After a lengthy break for both the FIA World Endurance Championship and myself (a lovely 2 week holiday in the Netherlands, if you’re wondering) and just one week before I head over to Silverstone for my first ever in person sportscar race we have the sixth round of the action packed series. With Aston Martin the big shock of the weekend so far can they continue their promising run here? And can Cadillac go back to back by taking a second win on home soil? 6 Hours will settle it.

The hour opened under safety car conditions for the first fifteen minutes before racing resumed as Alessandro Pier Guidi led the field away with the #6 of Kevin Estre giving immediate chase with Miguel Molina in the #50 right behind. Estre made the move into turn one and led the Lone Star Le Mans as Pier Guidi suffered a puncture as the lap opened, sinking down the order and making light contact with the #83.

So then the order in Hypercar was the Estre’s #6 Porsche from the #50 Ferrari, then the #5 Porsche and the #83 Ferrari with the #94 Peugeot in 5th. The #51 then pit and dropped down to 14th in class.

Meanwhile, LMGT3 was headed by Ben Tuck’s Proton run Ford, ahead of Marino Sato’s #95 McLaren and the #92 Porsche of Richard Leitz. The second McLaren, Gregoire Saucy’s #59 was 4th with Michelle Gatting’s #85 Iron Dames sitting 5th as the all female crew continued what had been an impressive run from the back of the grid so far.

A pit stop infringement saw the #83 of Robert Kubica hit with a 5 second penalty to be served at its next pit stop as Aston Martin had both their Valkyries in the points. Harry Tincknell’s #007 was 6th overall while the sister #009 car of Marco Sorensen was 8th, splitting the two Peugeots.

And Cadillac were coming back into it too, as Alex Lynn moved past the #83 and into 4th overall, with Tincknell soon following to move up to fifth past Kubica.

Meanwhile the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus’s day worsened as Clemens Schmid put the car into the wall. The safety car was brought out once more, while the sister #78 car was handed a 15 seconds stop and go penalty for speeding in pit lane. A trouble race was done for the #87 crew, this after a 15 minute pit stop early on to fix malfunctioning headlights.

Meanwhile after being down the order for much of the race, Alex Lynn was putting on a show in his #12 Cadillac, and was third with 90 minutes left and catching the #50 Ferrari when the safety car came out. Peugeot were also on course for their best race of the year, with both cars in the points. #94 was still 7th overall and splitting the Aston Martins, while the #93 that had started dead last after having its Hyperpole lap times deleted yesterday was now in 9th.

The #33 then stopped on track for the second time in the race with Dani Juncadella at the helm and this time the issues were terminal. The team third placed in the championship were out and with the championship contending #54 Ferrari also struggling the door was now open for the #92 Porsche to really clasp the LMGT3 title with one hand. It was the #33 crew’s first retirement all year.

With just under an hour and 20 minutes to go Kevin Estre was the man to restart the race and immediately gapped the Ferrari by nearly a second heading into the first corner, leaving the #50 exposed Alex Lynn’s #12 Cadillac. Meanwhile Ben Tuck and Marino Sato fought hard for the lead of LMGT3, a battle between Ford and McLaren, doors banging as Tuck defended his lead.

Tuck eventually consolidated his lead before the #60 Mercedes of Lin Hodenius stopped on track. A full course yellow was then brought out right as the battle for 4th overall exploded between the #5 of Michael Christensen, Harry Tincknell’s #007 Aston, Kubica’s #83 and the #94 Peugeot of Stoffel Vandoorne.

When things got back underway Alex Lynn continued his impressive run by hunting down the #50 Ferrari while Kevin Estre continued onwards by setting the fastest lap of the race, a 2:05:769 and stretching his lead to 6 seconds. He needed the speed as well, as the #6 was placed under investigation for breaching FCY procedure as the #83 served a drive through penalty. Meanwhile the Peugeots kept up their forward momentum, with the #94 now in 4th and #93 running in 6th. The #51 had climbed back through the field from its earlier puncture, now sitting eighth.

Throughout the final hour the track was drying, and with one pit stop remaining for the Hypercar crews the stage was set for a dramatic finish with the risk of switching to slicks potentially proving lucrative if done at the opportune moment. Both Peugeots were now in the top 5 with Mikkel Jensen’s #94 having moved past the #5 Porsche of Michael Christensen, who soon found himself in seventh after also losing out to the #51. Elsewhere, Robert Kubica was tagged into a spin by the #31 BMW in his #83 as the race was now all about damage limitation from a championship perspective.

Alex Lynn and Cadillac gambled with an early final stop 42 minutes from the end, committing to a set of fresh wet tyres as Ben Tuck handed his race leading #77 Ford to Ben Barker to drive the team home in their home race.

The first of those to gamble on slick tyres were that of a struggling #15 BMW, Dries Vanthoor being the guinea pig to truly see how competitive they were. He did soon set the fastest lap of the race so far, a 2:05:090.

But up ahead there was trouble for Aston Martin. After suffering engine issues, the #007 pulled over to the trackside just after exiting the pits on what had been its final stop.

In LMGT3 the final pit stops were also underway, with contenders switching to slicks. Gregoire Saucy was among the first to gamble with the #59 car just ahead of the #85 Iron Dames Porsche. Ben Barker was however on fresh wet tyres until the end in his #77 Ford. The #92 was next in with Richard Leitz opting for wets while the #95 of Marino Sato went to slicks for the final stint. Barker cycled through to take the lead of the LMGT3 class ahead of Leitz’s #92 Porsche, Dennis Olsen’s #88 Ford and Sato’s McLaren. Then came both Ferraris, Davide Rigon’s #54 ahead of fellow Ferrari factory driver Alessio Rovera’s #21.

Meanwhile in Hypercar Estre led comfortably, setting the fastest lap of the race from Miguel Molina’s #50, which was now under pressure from Stoffel Vandoorne’s #94 Peugeot with the sister car running just a few seconds back. The 9X8 was looking like one of the best cars of the race with one more stop to go.

Vandoorne was the first of the contenders to make their final stop, choosing to keep his wet tyres on and taking only fuel. Michael Christensen then came in after, fresh wets applied with a splash of fuel and a change of rear bodywork. Molina too kept his used wets on, though Vandoorne undercut him in the stops and was now just fifteen minutes away from scoring Peugeot’s best ever result in their WEC history. The #51 momentarily took the lead before it took its final stop.

Estre meanwhile now had a lead of 8 seconds on the battle for second between Vandoorne’s #94 and Miguel Molina’s #50. The two fought hard with Molina throwing everything at the Peugeot ahead, eventually reclaiming 2nd place.

Meanwhile in LMGT3 a lead battle was also being fought hard by reigning champion Ricahrd Leitz’s #92 and the Ford Mustang of Ben Barker, with 8 minutes remaining you could throw a blanket over them with Davide Rigon closing in at immense speed on his slick tyres. And the advantage was something like 7 seconds a lap, as Rigon made light work of both Leitz and Barker to take the lead with just 5 minutes left. Behind, Barker and Leitz were then under pressure from more slick tyre runners, the #85 of Marino Sato and Kelvin Van Der Linde’s #46 who made their way onto the podium.

But up front nothing could deny Kevin Estre and the #6 Porsche crew from taking their first win of the season for the Stuttgart based marque, alongside Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor. It’s the first win for Porsche since Fuji last year. Coming home second was the #50 of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen while third, and taking Peugeot’s third ever podium for the Peugeot 9X8 is the #94 of Stoffel Vandoorne, Malthe Jakobsen and Loic Duval in an incredible effort that also sees the sister #93 car finish 4th. Incredibly after suffering a puncture some way into the race, the #51 managed to claw its way back to 5th.

In LMGT3 the gamble to switch to slicks paid off big time for the #54 Ferrari of Davide Rigon, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castelacci ahead of the #95 McLaren of Marino Sato, Darren Leung and Gregoire Saucy and the Team WRT #46 of Valentino Rossi, Kelvin Van Der Linde and Amad Al Harthy completed the podium. Rounding out the top 5 were the #31 BMW and the second Mclaren, the #59.

What. A. Race. Mixed conditions, mixed up orders and a classic wet-dry strategy conundrum that provided brilliant action all throughout the field, a Peugeot podium and Porsche their first win of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship.

And this is where things get thick and fast for sportscar racing. In 6 days’ time I’ll be at Silverstone (as a fan) for the ELMS weekend. Then I’ll return to blogging duties for the 6 hours of Indianapolis before the WEC returns in Fuji and IMSA then concludes its race with the Motul Petit Le Mans. Bring it on!

– Thomas.

United Autosports, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons