Following a disappointing qualifying and Hyperpole performance, FIA World Endurance Championship leader Ferrari has worked its way to the front over the early hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the #50, #83 and #51 499P Hypercars holding three of the leading four positions.
Julien Andlauer controlled the opening stint-and-a-half of the race in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 Hypercar, heading the 62-car class of 2025 in the opening exchanges as a fascinating cat-and-mouse battle developed for honours in the 93rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
The French ace made short work of the front row-sitting Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entries started by Will Stevens and Earl Bamber to stretch out a small gap as a classic Ferrari vs. Porsche battle began to brew
But into the third hour, the #5 Porsche was caught by the #50 Ferrari AF Corse started by Nicklas Nielsen but then taken over by Antonio Fuoco, who surged into the lead on the run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis
Kévin Estre was a clear star of the opening hours as he scythed through from last on the Hypercar grid into the lead battle behind the wheel of the #6 Porsche, despatching the majority of the field with several excellent manoeuvres
Estre completed a triple stint before handing the Porsche over to team-mate Laurens Vanthoor, who subsequently caught stablemate Mathieu Jaminet in the #5 963 for second place. He got through when Jaminet found himself baulked by Takeshi Kimura in the Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 at Porsche Curves after 2h40m of racing
Fuoco then opened up a useful 23-second lead for the defending Le Mans winners after capitalising upon the first Full Course Yellow of the race just before the fifth hour arrived, with the #6 Porsche leading the chase but under pressure from the #51 Ferrari AF Corse car of Antonio Giovinazzi
Behind the top two, Ferrari also has strength in numbers as Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P and Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse car currently run third and fourth – both closing on the #6 Porsche of Vanthoor
The #5 Porsche, meanwhile, was handed a drive-through penalty for a slow zone infringement, dropping it outside of the top ten and out-of-contention at the front
Just before the fifth hour began, there was a tight duel of the pit crews as the #6 Porsche of Vanthoor and the #83 Ferrari of Kubica came in together. It was Porsche that prevailed, as the Belgian emerged ahead of the yellow Ferrari for second place
The battle then continued on-track, as Vanthoor and Kubica ran side-by-side, with fourth-placed Giovinazzi also joining the scrap to make it a truly crowd-pleasing three-way tussle. Kubica took the position, before Vanthoor fought back into Indianapolis to reclaim second place
But the #83 Ferrari then picked up a five-second time penalty at its next scheduled pit-stop for gaining an unfair advantage during the only Full Course Yellow period so far, prompted due to LMP2 accident debris
The two factory Cadillacs have slipped back and been usurped by regular IMSA entrant Whelen Cadillac, which has impressed in the hands of Jack Aitken and Felipe Drugovich and runs seventh after being leapfrogged by the #20 BMW of Robin Frijns
Toyota is holding a watching brief, as the #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR010 Hybrid runs in eighth position following stints for Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley
Kamui Kobayashi in the sister #7 Toyota ran wide at Mulsanne Corner and was forced to take a long re-join, losing 15 seconds and dropping down to the lower reaches of the Hypercar field
Completing the top ten at four hours are the pair of Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA cars, with the #38 heading the #12 V-Series.R
The first big drama of the race came just before the end of the opening hour, when Paul di Resta went off-track at the Porsche Curves and glanced the tyre wall, taking the engine cover off the #93 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8. The Scot lost 70 seconds in the pits while replacement rear bodywork was fitted
LMGT3
LMGT3 sees the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari lead following a stellar triple stint from Spa winner Alessio Rovera
The beginning of the race witnessed pole-sitter Mattia Drudi open up an early advantage, but the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin dropped back towards the end of the first stint
François Heriau, who began second on the LMGT3 grid in the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, lost time early on to a spin while fighting with the #85 Iron Dames Porsche piloted by Célia Martin
That elevated the #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston driven by Valentin Hasse Clot to the top spot ahead of a charging Ahmed Al Harthy in the #46 Team WRT BMW
Hasse Clot had overhauled Al Harthy midway through the second hour with a smooth manoeuvre on the Mulsanne Straight, but the Swiss-entered Aston Martin’s race was compromised by an engine issue in the third hour, costing it five laps with Derek Deboer at the wheel
Rovera was able to claw back the time lost by Heriau’s earlier spin to take the class lead as he stayed in the Ferrari while Al Harthy handed over to team-mate Valentino Rossi. The Ferrari driver led ‘The Doctor’ by 16 seconds as hour five got underway
Currently running third in LMGT3 is the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3, after Richard Lietz got the better of ‘super-sub’ Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames-entered Porsche, which runs fourth in class
There was drama for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3, which became the first retirement of the race after Giammarco Levorato appeared to lose a wheel entering Tertre Rouge and made contact with the tyre wall
The Akkodis ASP Team challenge looked potent in the first two stints as Jack Hawksworth spearheaded an excellent charge from eighth to the lead in the #78 Lexus, but the car dropped back to fifth place once Arnold Robin took to the wheel
LMP2
LMP2 pole-sitter Mathias Beche in the #29 IDEC Sport car led the early running, but the car relinquished the advantage at its first pit-stop, when ‘Bronze’ driver Rodrigo Sales climbed aboard
That allowed the stalking Tom Dillmann in the #43 Inter Europol Competition car to hit the front, and the Frenchman immediately build up a solid margin through the second hour of the race
Behind Dillmann, the RLR M Sport car made strong progress from eighth on the starting grid in the hands of the experienced Patrick Pilet, who closed onto the tail of the leader
Dillmann’s team-mate Jakub Smiechowski then completed a flawless couple of stints to maintain the initiative. Despite struggling with a developing gear-shifting issue, the Pole was able to adapt and recover composure to hold the lead as the fifth hour arrived, enjoying a 20-second advantage over the #48 VDS Panis LMP2 entry driven by Franck Perera
The #9 Iron Lynx Proton car holds third position with Maceo Capietto at the wheel, as the Frenchman heads the #22 United Autosports challenger, which encountered some first hour drama when David Heinemeier Hansson collided with the Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari at Dunlop Chicane; the Dane was shown a warning flag for the altercation
The #25 Algarve PRO Racing Oreca-Gibson of Mathias Kaiser hit the back of Michael Jensen in the #16 RLR M Sport car on entry to Tertre Rouge and was forced to pit for repairs; that incident prompted the first Full Course Yellow of the race to clear up debris, and earned Kaiser a drive-through penalty
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