The 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was won by the no83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, with Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson joining a very select group of drivers who have won the world’s greatest endurance race. Also, for the first time, the winning crew is made up entirely of current and former ELMS Champions.
Robert Kubica has now added the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner’s trophy to his impressive CV, the Pole becoming only the second Formula One race winner, and the first WRC Champion, to stand on the top step of the overall podium, the other being Fernando Alonso.
Kubica is a double ELMS LMP2 champion, winning with Team WRT in 2021 and AO by TF in 2024.The win at La Sarthe should’ve been Kubica’s second win at Le Mans. In 2021, racing alongside Yifei Ye and Louis Deletraz, the Team WRT Oreca was leading the LMP2 category when a technical issue saw the car come to a halt on the very last lap of the race, less than 12km from the chequered flag.
Yifei Ye is the first Chinese driver to win overall at Le Mans and won the ELMS LMP2 title alongside Robert Kubica in 2021 in his debut season in endurance racing. Ye was driving the Team WRT Oreca at Le Mans in 2021 when it stopped on the final lap of the race.Four years later the 25-year-old from Xi’an has finally seen the view from the top step of the podium.
Phil Hanson won the ELMS LMP2 title with United Autosports in 2020 alongside Filipe Albuquerque. In that season Hanson and Albuquerque also won the FIA WEC LMP2 title and the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 crown, the first time all three titles have been won in the same season. Now the British driver has added the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall title to his trophy cabinet.
Robert Kubica: “It's a special day winning Le Mans. I really enjoyed my first Le Mans, although it ended up in the probably most dramatic way, losing the win in LMP2 category on the last lap. However, I really enjoyed it, and felt like a small kid when I was racing in karting. The difference was that I was already 36 years old, and the emotions that weekend gave me was something special. And this one for sure, will be emotional, probably now is still a bit of tiredness, adrenaline and just looking forward to resting a bit and enjoy it. But this is a very special day.”
Phil Hanson:“It's just a lot of relief at the moment from those last few minutes. You know, I was actually racing against these two in 2021 and they broke down on the last lap. I know Le Mans can break your heart at the last possible moment, so I wasn't going to celebrate or let anything out until the car physically crossed the line today.
“So, it was just relief, to be honest. Plus, the last time these two raced together, they had that issue, so I almost thought they were a little bit jinxed.”
Yifei Ye:“Actually, my first Le Mans was in 2021, my first year in endurance racing and also for Robert.We were racing LMP2, and we were leading on the last lap of the race, and the car stopped at the Dunlop Chicane. There was heartbreak for us.
“Then last year, again, the car was working very well. We were in the position to try to fight for the win. And then unfortunately, we had another issue, which is why, before the weekend, Robert was joking with me, saying, you know the twice we have raced together in Le Mans, we didn't finish. So hopefully this year is going to be different. I'm lucky that we finished last lap this year.
“We know that Ferrari is very strong on this track. The 51 crew won in 2023, the 50 crew won last year. I’m just super proud to be able to help Ferrari to make this three out of three.”
