Ferrari wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans and adds a little more to its legend

Ferrari completes a hat trick on Sarthe soil. After its successes in 2023 and 2024, the "semi-private" car number 83, driven by former Polish Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, June 15. This victory also conceals a historic first: Ye Yifei, the teammate of Kubica and Briton Phil Hanson, becomes the first Chinese driver to win the most prestigious endurance race on the planet.

The Prancing Horse team also came close to securing a hat-trick at the finish line, something it had done twice in 1961 and 1965. It was deprived of this by the drivers of the number 6 Porsche, including Frenchman Kévin Estre, who snatched second place two hours from the finish.

Ferrari's third consecutive victory is a triumph for the Italian manufacturer. It should also help cement the world championship's growing reputation. Abandoned by the major teams in the 2010s, and outrageously dominated by Toyota, which had no rivals to match, the WEC reinvented itself in 2021 by launching the "Hypercars" category, 21 of which were competing at Le Mans this year, representing a total of eight prestigious brands.

This championship has also restored the "24 Hours" to its former glory. On Sunday, for the first time in the history of Le Mans, the top four finishers were separated by less than 30 seconds.

The race was played out in several acts. After an initial battle between the major teams in the first four hours, Ferrari took control of the race. At 8 p.m. on Saturday, the three Scuderia cars took the lead and, after emerging victorious from a long night of battling, they could even, with three hours to go, have hoped to monopolize the first three places, if it weren't for the great play of the drivers of the number 6 Porsche – Kevin Estre put on a show on Saturday by climbing from ^21st place on the grid to fourth, in just 1 hour 15 minutes.

Behind, Cadillac lived up to its qualifying pole position, placing a car in ^5th place. Alpine, on the other hand, which was aiming to join the fray, couldn't keep up the pace. The two blue cars with the arrowed A finished two and three laps behind the winner. Finally, for Peugeot, there was no miracle. The French brand with the Lion King finished in ^11th and ^17th place, the same level it has been at all season in the world championship.