Inside Motor Sport's Le Mans preview: Kubica, Hypercar teams, and the 94th 24 Hours

Le Mans has a habit of creating unforgettable moments: McLaren’s 1995 win; Toyota’s 2016 heartbreak; Jacky Ickx’s slow walk to the grid; Louis Rosier’s epic 23-hour stint; 1966 and all that… there’s something about the unique challenge and profile of the French classic that forges legends like no other race. And last year saw another moment added to the list – the victory of Polish racer Robert Kubica.

His story will be familiar to Motor Sport readers – a standout talent in Formula 1 regarded by many, including our own Mark Hughes, as a future world champion whose career was shattered by a rally accident in 2011. There was a promising comeback for Williams that ultimately foundered and it seemed like a one-off talent might become little more than a historical footnote until his remarkable drive at the Circuit de la Sarthe last year.

His victory – and without diminishing the part of his team-mates Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye, it was his victory after a mesmerising final stint in the Ferrari 499P – marked one of the greatest comebacks the sport has seen.

“There’s something about Le Mans that forges legends like no other”

So when we were conceiving our Le Mans issue we obviously wanted to hear from Kubica – who is racing again this year for the same team – and Gary Watkins, our sports car special contributor, tracked him down. You can read Gary’s interview on page 62. Interestingly, when asked about how he rates that final stint, which saw him stay in the car for more than three hours, he doesn’t say what you might imagine he would.

The interview forms part of our annual preview of the 24 Hours which this year includes our profiles of the Hypercar teams as well all the major talking points ahead of the 94th running of the race on June 13-14.

Elsewhere in the magazine I recommend our coverage of the new/old Lotus 49/R1, which our friends at Classic Team Lotus have created. No one does more to keep the memory of Lotus alive than CTL. Marcus Simmons talks to the team behind the resurrection of the original chassis and discovers that Motor Sport readers played a small but significant part in the project… click here page 82 to find out how!

Joe Dunn, editor
Follow Joe on X @joedunn90