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…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was huge drama as the hour opened, as Rahael Frey pulled her #85 Iron Dames Porsche over to the side of the Mulsanne straight. Having suffered from gearbox issues for a while now, the Porsche was now stuck in sixth gear with Frey stranded at the side of the road trying to get her car fixed and back into the race. Meanwhile, the #87 Lexus that was running third in class on on for a podium was hit by a drive through penalty. The Iron Dames Porsche was sent back into the garage where it would rest for a while, but up front the #51 and #83 were within 2.5 seconds of one another as the Iron Dames car underwent a full service including a brake change<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LMP2 was still proving a tough yet enticing battle, as VDS Panis was the first of the leaders to make a pit stop, replacing Ollie Gray with Patrick Pilet in the #48 machine. Inter Europol came in a lap later with their #43 that’s been in contention for a while. In the meantime, the #18 IDEC Sport car officially became a retirement as Inter Europol took the lead in LMP2 with Nick Yelloly taking a lead of over 20 seconds after the pit stop cycle. Hyper pit stops then beckoned, with the #8 and #50 pitting on the same lap and creating a pit stop battle. Both cars were on the same virtual energy strategy but running different tyre compounds. In the end, the #50 emerged with a large lead over the #8. The Toyota had been planning on using a single right rear soft compound but a miscommunication meant there was delay getting the rubber to the driver. It cost them roughly ten seconds in the pits, and then it only got worse for the #8, now under investigation from failing to follow yellow flag procedures. And Calado and Hanson then resumed their battle for the lead, which stood at just under a second after nearly 250 laps. So dominant was the Ferrari pair that they’d already lapped the IMSA Porsche, and had over forty seconds to the #50. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fastest lap continued trading itself around, with Earl Bamber breaking the sub-26 second barriers and taking the fastest lap. In LMGT3 it was now Richard Leitz in the lead ahead of Francois Heriau in charge of the #21 Ferrari with Tom Van Rompuy still third in the #81 Corvette. Once again, the two Lexus cars, now the #78 of Jack Hawksworth and #87 of Jose Maria Lopez were fourth and fifth,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race continued to settle down, as Aston Martin’s #009 moved up to an impressive fifteenth with Marco Sorensen. It was only in its third ever FIA World Endurance Championship race but Aston Martin had both their cars inside the top eighteen. If they continue like this it would be a brilliant result for them. And as Sorensen hunted down the #94 Peugeot for 14th the cameras picked it up, and for the first time all race Aston Martin were front, they were centre and they were genuinely finding themselves in front of the cameras. It was a really enjoyable, if brief, moment during the race and a great confidence booster for the team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then all hell broke loose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A sudden announcement of around ten drive through penalties came through, most notably for the #51, #83 and the LMGT3 contending #92 Manthey car. But the significance was that it would bring the two leading Ferraris back in touching distance and delay them somewhat. It was now a question of who could capitalise as the #311 having re-emerged lay stationary at the side of the pit straight by the gravel trap. It was a huge moment in the race for Cadillac themselves and Ferrari’s rivals who now had some semblance of an opportunity to truly take the fight to them. In the background, Dries Vanthoor locked up under braking for Mulsanne corner in the #15 BMW, as he sought to chase down the #12 Cadillac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile a pit stop infringement saw the #25 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 receive a penalty. The LMP2 class was still headed by the Inter Europol #43, followed by the #48 of VDS Panis with IDEC and Iron Lynx both running well. The APR effort had disappointed so far, both cars running down in 10th and 11th from a championship winning LMP2 team. Meanwhile the Cadillac’s affliction was painfully simple – they lost drive. Just like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And also just like that, two new fastest laps from Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW and Jack Hawksworth in the #78 Lexus, both cars in with a shout of taking victory in their respective classes, as with the drive through penalties having been served, it was business as usual. In fact so big was the #92 Manthey LMGT3’s lead that they still came out ahead of the second placed #21 AF Corse Ferrari even after serving their penalty. The even more ironic incident is that moments later RSL’s #10 were given a drive through anyway for failing to respect yellow flags. Meanwhile in Hypercar, Ferrari still found themselves in an incredibly strong position with just over 7 and a half hours left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there was contact, ironically at the Ford chicanes as the remaining Proton-Mustang #77 collided with the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin, while Robert Kobica and Antonio Giovinazzi continued pushing each other hard, trading lap times as they ran 1-2. Kubica then sent his Ferrari even faster, diving deeper into the 3:26 second lap times, and now holding the fastest lap of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alpine had run a quiet yet uneventful race so far, but now it was in jeopardy. The #36 Alpine found itself in the gravel, Joules Gounon having locked up and spun at Mulsanne, ending up in the gravel. A full course yellow was brought out, with the car losing time – it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, they’d been running in 15th place when they spun out and were already 2 laps down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the lead battle, meanwhile, a rather interesting story emerged. Robert Kubica was running 2nd behind the #51 Ferrari. A swap had been promised for the two cars, but was never given. In frustration, Kubica went on the Ferrari radio, complaining Ferrari hadn’t held up the agreement. One more radio message came through, stating that if Kubica closed up to Giovinazzi and the #51 the cars would swap positions. This was drawing a proverbial line in the sand, with the Polish ex-F1 driver setting off after the factory Ferrari, as the #77 Proton Mustang was handed a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that’s how it stand with just six hours to go, will Ferrari hold this position? Or will someone manage to spoil their party. Stay tuned…<\/p>\n\n\n\n