JUNE 18, 2025

(24 Hours of Le Mans)

The 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has come to an end. A thrilling contest with amazing on-track duels, tactical and strategic battles on the pit wall, with thousands around the circuit and millions at home watching history in the making as Ferrari took a hat-trick of wins at Le Mans - repeating the success they achieved 60 years ago in 1965. The No. 83 AF Corse team led by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Philip Hanson fended off the pressure of the factory Ferrari AF Corse 499P cars and seven other manufacturers to win the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the process became the first customer team to win the legendary endurance race in 20 years.

The bright yellow No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P was quick in multiple sessions throughout Le Mans week, but they did it when it mattered the most on race day. Moving into the fight within the first few hours, the customer Ferrari team had to take on the might of the finest from Maranello and Porsche - going toe-to-toe twice around the clock. While drama hit the rapid No. 51 Ferrari, the No. 83 stayed out of trouble to become the first customer team since Champion Racing in 2005 to take the biggest prize in sports car racing. Robert Kubica drove the car home to the delight of the passionate crowd, and as he took the checkered flag the history didn’t stop with AF Corse and Ferrari. Kubica became the first driver from Poland to ever win Le Mans outright. Teammate Yifei Ye became the first driver from China to win the great race, while British driver Philip Hanson in only his second time in a Hypercar at Le Mans added another win for Britain, now taking Great Britain to 46 wins over the last 93 years - the most successful country by driver wins.

The No. 6 Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsport was the only team to get close and kept on the coattails of the leaders all race long, in case they made a mistake. That came when the No. 51 Ferrari parked itself in the gravel, and a superb job by Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and in particular Matt Campbell, who triple-stinted the tires towards the end of the race, gave Estre a chance of second place. Driving his heart out - the Frenchman brought the No. 6 Porsche Penske home just 14 seconds behind after 5,361 miles.

2023 winners - the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse team with drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi - had a disaster of a final four hours after a spin coming into the pitlane for Alessandro Pier Guidi dropped them out of the lead. Then, Antonio Giovinazzi radioed the team with 45 minutes left on the clock trying to get to the bottom of a problem with the car. The message from the team? Keep driving, keep pushing and destroy the tires if you need to. This strategy worked as they were able to fight and pass the sister No. 50 car to take the final spot on the podium.

Cadillac had high hopes coming into Le Mans this year after the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R captured the Pole position on Thursday evening, but couldn’t convert that single lap raw speed into efficient longer runs with the V8-powered machine struggling to maximize the life of its tires as well as getting them up to temperature quickly. With cooler conditions in the second half of the race - the golden Cadillac fought hard with drivers Will Stevens/Norman Nato/Alex Lynn and finished the race a credible fifth. Watch the final lap here. (Thank you to the 24 Hours of Le Mans Wire Service) 

(24 Hours of Le Mans)

Having previously won in the LMP2 class in 2023, the yellow and green ORECA 07-Gibson entered by the Inter Europol Competition team were back on the top step in France. The No. 43 ORECA was embroiled in a titanic tussle with VDS Panis Racing in their No. 48 version from yesterday evening when the pole sitter, the No. 29 TDS Racing outfit fell by the wayside early on in the race. The Polish No. 43 team picked up the baton, an honor they grabbed with both hands, but they weren't going to have it all their own way, as drivers Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly had to fight for it as they were locked into a battle with the No. 48 throughout the night and into Sunday morning. To try and get ahead, VDS Panis Racing undercut the Inter Europol Competition squad and in the process were able to slash the deficit with each stint, until drama struck with 32 minutes left on the clock. The No. 43 driven by Nick Yelloly was caught speeding in the pit lane and received a drive-through penalty. Yelloly, despite the drive through, sensed an opportunity with a poor lap from Panis Racing - and the British driver passed the No. 48 with 15 minutes left on the clock for the win!

(24 Hours of Le Mans)

The No. 92 Manthey 1ST Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R was the car to beat for the majority of the race in GT3. Superlatives are not enough to describe their dominance, as they held the lead of the class to the very end - with drivers Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz etching their names into the history books. In second, the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 had a quiet yet effective race - steering clear of trouble, and keeping their heads down. They couldn’t quite match their FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 class win last time out in Spa - but second here will help them in the championship chase.  The yellow No. 81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette turned on the afterburners in the afternoon to wrestle back the final podium spot from the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, a battle they enjoyed all morning long. 

 

(Formula1.com)

Mercedes achieved its best weekend of the season so far at the hands of George Russell (No. 63 AMG-PETRONAS Formula One Team), who converted his pole position into a win ahead of Max Verstappen (No. 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing) and Kimi Antonelli (No. 12 AMG-PETRONAS Formula One Team) in a frenetic Canadian Grand Prix. The Brackley outfit has struggled to consistently keep pace with their frontrunner rivals, but the cooler temperatures and smoother surface in Montreal played perfectly into their hands and helped Russell to secure his first pole and win of the year. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com)

 

(Photo by James Black for Penske Entertainment)

Nobody can call Kyle Kirkwood just a street-circuit specialist anymore. Kirkwood used pace found with help from his teammates and masterful strategy in a chaotic, exciting race to win the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway. It was the fifth career victory for Kirkwood and career-best third win this season. But most importantly to Kirkwood, it was his first career oval victory after four wins on street circuits. “My first oval win; I’m over the moon right now,” Kirkwood said. “Ovals have eluded me for a very long time, so it’s nice to get that first one and break that ice. An oval win and a road course win is what I wanted. I didn’t want people just to think of me as a street course guy or else they’ll just have me going to street courses. A little bit of job security there. This is a big one, a big one for the guys. This is huge, massive.” The podium was filled with three INDY NXT by Firestone champions. Kirkwood drove his No. 27 Andretti Global Siemens Honda to victory by .5398 of a second over Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Christian Rasmussen finished a career-best third in the No. 21 ECR Splenda Chevrolet after starting 25th, making 62 on-track passes. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)

 

   

Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG