Le Mans 2025: close battle at the halfway point of the race

The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport driven by Laurens Vanthoor leads the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans after 12 hours of racing. The Belgian has completed 191 laps, with the #8 Toyota of Ryō Hirakawa in second position. Yifei Ye completes the provisional podium in the #83 Ferrari.

Andlauer dominated the opening hours

Julien Andlauer took the lead in the #5 Porsche Penske from the start, passing the Cadillacs of Will Stevens and Earl Bamber that started from the front row. The Frenchman held the lead for 90 minutes until Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari AF Corse overtook him on the straight to Indianapolis.

Kévin Estre started from last position on the Hypercar grid in the #6 Porsche and climbed into the lead battle during the first four hours. He completed three consecutive stints before handing the car to Vanthoor, who passed Mathieu Jaminet in the #5 when he got held up by traffic in Porsche Curves.

Ferrari controlled the night phase

The three Ferrari 499P cars occupied the top positions during hours 6-8 of the race. Miguel Molina in the #51 and Yifei Ye in the #83 exchanged the lead during the seventh hour, benefiting from the second yellow flag caused by the stoppage of the #95 McLaren driven by Darren Leung.

James Calado received team orders to take the lead in the #51 Ferrari, swapping positions with Phil Hanson in the #83. The change occurred during the transition from Saturday to Sunday, with Calado closing the gap before the switch. The three Ferraris remained in the top positions at 23:00 CET.

Penalties reshuffled the order

Yellow flag infringements changed the order during the night hours. The #50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen received a drive-through penalty and dropped to fourth place, while the #20 BMW was also penalized for the same offense.

Sébastien Buemi took advantage of the penalties in the #8 Toyota to gain positions around midnight. The Frenchman closed the gap while Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche regained the lead he had lost in the early hours.

Four retirements in first 12 hours

The race has seen four retirements by the halfway point. In LMGT3, the #88 Ford Mustang of Proton Competition became the first retirement when Giammarco Levorato lost a wheel entering Tertre Rouge and hit the tire wall. They were followed by the #60 Mercedes of Iron Lynx due to technical issues and the #95 McLaren of United Autosports which stopped at Mulsanne with transmission failure.

The #46 BMW Team WRT of Kelvin van der Linde and Valentino Rossi had built a considerable lead before retiring due to technical problems after 156 completed laps, eliminating the LMGT3 leader. In LMP2, the #24 Oreca of Nielsen Racing retired with 170 laps completed.

Roberto Pera took the LMGT3 lead in the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm, the same team that won the class in 2024. Ryan Hardwick holds second position in the #81 TF Sport, while Akkodis ASP Team placed two Lexus cars in the top five with Fabio Gehrsitz and Paul Umbrărescu.

Gray takes LMP2 lead

Tom Dillmann had built a lead in the #43 Inter Europol Competition during the early hours, but the strategy of VDS Panis Racing allowed Olly Gray to take the LMP2 lead. The French #48 heads the class ahead of the Iron Lynx Proton #9 of Romain De Gérus.

Jakub Smiechowski kept the #43 Inter Europol in contention despite gearshift problems. The Pole adapted his driving to compensate for the technical difficulties, maintaining third in class.

Halfway standings

The Porsche-Toyota-Ferrari order sets up the battle for the second half of the race. Ferrari has two cars in the top seven, with Ye's #83 in third and Alessandro Pier Guidi's #51 in sixth.

Kevin Magnussen experienced problems with the #15 BMW systems near Mulsanne, losing positions before continuing. The Dane received an additional penalty for exceeding the pitlane speed limit, complicating BMW M Team WRT's chances.

Speed records at halfway

Sébastien Bourdais in the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA set the fastest Hypercar lap at 3:27.534, while Alessandro Pier Guidi achieved the class top speed of 364.2 km/h in the #51 Ferrari AF Corse.

In LMGT3, Paul Umbrărescu set the best time with 3:56.169 in the #87 Akkodis ASP Team, with Francesco Castellacci and Sarah Bovy sharing the top speed of 301.3 km/h in their respective Vista AF Corse #54 and Iron Dames #85 cars.

Mathias Beche in the #29 TDS Racing leads both LMP2 records with the fastest lap of 3:36.859 and top speed of 325.8 km/h.

12-hour classification - Hypercar

12-hour classification - LMGT3

12-hour classification- LMP2