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 the hour ticked over the two factory Ferraris swapped places, #50 now ahead of #51 as team orders went out the window. This was now a three way Ferrari civil war, with Porsche’s lone #6 attempting to hijack it from behind. But Robert Kubica, aboard the #83 was being caught all the while, albeit on a set of fresh medium tyres with the opportunity to triple stint them to the end. The crucial factor was the #51 was on an alternate strategy, that could be decisive come the end of the race.

But heading into the last two and a half hours, with #83 leading the way – Robert Kubica at the wheel – with Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 and James Calado in the #51, with the #6 of Matt Campbell making a few costly mistakes in the opening part of his stint though he was now lapping faster than those ahead. The lead four all remained on the same strategy as they chased after one another. Campbell was on a charge, catching Calado at nearly a second per lap with over 2 hours left.

In LMGT3, the gap was also closing down. While Manthey’s #92 still led the class, the car held a gap of just over a minute as Mattia Drudi climbed in the car, and it was a battle to watch througout.

And meanwhile in the battle for the lead, after Calado took a fresh topup of oil at his most recent stop in the #51, the #6 Porsche of Matt Campbell had hunted the Ferrari down and caught a run on the Mulsanne straight, and made his move at the second chicane down the straight. Immediately opening up a gap, Campbell then set about catching Nicklas Nielsen. Pit stops beckoned, and crucially after passing the #51 beforehand the #6 of Campbell jumped the other works car in the pits, meaning Porsche’s lone contender now ran third overall, but would run second after the #51 made its pit stop. So, Stuttgart now had their hat well and truly in the ring. In LMGT3, the #59 McLaren was brought into the garage with an alternator issue, after pitting from dead last overall.

The next crucial moment was James Calado’s #51 stop with just under 2 hours to go. Having taken an alternative strategy he’d save time in the pits by needing to take less fuel on his final stop. This would be a standard stop with the final driver change. Calado’s driving was done, and now it would be down to Antonio Giovinazzi to hunt down Matt Campbell and take the effective race lead. Meanwhile, both BMWs would enter the garage together with just under two hours left. Crucially for the #6 the #51 had to get past his teammate, meaning Campbell would have the opportunity to chase down the #83 of Kubica. The gap on pit exit was eighteen seconds, and it was being eaten up by the Porsche, who would have to pit for fresh tyres before the end. But Kubica was still putting in great times right up until he pitted, as the #51 tried desperately to get its bold strategy to work. But it had to be pulled off to perfection if Ferrari wanted that third Le Mans win in a row. After fixing the issues, the BMW #15 made it back out into the race in 16th place, behind both Aston Martins. Speaking of the British marque, they had run their cars metronomically, invisible because they simply avoided trouble. And now they were rewarded, the #009 running in 13th and the 007 15th overall.

Meanwhile, there was a battle already fully formed in LMP2 with VDS Panis’s #48 chasing down the #43 of Inter Europol. The Polish team had already won Le Mans with Fabio Scherer’s broken foot in 2023, and had finished runner up in 2024. They of all teams new how to win here and could take victory here with some smart defending, as the #20 BMW also emerged from the pits. And in charge of the VDS Panis car, Esteban Masson was charging so hard he set the fastest LMP2 lap of the entire race as he hunted down the Inter Europol car.

Then, the leaders came in for their penultimate stops, beginning with Robert Kubica’s #83 followed by the #6 of Matt Campbell, with the #51 Ferrari going into the lead, the order remaning from the pits. Fuoco replaced Nielsen in the #50, as Estre climbed aboard the #6. With an hour and twenty minutes it was still to close to call. Fuoco chased Estre in the opening part of the penultimate stints for those cars, that would allow the #51 and #83 to open up the gap. Further back in Hypercar, the alternator issues for the #15 BMW forced it back into the garage. Then came in the #51 for one of the most crucial moments of their – and this year’s – race. Antonio Giovinazzi and the #51 crew were gambling that by going later on their penultimate stop they could save time later in the race. He’d stay in, watch as the #83 went by with Kubica at the wheel and simply give chase after refuelling. The race was with Robert Kubica and the #83 crew, their lead standing at 36 seconds. And he’d be helped by the subsequent squabble between Kevin Estre, Antonio Giovinazzi and Antonio Fuoco. Just over an hour to go, and Robert Kubica held the advantage. Could Ferrari make it three wins in a row with three different lineups in three different cars? It was certainly on the cards. But Estre’s insane driving late on had flipped the tables. On the radio, the win wasn’t in the minds of the factory cars. It was beating the Porsche. Having previously been attempting to ensure the yellow Ferrari couldn’t beat them, now their mission seemed to be to protect the privateer. Whether Robert Kubica knew this was unknown, but he had one mission now: Get to that finish line. Having saved his tyres through their first stint, he was now able to use them as Fucoco and Giovinazzi swapped places to try and catch Campbell.

But then, Gregoire Saucy pulled over to the side of the track with his #59 McLaren LMGT3 bringing out the yellow flags as it attempted to get back to the pits. And crucially for the lead battle, those yellow flags became a full course yellow. It effectively gave Kubica an advantage as Ferrari planned to swap their factory cars back. When it went green, a nervous wait ensured to see if anyone would be pinged for an infringement, which could decide the race. There was no ping, but Antonio Giovinazzi began reporting an issue to his mechanics in the #51 garage, but his gap to the #83 was already 37 seconds, and they seemed to be only slipping back. Meanwhile, Kubica had a comfortable gap to the #6 behind, and could afford to relax a little as Fuoco began to fight Estre. For all the world it now looked like the #83 would win Le Mans, Kubica would banish the demons of his doomed LMP2 effort with WRT in 2021. 50 minutes remained and bar a disaster, they would win Le Mans. LMP2 was still in the hands meanwhile of Inter Europol, with a good gap back to the #48 VDS Panis car. LMGT3 was also headed by the #92 Manthey car, which had led for much of Sunday. Meanwhile, the #51’s issue was reported to be a loss of power as Nick Yelloly suddenly came under investigation for speeding in the pitlane – which could throw their win away.

With 40 minutes left, the all important stop took place. It was clean, and then came Fuoco and Giovinazzi. Both clean, and it was Porsche out first. The order was #83, #6, #51.

That’s not where the drama was however, as Nick Yelloly was hit with a drive through penalty after leading for so long and speeding in the pitlane on his penultimate pit stop. This ensures that Inter Europol wouldn’t win, as VDS Panis inherited the lead, with two Le Mans rookies in the car. Half an hour now separated Esteban Masson, Ollie Gray and Franck Perera from a LMP2 class win. Meanwhile, the #50 then blew its own chances after running wide at Karting, meaning that after the #51 pitted Robert Kubica just had to bring it home, with Kevin Estre attempting to hunt him down. But it would be an almost impossible drive, and Porsche would be claiming their first ever podium finish at Le Mans with the new 963.

But incredibly, after what seemed a surefire win for the #48 VDS Panis Team they slowed with just twenty minutes to go and Inter Europol made it back up into first position- you really couldn’t write it. After the latest of dramas, Nick Yelloly took back the lead he lost and broke the #48 crew’s hearts in the most unbelievable way as the Ferrari factory cars had to nurse each other home. In the end though, it would be Robert Kubica with a truly sensational three and a half hours of driving to take home the biggest race for himself, for Ferrari and for his teammates Ye Yefei and Phil Hanson. For Kubica and Ye, it’s the perfect fairytale ending for them after losing the LMP2 win on the final lap 2016 style. And for Kubica, who famously had signed the contract to drive for the Scuderia but a rally crash stole that dream from him. Well, he’s finally won the biggest race in the world with the Scuderia. Poland and the Tifosi will no doubt be partying well tonight. He becomes the first Polish driver to ever win the race, as does Ye Yefei who becomes the first ever Chinese driver to win the race. And hats off to Phil Hanson, the 25 year old becomes the UK’s latest in a long line of Le Mans winners. And most of all to Robert Kubica, after what he’s been through in his career to come back and win while driving mostly with one hand.

What a race. What a fairytale story. What a beautiful, pure edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

And the best bit?

In just seven days time, I’ll be capping off another 24 hour epic as part of a gruelling triple header.

I’ll see you on Thursday for qualifying.

• Thomas Groves.

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