Well, here it is. For the 93rd time, the immortal Circuit De La Sarthe will play host to the greatest race in the world. I’ve been twiddling my thumbs watching as much le mans content as I can all day, and now it is finally here. There’s a different feeling over this one, too. Mercedes and Aston Martin are back, the field is only growing and crucially it looks to be a dry race all the way through. But there’s an entire day to go, so who will Le Mans choose to be its victor in 2025? There’s only one way to find out…

As golden hour ended, the race entered one of its most crucial periods. Simply, the goal now was to make it comfortably into the night as the track’s dynamic shifted and new curveballs emerged. Who would have the pace in the colder temperatures and less grippy surface. And who would manage those all important tyre temperatures best?

Meanwhile, the stricken #95 McLaren was still stationary, waiting to be picked up and helped back to the garage by the support truck. Though it was possible to limp back, the team didn’t want to risk further damage. And as the night approached it was the #83 that held the advantage with Yi Yefei holding a near 30 second advantage over the #6 with the #50 of Miguel Molina and the #51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi running third and fourth. In LMGT3, the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes was brought in by Lorcan Hanafin where it was sent into the garage, continuing a miserable Le Mans for Mercedes. Their only real hope for a good result now lay with the #61, running 14th in LMGT3 and with Martin Berry in the car. And after the #83 emerged, the three factory cars ran within seconds of each other, all fighting for the lead as Matt Campbell pitted his #6 Porsche and was relegated back to fourth.

Drive through penalties were not a rarity in this one so far, as the #60 and #95 officially became the next two cars to retire. The Ziggo-Sport Tempesta #193 received its first of the race after failing to respect yellow flags. The team were having a quiet but respectable race so far, especially considering it’s their first time at the Circuit De La Sarthe. Meanwhile, Paul-Loup Chatin made contact with the #94 Peugeot after an intense battle, spinning round after a lock up. It’s been a torrid race for both French manufacturers so far, and that certainly wasn’t making their situations any better. The #35 Alpine did gain a place in all the fracas, but certainly not the most optimal way to do so. And the mistakes seemed to be piling on, with the LMP2 class leader, that of AO Racing’s #199 ‘Spike’ received a drive through penalty for failing to respect yellow flags.

By now darkness had well and truly descended and Ferrari still led 1-2-3 with the #6 Porsche still fourth, and fifth trading between the rest of the top ten all of whom were an altering strategies. It seemed to be the only way to beat Ferrari by this point, with Toyota and Porsche both having disappointing races by their own standards, and Cadillac unable to have the raw race pace. Proton’s #99 Porsche meanwhile ran tenth, the highest it had done on pace with the #94’s maverick strategy also helping it slowly climb into fourteenth. And with Mick Schumacher now in the #36 Alpine, they had arguably their best driver in their best placed car as they entered their first ever Le Mans night. Say what you want about their current performance, but at least they’d made it into the night with both cars intact if low down the order and looking unlikely to pose a threat. That shouldn’t be sniffed at.

More pit stops would close the eighth hour of the race for the overall victory, with both factory Ferraris only slightly seperated by roughly a ten percent energy deficit. Mick Schumacher meanwhile was already up to tenth as the BMWs found some real pace. Rene Rast made light work of Sebastian Buemi as the #20 BMW made it up to sixth ahead of the sole contending Toyota, #8. Meanwhile, LMP2 was now in the hands of VDS Panis’s hands, their #48 car with a twenty second gap to the #199 after Spike took its drive through penalty. LMGT3 was still a battle between the #46 and #92, with the #21 and Corvette’s #81 giving chase. Arnold Robin was fifth in the #79. But then there was drama, as the #48 VDS Panis team’s manager was summoned by the race director in ominous fashion. Pit lane speed limits had caught out many teams already, and VDS was now in the firing line. As that was decided upon, the stewards also handed out a drive through penalty to the #38 JOTA Cadillac of Jenson Button for failing to respect yellow flags. In the meantime, Michel Christensen was cleared of an investigation over a similar incident and even more significantly, the #50 Ferrari was under scrutiny for the same penalty. A drive through could be catastrophic for the defending race winners, as the #5, affected by a drive through hours earlier, was still down in a lowly fourteenth and failing to make any progress.

Indeed, the call came through later that race control had handed Nicklas Nielsen’s #50 Ferrari a crushing blow – a drive through penalty. Estimated time losses reached nearly a minute by this point, and it had the potential to completely derail what had been a great run from the defending race winners. And joining them would be the #311 Cadillac of Jack Aitken, who also picked up a drive through penalty. They were down in 9th, and this could potentially take them out of contention. The #15 BMW then also found itself under scrutiny for speeding in pit lane.

And BMW continued their rise, with the #20 closing in on the previous race leader, the #50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen. The gap was closed to nearly four seconds, and despite the difference in energy being larger than 50 percent it was still a sign that Ferrari could be matched. And that gap continued closing throughout the stint, with Rene Rast continuing his strong stints throughout the night. Eventually, with fifteen minutes left in the eighth hour of the race the BMW closed up to within a second of the Ferrari. Meanwhile, both the #101 Wayne Taylor Cadillac and the #7 Toyota were lapped on pace along by Kevin Estre, who was back aboard the #6.

Meanwhile, the United Autosports #22 LMP2 was making a comeback after a spin at Dunlop in the early stages, having climbed its way up to sixth place. It was now closing on the leaders with Renger Van De Zande at the wheel, while the #37 CLX Motorsport LMP2 was now in the garage, the first major casualty from the class being some 8 laps down as a penalty came through for the #20 BMW. A 15 second stop and go penalty was received by Robin Frijns, now both cars having been pinged for the same mistake within 20 short minutes. Later into the race, the #15 came under even more scrutiny, their limiter suspected of being faulty while running ninth.

There meanwhile was more controversy as a possible switch between the two race leaders, the #51 and #83 were tipped to swap position but it was dealt with before anything of the sort could take place. Phil Hanson, aboard the privateer Ferrari out-braked himself at Mulsanne and James Calado went by easily, both drivers pushing to the limit.

JOTA meanwhile were still struggling, having not cracked the top five in hours. With fifteen and a half hours to go both cars were running significantly off schedule, with the #12 7th and the #38 a lowly 14th after a drive through penalty earlier in the race. And after the #311’s penalty earlier they weren’t looking great either, with the #101 still down in 17th with no known reason for the car’s lack of pace. Cadillac then were having a nightmare Le Mans after taking a 1-2 on Thursday evening.

As we approached midnight in the UK, and the tiredness started to set in Hypercar was still very much the three Ferrari’s fending off the #6 Porsche, with the #8 Toyota slowly creeping towards them. LMP2 was still in the hands of VDS Panis’s #48 with Job Van Uitert’s #28 IDEC Sport in second and Inter Europol’s #43 in third. Fourth was Andre Lottere with the second IDEC Sport car, the #18. And LMGT3 was still very between the #46 WRT show who were making up for their DNF last year, and Manthey’s #92 as we continue into the night.

Surprisingly then, the early part of the night has been rather easy on the competitors this year, with drama yet to strike under darkness. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if it’s decided to hang around Spa and the Nurburgring, as we’ve only had three retirements all race and barely any yellow flag running. It’s been a remarkably clean race and by this point its Ferrari’s race to lose with all three cars in the top five. Don’t count out Toyota’s #8 which sits fifth and behind the leading quartet though – we all know how Toyota can mastermind a win from a losing position. So, with the night well under way it’s now a game of keeping calm and carrying on. Will the night claim it’s first competitor? Stay tuned to find out…

thumbnail credit – Lukas Raich, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons