst the LMP2 field were the #43 crew of Inter Europol Competition, featuring Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann, and Nick Yelloly. They steered their Oreca 07-Gibson to a total of 367 laps at the end of 24 hours.
They finished nearly two minutes in front of the #48 crew of Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson, and Franck Perera competing for VDS Panis Racing, while classified third one lap behind were the #199 AO by TF trio of PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron, and Louis Deletraz.
Seventeen LMP2 challengers competed in the class’ only appearance of the WEC season.
This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans marked the midway point of the eight-round 2025 WEC campaign.
The series next heads to Sao Paulo, Brazil in July, and then to Austin, Texas, and Fuji, Japan, in September. The championship will then hold its grand finale in the kingdom at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir this November.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh