‘Robert Kubica’s drive was among Le Mans’ best’

Ferrari’s unbeaten three from three at the Big One since its return to sports car racing’s top tier eclipses all expectations. But it was Robert Kubica who deservedly scooped the lion’s share of plaudits as the so-called ‘customer’ 499P – run by the same AF Corse team that’s also responsible for the works cars – completed the hat-trick. Now each of Ferrari’s World Endurance Championship Hypercars has scored a win at Le Mans.

Kubica was the first Polish winner, Yifei Ye the first from China, while 26-year-old Phil Hanson can reflect on a final vindication of his decision to sidestep single-seaters as a teenager to focus instead on a sports car career. Now he’s only the third Brit with an overall win at Le Mans in a Ferrari, after works 499P driver James Calado and Lord Selsdon of Croydon, the bit-part player in Ferrari’s first back in 1949.

The two factory crews acknowledged that the yellow 499P had an edge at Le Mans this year, from the test day to the chequered flag – and Kubica was the relentless driving force. The 40-year-old ignored extreme heat and weariness in a final heroic quintuple stint topping more than three and a half hours to see the job through. This was a drive that should be remembered among Le Mans’ best.

Typically, there was no overwrought emotion from Kubica despite… well, everything. The context is well-known and heavy. Fourteen years ago, he almost lost an arm in a dreadful rally crash along with the promise of a Ferrari Formula 1 future. Kubica, considered an equal to Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, faced a new battle to rebuild his racing life. How he even got near an F1 return, never mind an ultimately underwhelming season with Williams in 2019, beggars belief. To now win Le Mans, in a Ferrari of all cars, tops any Brad Pitt movie script.

Kubica and Ye made their Le Mans debuts together in 2021, when they lost an LMP2 class victory with a car failure on the final lap. Last year, in their first Le Mans in the top Hypercar class, their yellow Ferrari let them down in the 21st hour. New team-mate Hanson teased them he was joining a “jinxed” crew. The joke is now obsolete.

But this was far from a trouble-free run, despite the No83 proving consistently the most potent of the Ferraris. Qualifying was disappointing for all three, Ye leaving the yellow car only 13th on the grid. But in the race it quickly emerged that this was Ferrari’s to lose as the 499Ps established themselves for long stretches at the top of the timing screens. Still, Kubica and co were managing a gearbox glitch and also lost a healthy lead in the 11th hour to the race’s lone safety car interlude. Beyond that, the pace was incessant, in a sweltering 93rd edition.

Yet while others felt the heat, notably Alessandro Pier Guidi spinning the No51 in the pit entry just after 11am, Kubica remained ice-cold out front, even when the No6 Porsche 963 offered Ferrari its only meaningful threat in the final hours. Kévin Estre charged past the works 499Ps and got to within 14sec of Porsche’s 20th Le Mans win and Roger Penske’s first. Those landmarks will have to wait, as Kubica offered a bitter-sweet reminder of what F1 lost in that freak rally crash.

But let’s not dwell on the past. Kubica is sporting a Le Mans winner’s Rolex and that’s enough to inspire a quiet, satisfied smile.

Le Mans: the races within the race

Here’s what happened in LMP2 and LMGT3…

• There was more Le Mans joy for Poland, whose Inter Europol team scooped LMP2 class honours despite a late pitlane speeding penalty for Briton Nick Yelloly. VDS Panis’s Esteban Masson looked set for victory, but team chief Olivier Panis was left with head in hands when their ORECA 07, above, slowed with a broken toe link in its suspension. Thus experienced sports car campaigner Yelloly, who somehow hadn’t raced at Le Mans until now, was reprieved to share victory with Tom Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski.
  
• Just as well Richard Lietz, above centre, didn’t follow his instincts and retire. The Austrian, 41, is a six-time GT class Le Mans winner after his second consecutive LMGT3 victory with Manthey Racing. Lietz shared a Porsche 911 GT3 R with American Ryan Hardwick, above, right, and Italian Riccardo Pera, beating Vista AF Corse’s Ferrari and TF Sport’s Corvette. Valentino Rossi was right in the mix for GT honours, until the WRT BMW he shared with Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy was scuppered by electrical issues.