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…

Cadillac took an historic pole position on Thursday, and it was Alex Lynn who led the field through the 62 cars down front straight and up to the Dunlop chicane as the clock began ticking. The Porsche #5 made it up to the lead into the first Mulsanne chicane thanks to a great move from Julian Andlauer while BMW ran fourth and fifth as the field streamed down the Mulsanne. The IMSA #4 Porsche also moved up to fourth with Kevin Magnussen’s #15 BMW also up to fifth. But it was Andlauer who made the best start opening up a real gap on the Cadillac pair

Andlauer led field across the line and completed the first lap of the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 2 second gap from Alex Lynn’s #12 JOTA Cadillac. LMP2 was led by the pole-sitting #29 TDS Racing machine with the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin also leading the LMGT3 class having started from pole. The #61 Mercedes was up to third behind the #46 BMW WRT M4 in the class. In LMP2 AO Racing’s Spike #199 and Inter Europol’s #43 gave chase. But Julian Andlauer led at the front with a clean few opening laps. Estre meanwhile was on a charge, having started sixteen he was already up eight positions, having really dialled in his #6 Porsche. The German marque seemed to have the advantage in the opening laps.

The first pitstop was unscheduled, as Harry Tincknell pulled into the Aston Martin pit box with his #007 Hypercar. Having already been running at the back of the pack, it was a disastrous start to the race with the car having sustained a puncture in the early laps. But with 24 hours to go they’ve still got every opportunity to find their way back into it. The opening laps were clean and amazingly they stayed that way as the hypercars hit LMGT3 traffic, while Estre continued his charge through the field. From 21st on the grid by the half hour mark he was up to seventh in the #6 Porsche, bringing it into contention. Oh, and he also set the fastest lap of the race while doing so.

The LMP2 pitstops then came round for the first time, with it just being a fuel stop for the most part. The main news was that TDS Racing had a really slow stop, promoting the #43 Inter Europol car into the lead, with the #37 CLX Racing LMP2 and AF Corse’s #183 running second and third.

Hypercar’s first pit stops came next, with both JOTA Cadillacs taking their stops first, along with Toyota’s #7 among others. In LMGT3 Mattia Drudi also pitted from his lead gap, being the first to pit in his class. Before long the LMGT3 field then descended on the pitboxes, as Proton’s #88 Ford assumed the lead for a short while before they took their first stop. Julien Andlauer then pitted from the lead with his #5 car after a great opening stint, which saw the #4 IMSA Porsche take the overall lead for the first time. So far, it was Porsche domination at the front.

Then we had the first carnage of the race, with the #22 United Autosport’s David Heinemeier Hannson spinning at the Dunlop chicanes after contact with Chris Froggart’s #193 Ziggo-Sport Tempesta LMGT3 Ferrari, causing drivers to take evasive action in a risky rejoin to say the least. No major damage was sustained by either car, but they were significantly delayed. Meanwhile, Jack Hawksworth grabbed the lead of LMGT3 with his #78 Lexus.

At the front, the order resumed with #5 ahead of #12 and #38, while the #4 Porsche was delayed and re-emerged only 13th. Estre was now up to fifth and catching the #50 Ferrari in 4th. Further back while battling with the #35 Alpine and the delayed #4 Porsche Mike Conway’s race engineer came on the radio revealing small damage to the sidepods for the #7 Toyota.

Immediately, Hypercar saw its first casualty. Paul Di Resta had a huge slide on entering the Porsche curves in his #93 Peugeot, slamming the barriers with the rear bodywork being practically flying off the back of his car. In a tough week, it was exactly what the French team didn’t need. Luckily, there was no need for a slowzone with just a yellow flag being brought out to deal with the situation. That moment would close the first hour, as the leaders held station. The #93 would replace the rear bodywork and stay on the lead lap as it exited the pits, but it was down in 21st place. Last in class, it was a lucky break for Paul Di Resta who was now charging down the Aston Martin pair. Then, Ben Keating’s #33 Corvette turned round the Richard Mille #150 of Custodio Toledo, netting it a 10 second penalty at its next stop as Ferrari’s #50 made it up to third and battled with Earl Bamber’s #38 JOTA-Cadillac and Estre’s #6 Porsche.

Other big losers in the opening stages included the #4 Porsche having lost time at its first pit stop, the #15 BMW which now ran 10th with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel and Wayne Taylor Racing’s #101 Cadillac. It was 19th, with Ricky Taylor trying to get his car into the top fifteen but that was not proving an easy task. As the second hour progressed, so did Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 car, who caught up to the back of Alex Lynn by the time they made their own stops. Kevin Estre then stayed out a lap later before his second stop, seeing him amazingly take the lead from last on the grid. Porsche held it one-two for a short while, as the #311 also showed pace and was running third before its own stop. But for Toyota, there was trouble. The #7 of Mike Conway running a heritage livery stopped in the pits and lost significant time after running wide in his pit box. By the time his mechanics repositioned the car, it lost significant time as Nielsen finally passed the #12 on the Mulsanne straight. Estre finally pitted from the lead, all of the Stuttgart based team’s factory cars having led the race in the opening 90 minutes. Meanwhile, the #311’s pace saw Jack Aitken move up past both factory JOTA run cars, in net third.

Peugout meanwhile kept their uninterrupted #94 car out, which saw it run as high as second overall during the pit cycle, as in LMP2 the #28 IDEC Sport of Job Van Uitert received a 5 second penalty for an unsafe release on its opening pit stop. The race meanwhile was beginning to settle down with a relatively clean opening first stint and a half, with Porsche and Ferrari duelling for first. Before long, a new race leader emerged in LMGT3, as the #10 of Racing Spirit of Leman took over from Amad Al Harthy’s #46 BMW. Arnold Robin still ran third having taken over the driving of the #78 Lexus. Meanwhile, the AF Corse #21 of Francois Herieau had a spin after contact with the #85 Iron Dames Porsche. In Hypercar, Jack Aitken’s #311 Cadillac was moving fast, already up to fourth and pressurising the #6 Porsche of Kevin Estre that had stabilised in third place.

AF Corse’s #183 LMP2 received a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane after its second stop, with the field readying up for their third ones of the race. JOTA went first with the #38, in from sixth on the road. There’d be another penalty applied due to speeding in the pitlane, 20 seconds being added to the #36 Alpine’s next stop. It’s sister car would receive a 5 second penalty a few minutes later for a similar infringement.

Having led much of the opening couple of hours, Julien Andlauer finally gave control of his #5 Porsche to Mathieu Jaminet, as the third cycle of pit stops were underway for the Hypercar field. Estre went a lap longer again, taking a breif lead ahead of the #83 Ferrari and #4 Porsche. BMW had been relatively quiet but with Dries Vanthoor in the car they began showing their true hands, with Vanthoor’s #15 moving up behind the #8 and Robin Frijns #20 involved in a battle with the JOTA Cadillacs. But up front, Peugeot led Le Mans! The #94 car of Danish hotshot Malthe Jakobsen had stayed out long enough on the pit cycle to be the only one who hadn’t taken its third stop. They became the fourth manufacturer to lead the race after Porsche, Cadillac and Ferrari.

Meanwhile, JOTA clearly didn’t have the pace they’d shown on Thursday, to the point that team orders came in. The #38 and #12 swapped positions on the Mulsanne, Bamber running ahead of Stevens and pulling away immediately. The best placed Cadillac was the quiet but consistent #311 of Jack Aitken now in fourth overall. At the front, for the first time since the start of the race a lead battle emerged, this time between the #50 and #5 Porsche, the gap closer than it had been virtually all race, Antonio Fuoco having capitalised on Nielsen’s work and now pressuring Mathieu Jaminet. The move seemed inevitable, and Fuoco finally made it on the run down to Indianapolis with Laurens Vanthoor closing in.

Having lost his lead, Jaminet then found himself under pressure from the sister #6 car and reigning World Endurance Champion Laurens Vanthoor, as Fuoco set about establishing a good margin. Jaminet though wouldn’t get much chance to defend, having been stuck at the Porsche curves behind Kessel Racing’s #57 Ferrari. Jaminet was now third, behind Vanthoor and Fuoco.

Meanwhile LMGT3 was beginning to show alternate stratergies. First to pit were a small group including the #81 Corvette, #92 Porsche and #27 Heart of Racing who were running less energy than some of the leaders, who carried nearly 30 percent more coming up to the hour. The #7 Toyota had more strife, running wide after a considerable lockup at Mulsanne. All this while Alpine began moving up the order, their cars running 11th (the #36 of Joules Gounon) and 13th (the #35 of Charles Milesi). BMW were also on the move, their cars running fifth (the #15 of Dries Vanthoor, closing on the #311) and pitting from #8th (the #20 of Robin Frinjs).

So as the first eighth of the race draws to a close, we’ve surprisingly had a very low rate of attrition so far, but that could all change in a split second. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the opening 3 hours, and this race is still so young. It’s also been allowed to unfold naturally, which means the best teams and drivers are coming to the fore whilst the changing track means the likes of BMW and Alpine are also beginning to show their true colours. The big question then is just who will hold the advantage heading into the infamous Le Mans night? Stay tuned…

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