2025 Le Mans 24 Hours: Records for Michelin as Ferrari celebrates Le Mans hat-trick!
Another convincing display by Ferrari has extended Michelin's Le Mans tally to a record-breaking 28th consecutive success since 1998 and 34 victories in all since 1923, the equal-best score by a single tire manufacturer in the race's history! The performance of its Pilot Sport range contributed actively to the Italian carmaker's triumph with the #83 499P of Kubica/Ye/Hanson, but the second-placed #6 Porsche prevented the Scuderia from monopolizing Sunday's podium. Only two of the 21 Hypercar starters failed to reach the checkered flag and no fewer than five cars finished on the same lap blanketed by only 138 seconds after 387 laps of the 13.626-kilometer circuit! Michelin's strong weekend also included a new Hypercar lap record for the Circuit des 24 Heures, as well as the Hypercar era's fastest race-lap and longest race-distance (5,273km).
Cadillac might have locked out the front row of the grid for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours, while Porsche set the pace during the race's early stages, but Ferrari soon took control before going on to control from in front and win the French classic for the third year running.
This time, the trophy was presented to the trio in the #83 499P (Robert Kubica/Yifei Ye/Philip Hanson), but it feels like any one of the team's three crews could have had the honor of popping the champagne.
In spite of its domination for much of the distance, the Italian outfit was never able to relax fully, however, since Porsche was a constant threat, notably with its #6 963. The latter ultimately clinched second spot after starting from the back of the Hypercar grid due to a technical infringement in qualifying.
The #51 and #50 Ferraris both topped the provisional order on repeated occasions but ended up second and third, albeit practically in the #6 Porsche's slipstream.
Toyota's chances of earning a sixth Le Mans win were scuppered late Sunday morning when its best-placed car (#8) fell back after losing its front-left wheel immediately following a pit-stop. That produced a glimmer of hope for the #12 Cadillac but it had to settle for fifth spot, followed home by the #7 Toyota which made it four different makes in this year's top six.
Compared with the race's final classification, the scrap for pole-position produced a contrasting story since it was Cadillac that dominated Thursday evening's Hyperpole shootout, locking out the start's front row with its #12 and #38 V-Series.Rs.
Earlier in the qualifying process, the American carmaker had kicked off Michelin Motorsport's record-breaking week when Jack Aitken (#311) produced a new Hypercar lap record (3m22.847s) on Wednesday. Sébastien Bourdais (#38 Cadillac) followed up with the Hypercar era's fastest race-lap (3m26.063s) on Sunday, while the winner established a new Hypercar distance record (5,273km).
The MICHELIN Pilot Sport Endurance range itself produced further evidence of its trademark grip, consistency and performance which enabled its partners to triple-stint both the medium and – during the slightly cooler hours of darkness – soft compounds. Some cars even ran a combination of the two at times. The all-dry conditions meant the Wet option went unused.
All these records and performances provided the perfect conclusion to the current range's Le Mans career which began in 2021 and harvested five wins, in addition to its enviable ongoing record in the FIA World Endurance Championship. From 2026, it will pass the baton to an all-new line-up of slicks that were also conceived and developed with extensive input from advanced simulator technology.
Next round of the 2025 FIA WEC: 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, Brazil (July 13).