What we’ve learned from Le Mans 24 Hours 2025 so far

Ferrari is still favourite to make it three in a row

Ferrari has long been keen to shake off the favourite’s label – before and after it arrived in Le Mans this time around. It has only been willing to admit that it is “one of the favourites”. But even though it could manage no better than seventh on the grid, the other seven manufacturers in Hypercar are pointing to the red cars – and the yellow machine – as the ones to beat.

The other brands have been crunching the numbers through the Test Day and then practice, and the consensus is that the 499P Le Mans Hypercar has some kind of edge on race pace. “It looks quite easy for them,” was how David Floury, technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, summed it up. But he conceded that the chasing pack boasting five manufacturers, Toyota included, is not too far behind. Gary Watkins

Toyota is in for a hard day at the office

Staying with Floury, he’s predicting an “interesting race” given the number of cars that could potentially be in the mix and nipping at the heels of the Ferraris. But he reckons it’s going to be hard work for Toyota. It will, he suggested, be a race “to enjoy with a beer at the Dunlop Chicane rather than on the pitstand”. That’s a damning assessment of where he thinks the GR010 HYBRID LMH is right now.

That kind of rhetoric, however, has become the norm from Toyota this year. But time after time it has pulled something out of the bag thanks to ultra-consistency and strategic creativity in equal measure. But, with Hypercar getting ever more competitive, the question has to be whether this is a race too far for Toyota. GW

Porsche’s gains in straightline speed is a major boost to its chances

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Porsche has a more raceable car than last year

Porsche finished fourth – best of the rest behind Ferrari and Toyota – and only 38 seconds behind the winner at Le Mans last year, but in reality the 963 LMDh wasn’t a genuine contender over the final laps. Laurens Vanthoor had nothing for the 499Ps and the GR010 ahead of him.

The Porsche was hamstrung by a lack of straightline speed, which meant it wasn’t a very raceable machine. Addressing that was one of its top priorities for this year. Its work on set-up, some aero tweaks with a recently-confirmed evo joker update at the start of the season, combined with a bit of help under the power gain element of the Balance of Performance, appears to have paid dividends.

Porsche is happy with its work and reckons it’s going to be mid-pack on the straights rather than propping up the table. It believes it now has the raceability that was missing last year. GW

Toyota revealed its GR LH2 hydrogen car concept earlier this week

Photo by: Toyota Racing

A hydrogen car at Le Mans is no longer a pipe dream

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest announced its ambition to have hydrogen-fuelled cars racing at Le Mans in 2024 way back in 2018. A series of delays has meant the arrival of the alternative fuel on the grid of the 24 Hours has been set back and back: officially it’s 2028 but neither the ACO nor the FIA is choosing to talk dates at the moment.

There have been doubts that it will happen at all, but Toyota’s presentation of a real car, known as the GR LH2 and based on its GR010 HYBRID, suggests something approaching the current timeframe could be viable. Toyota reckons there’s a lot to learn about using liquid hydrogen to fuel a combustion engine before it’s ready to race at Le Mans, but the GR LH2 is definitely a step on the road to that target. GW

Peugeot is the rank outsider for victory after a BoP hit

Photo by: Marc Fleury

No Le Mans win number 4 for Peugeot

The harsh reality is that Peugeot’s 9X8 2024 LMH is not going to follow in the glorious footsteps of the 905 Group C contender and the 908 turbodiesel LMP1 by winning the Le Mans 24 Hours. Not this year. That much was clear early doors during the Test Day – and clear to Peugeot’s engineers a little bit earlier.

The French manufacturer has been hit hard under the Balance of Performance – and quite frankly has been nowhere. It’s generally been down at the basement of the Hypercar times and failed to get either of its cars through first qualifying on Wednesday and into the Hyperpole sessions on Thursday.

Peugeot driver Loic Duval reckons even a top five is more than a long shot unless the ground opens up and swallows the rest of the field – he talked about thunderstorms and everyone else blowing up – and he’s probably about right. GW

The odds of a first pro-am crew winning in LMP2 are strong

Photo by: Marc Fleury

This could be the year a pro-am crew wins LMP2

We have said it before and, who knows, we may say it again, but this year does genuinely seem the best chance yet of a pro-am LMP2 line-up taking the outright class honours.

Five of the eight crews that reached the final Hyperpole session are pro-am entries, including the polesitting #29 TDS machine. The #23 United Autosports ORECA-Gibson 07 that features last year’s winner Oliver Jarvis and the #199 AO by TF car that has perennial LMP2 frontrunner Louis Deletraz in its ranks are others that could make history.

With the new-for-2023 safety car rules, as long as a car remains on the lead lap, it can easily stay in the mix and any lengthy cautions present the ideal opportunity for bronzes to use up their minimum six hours of drive time, thereby giving the pro-am crews a genuine chance. Stephen Lickorish

The LMGT3 field is wide open this year

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Aston has LMGT3 pole, but don’t rule anyone out

For all the chatter about Lexus having the LMGT3 advantage and Corvette desperately struggling for speed on the straights, that eight different manufacturers were represented among the eight cars to progress to the final Hyperpole session is an indication of how wide open the class battle is. And that eight includes Le Mans returnee Mercedes, which was delighted to make Hyperpole at all, let alone its second segment.

Only Ford missed out and the best of the Mustangs will line up 10th on the grid. The relative strengths of each car in race trim may not produce such a jumbled up result, but it nevertheless bodes well.

“Literally every single car in that field could win that race!” said BMW pilot Augusto Farfus. “Some of the races, you think, ‘ah, that car, no’ but here I think every car can have a shot.” SL

A high number of flying insects is proving a bugbear

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Bugs could be a fly in the ointment

There are so many challenges the drivers face around the Circuit de la Sarthe but there is another to add this year: an abundance of bugs.

Multiple drivers reported exceptionally poor visibility in practice after the windscreens were littered with flies, particularly during the hour or so when the light fades and darkness descends.

Last year’s LMP2 winner Jarvis, a veteran of 13 Le Mans starts, said he had never known anything like it after Wednesday practice.

“I don’t ever remember seeing the amount of bugs that we had,” he said. “I think it’s only for an hour or two, maybe it’s temperature related. If you imagine we’re doing 310kph, that just covers the windscreen and it does make visibility difficult.

“It’s another aspect of this incredible race, as if there’s not enough going on!”

Time will tell if the proliferation of flies bite any of the drivers in the race and bug their hopes. SL

Probably the first (and last) Jimmy Tarbuck reference used in a Le Mans article…

Photo by: William Murenbeeld / Motorsport Images

Jimmy Tarbuck is a sore loser at golf

It turns out that good old Tarby, the English comedian, singer and stalwart of the pro-celebrity golf scene, took his pitch and putt rather seriously. If you’re wondering how that one came up in the Le Mans paddock, the conversation started with talk of the Harrods McLaren F1 GTR that nearly won here 30 years ago. The story involves late team boss Dave Price and his flamboyant taste in braces. Don’t ask for more! GW

All the talk ends when the race begins tomorrow

Photo by: Marc Fleury