Why do I love the 24 hours race from Le Mans? Well, first of all, the circuit is absolutely bonkers, and while in the last tens of years it has been modified here and there for safety concerns, it is still a crazy lap. And the endurance part makes it even better.

The second reason is that I have the chance to see some former Formula 1 pilots (and F2/F3 too) run in some of the best equipment in the world, in a race that’s a little bit less exclusivist, as each team runs 3 pilots per car.

The number of F1 racers is staggering again, this year we’ll not only see Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, Kevin Magnussen, Mick Schumacher, Antonio Giovinazzi, but also veterans Jenson Button, Robert Kubica, Sébastien Bourdais, Formula E champions Stoffel Vandoorne and Pascal Wehrlein, as well as F1 reserve drivers Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich, Felipe Drugovich, Pietro Fittipaldi.

Just as always, lower (but still very fast) classes will feature among professional drivers some people who are known to be passionate about motorsports and actually be very good at it, like David Heinemeier Hansson (creator of Ruby on Rails), Jamie Chadwick (triple W Series world champion, one of the best women in motorsport at the moment), as well as for the Iron Dames #85 car driven by the trio Sarah Bovy / Rahel Frey / Célia Martin.

Another nice apparition is the presence of multiple times motorcycling champion, Valentino Rossi, probably the best racer on two wheels of all time, racing in the car with the number that made him famous, 46.

But just as football is said to be “eleven player running against another eleven players, and at the end Germany wins”, we can also say that motor sports are “some people running around in circles very fast and at the end Ferrari wins”. While this was true last year, I wonder if they will do it again in 2025, with the trio Antonio Fuoco / Miguel Molina / Nicklas Nielsen running again in the number 50 Ferrari 499P.

The hyperpole results, while being a good indicator to see who’s the fastest and who is only “fast”, are a good reference point to see who’s got the pace, but it is also a reminder that the race is very long and a lot of things can happen, reliability issues and unpredictability have always been big factors in the race.

Hypercar

  1. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Will Stevens / Norman Nato / Alex Lynn – 03.22.847
  2. BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 BMW M Team WRT – Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello / Kevin Magnussen – 03.22.887
  3. Ferrari 499P #51 Ferrari-AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi – 03.23.163
  4. Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Earl Bamber / Sébastien Bourdais / Jenson Button – 03.23.467
  5. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina – 03.23.514

LMP2

  1. Oreca 07-Gibson #14 AO by TF – PJ Hyett / Dane Cameron / Louis Deletraz (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.35.472
  2. Oreca 07-Gibson #23 United Autosports – Daniel Schneider / Oliver Jarvis / Benjamin Hanley (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.35.657
  3. Oreca 07-Gibson #45 Algarve Pro Racing – George Kurtz / Nicky Catsburg / Alexander Quinn (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.35.954
  4. Oreca 07-Gibson #29 TDS Racing – Rodrigo Sales / Mathias Beche / Clément Novalak (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.36.163
  5. Oreca 07-Gibson #22 United Autosports – Renger Van Der Zande / Pietro Fittipaldi / David Heinemeier Hansson – 03.36.536

LMGT3

  1. BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT – Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin Van Der Linde – 03.56.875
  2. Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing – Ian James / Mattia Drudi / Zacharie Robichon – 03.57.083
  3. Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm – Ryan Hardwick / Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz – 03.57.255
  4. Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team – Arnold Robin / Jack Hawksworth / Finn Gehrsitz – 03.57.321
  5. Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81 TF Sport – Tom Van Rompuy / Rui Andrade / Charlie Eastwood – 03.57.690

At the end, I’ll try to look for an unofficial way to watch the race, as the FIA is once again retarded and the Fia WEC TV app cannot be installed on my Android-powered TV for some fucking reason.