- Charlie Thornton
- Jun 14, 2025
- 6 min read
FIA World Endurance Championship - 24 Hours of Le Mans - Ferrari out front at the six hour mark!
After six intense hours of racing, the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P holds onto the lead at the front, closely followed by the #50 Ferrari, while in LMP2, the #48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca 07 leads, and the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo leads in LMGT3.
RACE
The 93rd Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans kicked off with a clean start, but the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 stormed into the lead of the race during the first two sectors, boldly overtaking both the #38 and #12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R’s, and took early control of the race. At the end of the opening lap, the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maxime Martin had already made moves into third in LMGT3.
Shortly after, the #007 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie pitted with a slow puncture, while Kévin Estre was flying in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry, clocking the fastest lap of the race so far, and climbing to eighth position overall.
The LMGT3 fight intensified with a thrilling four-car battle between the #10 Aston Martin, #77 Mustang, #46 BMW and the #81 Corvette, but chaos struck at the Dunlop Chicane where both the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 and #193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari spun, and a questionable rejoin led to slight contact with the #23 United Oreca 07, which headed for review.
Further up the field, a tight scrap for twelfth in Hypercar saw the #4 Porsche, #7 Toyota and the #35 Alpine fight nose-to-tail, while in LMP2, the #34, #29 and #37 cars were locked into a three-way fight. The hour ended with a major incident for Paul di Resta in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 at the Porsche Curves, causing significant damage and an early setback for the team.
HOUR ONE CLASS RESULTS:
As the race entered its second hour, action remained relentless across the field, when the #4 Porsche of Nick Tandy made a move on the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway to take thirteenth overall, while moments later in LMGT3, the #10 Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse-Clot surged into the class lead, overtaking the #46 Team WRT BMW of Ahmad Al Harthy.
The charge of the #50 Ferrari continued through the hour with Nicklas Nielsen overtaking the #6 Porsche of Kévin Estre to move into fourth, and just minutes later, he slipped past the #12 Cadillac of Will Stevens, to take second position, accounting for pit cycles.
HOUR TWO CLASS RESULTS:
As the race moved into the third hour, Ferrari’s pace began to shine, but Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche capitalised on the traffic at the Porsche Curves to take second place from the #5 Porsche of Jaminet. Not long after, the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco surged into the overall lead, passing Jaminet before Indianapolis with the Ferrari’s impressive straight-line speed.
Further down the order, Giovinazzi made progress for Ferrari as well, putting the #51 past the #15 BMW for sixth position, meanwhile both Alpine Hypercars were handed harsh penalties for pit lane speeding, with the #35 a five-second stop-and-go, followed by a twenty-second stop-and-go for the #36.
HOUR THREE CLASS RESULTS:
The fourth hour saw on-track battles and penalties continue to shape the order. A devastating incident for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 saw a loose tyre-nut, and a subsequent hard collision with the tyre barriers at Tetre Rouge, becoming the first retirement of the race. Moments later, a battle for first overall saw back-and-forth action between the #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi and the #5 Porsche of Jaminet. Giovinazzi made the first move, but Jaminet responded instantly to regain the position.
Toyota’s recovery continued as Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 overtook the #35 Alpine of Charles Milesi for fourteenth overall, having been stuck behind for several laps. The duel was interrupted when a full course yellow was called, neutralising the field in the moment.
After that, race control issued a flurry of penalties, again with speeding penalties for the two Alpine A424’s, while others were penalised for slow zone and full course yellow infractions. Elsewhere, the #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes slowed down on the Mulsanne Straight, and was soon taken back into the garage. Around the same time, Laurens Vanthoor exited the pits ahead of the #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica, having pitted simultaneously. The two traded positions afterwards, with Kubica briefly taking third position before Vanthoor fought back entering Indianapolis as the battle nearly became a three-wide ordeal when the #51 Ferrari also attempted to insert itself into the scrap.
HOUR FOUR CLASS RESULTS:
Robert Kubica opened the fifth hour by overtaking the #6 Porsche of Vanthoor for second position, but just before he received a five-second time penalty for gaining a lasting advantage in the previous hour. Soon after, Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari also passed Vanthoor, dropping the Porsche into fourth, making it a Ferrari 1-2-3. During the hour, Célia Martin dropped two positions in the Dunlop Chicane when she went off track in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 992 LMGT3 R, dropping to ninth in class.
HOUR FIVE CLASS RESULTS:
The race entered the sixth hour of the race, and we saw a dramatic moment when the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 was airborne with all four wheels off the ground while going over a kerb to avoid the #311 Whelen Cadillac. The #7 Toyota was handed a massive fifty-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane, while the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720s LMGT3 Evo of Darren Leung came to a halt between the second chicane and the Mulsanne Corner, prompting a full course yellow, which also saw multiple penalties issued for failing to follow full course yellow procedures, notably for the pole-sitting #29 TDS Racing Oreca 07.
HOUR SIX CLASS RESULTS:
Comments