Third consecutive victory for Ferrari at Le Mans, but no hat-trick

The Ferrari N.83 of the privateer AF Corse team took the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, at the circuit of the same name in the northwest of France, but the Scuderia missed out on the announced hat-trick, as a Porsche finished second.

After 24 hours of thrilling racing, only 14 seconds separated the winning Ferrari, driven by the Polish former F1 driver Robert Kubica, the British Philip Hanson and the Chinese Yifei Ye, of the Porsche N.6, which finished second ahead of the two "official" Ferraris, the N.51 and N.50.

The latter car, which had among its three drivers Spaniard Miguel Molina, winner of the 2024 edition of this legendary motor racing event.

Although the victory did not go to one of the two official Ferraris, the victory of a car of the famous Italian brand adds a little more to the Maranello manufacturer's legendary history.

Equally remarkable was the performance of Kubica, the first Polish driver to win at Le Mans.

Kubica enters the legend

His merit is enormous. He achieved the victory at the age of 41 and has physically diminished, with problems in his right hand since suffering an accident at the Rally Poland in 2011. That incident nipped in the bud his brilliant career in Formula 1, the premier category of motor racing, in which he took part in 99 Grands Prix, with one victory and 12 podiums.

"Winning at Le Mans is special," the Kubica told TNT Sports.

Kubica used his experience in the final hours of the race to contain the pressure of his pursuers and hold the lead until the end.

"It's been a demanding week, we did everything we could. We kept our heads down when we had to push and when we didn't, we took care of the tires," he detailed.

"I'm happy for me, for my teammates, AF Corse and Ferrari. To win three times in a row, it couldn't have been written in a better script," Kubica rejoiced.

Yifei Ye also made history by becoming the first Chinese driver to win the mythical 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"I have no words. I think it will take me time to realize what happened today. I feel like I'm dreaming," the 24-year-old said after the race.

Of the 21 "Hypercars" (first category in the World Endurance Championship) that took the start on Saturday, five finally finished on the same lap, with the Cadillac N.5 in fifth place.

After a first hour of racing on Saturday in which 10 cars were lapping in less than a minute, the three Ferraris in the "Hypercars" category took the lead of the race, gradually increasing their advantage over their main pursuers: Porsche, BMW and Toyota.

A Porsche against the Scuderia

Only the Porsche N.6 could keep up with the pace of the three Ferraris, the favorites to win for the third consecutive year and take the podium places.

Not even the departure of the safety car at 04:00 local time and the subsequent regrouping of all the cars after one of the participants' accidents altered the order of the race.

The three Ferraris, which reached top speeds of 365 km/h on the straights, seemed to be guaranteed victory by 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT), with five hours left to the end of the race.

But soon after, the N.51 car driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi went off the track while leading, allowing the N.83, of the private AF Corse team, to move into the lead.

The last hours of the race turned into a chase by the two "official" Ferraris (N.50 and 51) over the N.83, easily recognizable by its yellow color, in contrast to the Scuderia's traditional red.

The Porsche N.6, which went from strength to strength, got into the fight after a few hours of great pace to place second. With only 15 minutes to the final flag, the four cars were running in a 25-second gap.

But the positions did not move, and Kubica became his team's hero, having been at the wheel of the Ferrari N.83 for almost 10 hours of the 24 hours of the race.