2025 24 Hours of Le Mans: Ferrari in control with six hours to go
Italian marque holds 1-2-3 with its factory and customer entries as race enters final quarter
Ferrari recovered from several setbacks to grab the top three spots in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with just a quarter of the race remaining.
Antonio Giovinazzi led the field in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, with Robert Kubica running second in the No. 83 AF Corse-entered customer car and Antonio Fuoco running further back in the No. 50 499P.
The No. 83 Ferrari had started the second half of the race in third place, but vaulted up to second when the No. 6 Porsche 963 made an off-sequence stop early in Hour 13. Yifei Ye, driving the No. 83 at the time, soon caught and passed Ryo Hirakawa’s No. 8 Toyota at the second Mulsanne chicane to put Ferrari back in the lead.
The No. 51 car, meanwhile, also made strong gains in the hands of James Calado after daybreak. The British driver climbed to second before overtaking Ye at Indianapolis to take the lead outright.
Calado's teammate Antonio Giovinazzi retained the advantage even after serving a drive-through penalty for speeding under yellow flags, and fended off pressure from Kubica in the 18th hour. Ferrari considered swapping the positions, instructing Kubica that Giovinazzi would let him through if he closed the gap, but the Italian held firm as the clock struck 10am in France.
The No. 50 Ferrari, the winner of last year’s race, recovered from penalties in the night to complete a 1-2-3 for the marque, with Fuoco currently aboard.
The No. 6 Porsche remains Ferrari’s closest challenger, but was circulating a minute behind in fourth place with Matt Campbell at the wheel.
Brendon Hartley ran fifth in the No. 8 Toyota, which was delayed in the pits as the crew scrambled to find a medium left-rear tyre to fit on the car.
Dries Vanthoor held sixth for BMW in the No. 15 M Hybrid V8, despite an earlier off-track excursion at the start of Hour 17.
Polesitter Alex Lynn was seventh in Jota's No. 12 Cadillac, while Sebastien Bourdais was circulating just behind Lynn in eighth before a pitstop dropped it to 11th position.
Cadillac is down to two cars following the retirement of the Action Express IMSA guest entry in Hour 17 due to a loss of power.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 7 Toyota, Mathieu Jamiet in the the No. 4 Porsche and Rene Rast in the No. 20 BMW.
LMP2: Inter Europol leads Panis Racing
The LMP2 battle remained tight, with Inter Europol Competition leading the way after dawn. Tom Dillmann held a 20-second advantage in the No. 43 Oreca, ahead of Oliver Gray in the No. 48 VDS Panis Racing entry.
Sebastian Alvarez was third in the class in the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca.
LMGT3: Porsche edges Ferrari after WRT heartbreak
With the No. 46 WRT BMW forced out of the race due to electrical issues, the LMGT3 fight narrowed to a duel between the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R and the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
The critical moment came late in Hour 15, when Richard Lietz dived down the inside of Alessio Rovera’s Ferrari to seize the class lead – one that the Porsche has held since.
Charlie Eastwood provisionally held third in the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette Z06.R.
Further back, Jack Hawksworth in the No. 78 ASP Lexus was locked in a battle for fourth with Mattia Drudi’s No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, with the Aston surging ahead with just three minutes left in the 18th hour.
