2025 24 Hours of Le Mans: Ferrari leads outright, Valentino Rossi car top in LMGT3 after six hours

Ferrari has taken the lead at the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the No.50 car driven by Miguel Molina heads a 1-2 from the the No.83 AF Corse entry after six hours.

The Italian manufacturer was expected to continue its dominance of the 2025 World Endurance Championship and add a third Le Mans victory to its wins in 2023 and 2024.

But an underwhelming qualifying in which the No.50 car that won last year was only seventh, while the No.51 and No.83 were out of the top 10, led to comments of concern from the camp about its pace relative to its rivals coming into the race.

After the No.5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car led the way at the end of the first hour, the Ferraris steadily cycled their way into the sharp end of the field in the ensuing stints.

The No.50 Ferrari found itself in the podium places early in hour two, before emerging as Porsche’s nearest challenger after the second rounds of stops.

The No.5 Porsche led at the end of hour two, but was only five seconds clear of the No.50, with the latter eventually taking the lead from the PPM entry at Indianapolis on lap 43 during the third hour.

The No.6 Porsche would lead outright at the end of hour three, but only for the No.50 pitting towards the end of it and effectively putting itself into the best position to hit the front once the cars ahead cycled through their next stops.

The No.50 led at the end of hour four and would hold that through hour five after another round of pit stops, with Ferrari taking full command of the race as the No.51 and the No.83 worked their way into the podium places.

After the pitstop phase in hour six, the No.50 driven now by Miguel Molina headed the No.51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi by just over five second.

The No.51 did drop out of third right at the death of hour six as it came in for a stop.

The No.83 AF Corse car with Yifei Ye behind the wheel steadily muscled its way into victory contention with its fuel-save strategy and was only just under two seconds behind the No.51 and 6.3s off the outright lead.

The No.83 car was handed a penalty shortcutting earlier in the race, but brushed this off come the end of hour six.

After its strong start to the race, Porsche’s fortunes transformed by the end of hour six as it has so far proven unable to match the pace of the Ferraris.

Matt Campbell took over from Kevin Estre following his stellar early stint to get the No.6 car up from last in class and has kept the 963 in third, albeit 20s behind the next Ferrari and set to drop out of the podium places after the next pitstop cycle.

The No.8 Toyota with Ryo Hirakawa was fifth at the end of the sixth hour, over 40s off the lead, while the No.4 Porsche with Pascal Wehrlein was sixth.

The No.20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde was seventh, while the No.12 Jota Cadillac was eighth having started on pole, the No.94 Peugeot - which is out of sync in the pitstop cycle - and the No.15 BMW complete the top 10.

The No.7 Toyota has endured a torrid 2025 event, with its race only getting worse after it was handed a 50-second stop-and-go penalty for pitlane speeding. It sat 18th at the end of hour six.

The No.5 Porsche that led in the early stages has also faded out of contention, with it earning a drive-through penalty for a slow zone infraction. That car was 15th at the time of publishing.

The Alpines have also felt the fury of the stewards, with several penalties handed to both cars for pitlane speeding.

No.46 car leads LMGT3, drama in LMP2

The No.46 WRT BMW has enjoyed a strong start to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, despite being shuffled down the order in hour one.

Valentino Rossi spent a lengthy stint in the car and pitted from the lead during the sixth hour to hand over to team-mate Kelvin van der Linde, who has kept the No.46 in front of the pack in class.

It led the No.92 Manthey Porsche driven by Ryan Hardwick, while the No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus was third.

A crash for the No.88 Proton Competition Mustang in hour four when the car lost a wheel at Tetre Rouge has so far marked the only official retirement of the event so far, through the No.95 United Autosports McLaren, the No.10 Racing Spirit of Le Mans Aston Martin and the No.63 Iron Lynx Mercedes have all been struck by problems that have stalled their races.

In LMP2, the No.43 Inter Europol car of Nick Yelloly led the way until a pitstop gaffe when he stopped in the wrong box lost him time.

That allowed the No.48 VDS Panis Racing car to lead at the end of hour six, though Yelloly had been able to work his way into the lead at various points before another trip to the pits.

The No.92 AO by TF car of Louis Deletraz also led at one stage in the class, but was served a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement.