Ferrari arrives at the Circuit de la Sarthe not only as defending Le Mans winners but also as the clear favorite heading into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Following a strong showing in last weekend’s Test Day and holding the top two spots in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Drivers Championship, the Prancing Horse looks poised to control the race and extend their championship lead.
WEC Hypercar Points – Top 5:
- #51 Ferrari – Pier Guidi / Giovinazzi / Calado – 75 pts
- #50 Ferrari – Fuoco / Molina / Nielsen – 57 pts
- #83 AF Corse Ferrari – Hanson / Kubica / Ye – 39 pts
- #8 Toyota – Hartley / Hirakawa / Buemi – 37 pts
- #36 Alpine – Makowiecki / Gounon / Schumacher – 30 pts
The #51 Ferrari 499P, driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi, and James Calado, leads the championship with 75 points after a dominant early-season stretch.
Close behind is the sister #50 car of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen. The duo’s impressive pace in the final sector and long-run consistency have established Ferrari as the team to beat—but with 21 other Hypercars on the grid, nothing is guaranteed.
But, winning the last three races and the 2023 and 2024 edition of Le Mans puts a target on their back, whatever the team say. They were mighty at Losail and Imola, and while the field closed in at Spa, the scarlet cars were still the class of the field.
While the world championship is the team's aim this year, rather than Le Mans, they'll still want the double points offered by the race. And, who'd say no to winning one of the biggest races in the world?
Phil Oakley
Toyota, winners of five straight Le Mans titles before Ferrari’s 2023 breakthrough, enters the race hungry for redemption. The #8 GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa, and Sébastien Buemi currently sits fourth in the standings and showed solid, if not headline-grabbing, pace in testing.
Meanwhile, the #7 Toyota, driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries, boasts extensive Le Mans experience and has the potential to emerge as a surprise contender as the race progresses.
AF Corse’s customer Ferrari effort in the #83 car (Philip Hanson, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye) has also quietly emerged as a contender, currently third in the championship standings and showing impressive efficiency in sector times across the weekend.
Porsche Penske Motorsport fields three entries, while the #4 entry showed a lot of speed in testing.
The #4 Porsche has Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr on board, winners of Daytona and Sebring. They'll be joined by Pascal Wehrlein, while the drivers in the other teams will be the regular WEC drivers.
BMW M Team WRT and Cadillac Racing also look strong in race trim, and with four Cadillacs on the grid, from three different teams, who knows what they might be able to achieve. Two of those are the WEC JOTAs, while the other two are IMSA full timers, from Action Express Racing and Le Mans debutant team Wayne Taylor Racing.
BMW, in particular, have been force in the races leading up to Le Mans. WRT have learnt a lot about the M Hybrid V8 compared to last year, when they were still relatively fresh to the car, and it's showing in their performances so far.
Kevin Magnussen, of Formula 1 fame, is a boon to that car, bringing speed and consistency. One of the stories of the race will be watching how he does and keeping an eye on his progress in the #15 BMW, with his teammate Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello.
Alpine could very well be a dark horse in this year's Le Mans. The #36 Alpine, crewed by Mick Schumacher, Jules Gounon and Fred Makowiecki, has been on the podium twice in the last three races, and were fighting on pace with Ferrari at Spa until the strategy didn't fall their way towards the end.
Phil Oakley
Watch out for them, and the sister #35 crew, through the race. The key will be the V6 turbocharged engine's reliability. Last year the engine on both cars failed within half an hour of each other, putting both cars out well before halfway. Alpine say they've done a lot of work on it since to improve its reliability, and so far this season that seems to have worked. But the real test will be over 24 hours.
Based on test day, Peugeot and Aston Martin are languishing at the back of the pack. Obviously this is not where either want to be. In Peugeot's case, the 'new' 9X8 is harder to set up and extract pace from compared to the old wingless car, which led for a significant period of time in the 2023 race.
The Balance of Performance, too, hasn't fallen in Peugeot's favour, which hasn't helped. The French squad will need to find something if they want to impress in this year's race.
Aston Martin are the unknown this year. It's the British manufacturer's Hypercar debut with the still-new Valkyrie, and while pace has improved since the start of the year it's still not in a place where Aston and partner team The Heart of Racing can be happy with it.
If they can score points — for the first time in WEC with the Valkyrie – that would likely be a goal achieved for the team.
James Jackson
In total, 21 Hypercars are listed on the provisional entry list, representing nine different manufacturers and some of the most accomplished lineups in modern endurance racing.
Le Mans, however, is rarely decided on raw speed or championship form. The 24-hour marathon across public roads and purpose-built track sections demands precision, adaptability, and luck. Strategy calls, overnight weather shifts, traffic management, and mechanical reliability all play major roles.
With the Hypercar field deeper and more competitive than ever, the 2025 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans promises to be an instant classic—where one mistake could cost everything.
LMP2: An Oreca dogfight
The LMP2 class returns to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a grid stacked in both quality and quantity. While the category is no longer part of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s full-time roster, it remains a staple of the Le Mans endurance tradition.
This year, it features 17 entries, including top European Le Mans Series & Asian Le Mans Series squads, with powerhouse independents hungry to claim a class win at endurance racing’s most prestigious event.
Leading the charge is a stacked United Autosports entry, a perennial LMP2 force, fielding two entries: the #22 with Oliver Jarvis, Ben Hanley, and Daniel Schneider, and the #23 with Renger Van der Zande, Pietro Fittipaldi, and David Heinemeier Hansson.
The team has unmatched Le Mans experience and recent form, with consistent podium finishes in ELMS. Expect them to be major players throughout the night.
Another standout is the #183 AF Corse machine, featuring François Perrodo, António Félix da Costa, and Matthieu Vaxivière. The trio brings Le Mans podium experience and technical consistency.
Nielsen Racing, with Naveen Rao alongside Colin Braun and Cem Bolukbasi, could also be a dark horse. The team's car showed strong reliability in earlier European outings, and Braun’s veteran Le Mans knowledge adds another layer of competitiveness.
AsLMS Entries
The class is further bolstered by strong contenders from the AsLMS, showcasing the depth of talent across international endurance racing.
AsLMS championship-winning Algarve Pro Racing will field two entries this year, looking to add a Le Mans win to their already successful 2025.
Proton Competition finished third in the championship standings. While not winning the championship, their presence and experience from the rigorous AsLMS schedule will be valuable at Le Mans.
Inter Europol Competition will also join their AsLMS counterparts in Le Mans. However, they ran LMP3 in that series. How will they compare in the LMP2 class? Only time will tell.
With Le Mans being a double-points round and a critical proving ground for up-and-coming talent, the LMP2 class is expected to be one of the most competitive races within the overall race.
In a category where strategy and error-free execution matter most, the battle for class glory could come down to the final hour once again.