Le Mans 24 Hours 2025: Ferrari claims victory for the third time running
The world’s most significant endurance race returned for the 93rd time with a packed grid of 62 cars vying for victory, but Ferrari came out on top (again)
The Le Mans 24 Hours returned for its 93rd running, with an even more diverse grid of 62 contenders hitting Circuit de la Sarthe for one of motorsport’s toughest challenges. After a close battle with Porsche in the last few hours, Ferrari pulled it out of the bag for the third year in a row, finishing first with the yellow #83 499P driven by Robert Kubica, ex-Formula 1 driver.
Elsewhere in the pack, Porsche finished in second place overall with the Penske 963, followed by the factory Ferrari 499Ps in third (#51) and fourth place (#50). Porsche also saw a great result in the LMGT3 class with the #92 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R finishing on top in its class. In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition came first in class with the #43 car.
> Here’s the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH in its final Le Mans-ready form
A total of 38 turns over 8.5 miles make Circuit de la Sarthe a challenge for a single lap, but all 62 racers attempted to lap the circuit for 24 hours straight (some successfully, others not). In the hypercar category, 21 racers competed this year, and while that was two down on 2024, it’s hardly a disappointing showing. A pack of four V8-powered Cadillac V-Series R Hypercars added plenty of theatre, with three Ferrari 499Ps in the hypercar class. Peugeot returned with its 9X8 too, with the Alpine A424, BMW M Hybrid V8 and Toyota GR010 also hitting the track.
As if the Cadillac didn't create enough sound, The Heart of Racing brought a pair of Aston Martin Valkyries to the table, marking the model’s Le Mans debut – while they didn't win any awards, both cars made it to the very end, beating BMW and even one of the Toyota hypercar entries. Powered by the same Cosworth-built 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 as the road car, race-optimised for the extreme conditions of an endurance race, seeing it driven in anger is just as spectacular as we'd imagined. It marks the first time since the end of the 1990s GT1 era that a car closely related to road-going machinery has been in the fight for outright victory at Le Mans.
Matching Cadillac with four Hypercars was Porsche, with a group of 963s having battled it out in an effort to continue some of the success they’ve already seen. The one-off 963 ‘RSP’ road car made its debut too, with Peugeot also revealing something for the road with the world debut of its new 208 GTi.
> The Peugeot 208 GTi is returning, just not quite in the form you might expect
In the LMP2 class, 17 Oreca 07’s battled it out through day and night, with 24 LMGT3 class cars bolstering numbers further still. The latter featured everything from Ferrari’s successful 296 GT3 to the Porsche 911 GT3 R, Ford Mustang LMGT3 and even the ageing Lexus RC F. Sadly, there was no Garage 56 entry this year.
This year there were plenty of big names from motorsport in attendance, with Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor in the number 6 Porsche 963, Mick Schumacher in the number 36 Alpine A424, Jenson Button in the number 38 Cadillac and Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Kubica in the Ferrari 499P.
