Yifei Ye made history in last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans (14-15 June) by becoming the first Chinese driver ever to win the world’s most famous race, but what is perhaps less well-known is that the result also represented something of a ‘home’ success for the AF Corse star...
Together with team-mates Robert Kubica and Philip Hanson, Ye celebrated a famous victory at La Sarthe behind the wheel of the #83 Ferrari 499P Hypercar – completing a hat-trick of consecutive triumphs for the Italian manufacturer in the legendary twice-round-the-clock contest.
Despite beginning the fourth round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign from down in 13th on the grid following a problem in the first Hyperpole session, the trio steadily worked their way into contention, and before long, they were locked in a fierce scrap for supremacy with the two ‘works’ Ferraris and the #6 Porsche.
While the #50 and #51 entries encountered some delays – and the German prototype didn’t quite have the outright pace to challenge – the #83 crew were fast and almost faultless, barring a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement shortly after 08:00 on Sunday.
Kubica – who similarly shared a car with Ye in 2021, in the LMP2 category, when the pair and stablemate Louis Délétraz were cruelly denied victory by electrical dramas on the very last lap – ultimately took the chequered flag just over 14 seconds clear of the pursuing Porsche 963. It was, admits Ye, ‘redemption’.
“In my first Le Mans in 2021, I faced the biggest heartbreak of my career,” reflected the official Ferrari Factory Driver. “Then last year again, the car was working very well and we led for 83 laps, but unfortunately a technical problem forced us to retire. Before the weekend, Robert was joking with me, ‘we’ve raced together at Le Mans twice before and haven’t finished, so hopefully this one will be different’ – and finally we finished the last lap that we started four years ago!
“Le Mans is the race that every driver dreams of winning, and with 21 Hypercars in the field this year, the level of competition was extremely high – but that just makes the value of winning it even higher, too. Everyone was really strong which meant we had to push very hard, but we drove a very good race without many mistakes and everybody at AF Corse from my team-mates to all the engineers and mechanics did a wonderful job. I’m super-thankful to the whole team.
“The 499P was fantastic and we were in a position from the start to fight for the win. In the middle of the race, we had a healthy lead and then the safety car broke up the rhythm a bit. In the end, it was pretty tight, with every mistake proving costly, but to cross the finish line first was a dream come true – I felt like I needed to pinch myself to find out if it was really real.
“Big congratulations to everybody involved – to have three different cars and three different crews win one of the most difficult races in the world back-to-back-to-back is an unbelievable achievement, and one I’m super-proud to be a part of.”
Ye’s love affair with the Circuit de la Sarthe, however, dates back somewhat further than 2021. In 2014, he arrived in France from his home country as a 14-year-old, settling in Le Mans as he focused on training to become a professional racing driver. On the evidence of last weekend’s achievement, that training is paying off richly.
“Le Mans is a place that is very close to my heart,” the Xi’an native acknowledged. “The last time I was on the podium here was in French F4 in 2016, and my dream ever since has been to one day win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I had an apartment next to the Esses, and from out of my window, I could see the Tertre Rouge restaurant and hear the noise of the cars. I could never have imagined that 11 years after first coming to France, I would win this race with Ferrari. It really is something unique...”
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