Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei, and Philip Hanson have given Ferrari its third consecutive win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving the privately entered yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. It is the 12th all-time Le Mans victory for the famous ‘Prancing Horse.’
All three Ferrari 499Ps dominated large stretches of the race, but it was the yellow #83 car that emerged victorious after two straight wins for the full factory cars. With only minor mistakes against its ledger, the #83 team was perfect through the closing stages, all the way to its final pit stop for fuel and two tyres, and Kubica’s closing stint.
It was the first Le Mans win for all three drivers – and a milestone for Kubica and Ye, the first drivers from Poland and China, respectively, to win the race overall.
The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, and Matt Campbell finished a close second after starting last in the Hypercar class. But in the end, they missed out on a bid for a historic endurance Triple Crown for Porsche, Penske, and driver Vanthoor, who’d won the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours earlier this year, by just 14 seconds.
The two factory Ferraris finished third and fourth, with the #51 499P (Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi) ahead of the #50 (Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen).
Provisionally, the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R rounds out the overall top five, completing 385 laps.
LMP2 took two massive swings in the final hour: after a pit lane speeding penalty seemingly cost them the win, the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson of Kuba Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann, and Nick Yelloly retook the lead and the win with just 20 minutes left.
The #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA (Oliver Grey/Esteban Masson/Franck Perera) took the lead after Yelloly served a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding, but a mechanical problem led Masson to haemorrhage time severely, and Yelloly passed Masson for the lead with ease.
LMP2 Pro/Am honours went to ‘Spike the LMP2 Dragon’ – the #199 AO by TF ORECA driven by PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron, and Louis Deletraz. The Pro/Am trio was third out of all LMP2 cars.
Manthey Racing won LMGT3 for the second consecutive year with a commanding performance from the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 LMGT3 R driven by first-time winners Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera – and Richard Lietz, who collected his sixth Le Mans major class win and second in a row.
