How heroic Kubica and Co pulled off stunning Ferrari Le Mans win

AF Corse painted the town yellow at the Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend as the so-called ‘customer’ No83 Ferrari proved conclusively the most potent of the three 499Ps, beating the two red works cars to make it a magical three from three for the Prancing Horse in this Hypercar era.

From the early stages, Ferrari’s 12th Le Mans win never seemed in serious doubt as for long periods the three cars locked out the podium places. It was a strange race that seemed for hours to be stuck in a kind of stasis, only to come alive in the final few hours as the trio of Ferraris jostled to decide which would come out on top, with the No6 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 proving the fly in the ointment, upsetting the clean sweep to demote the works cars and finish runner-up.

But out front, Robert Kubica – who put in a heroic quintuple stint across the race’s final hours – kept the AF Corse entry out of range to secure the first privateer victory at Le Mans since 2005 (even if how private this entry really is can be open to question, given that AF Corse also runs the works cars too).

While Ferrari’s dominance in securing a Hypercar hat-trick was clearly a major talking point, Kubica’s rise to the status of glorious Le Mans winner deserved to take most of the limelight. The victory in his fifth attempt at the race comes 14 years after the devastating rally accident that left him with a dreadfully injured right arm and derailed a fantastically promising F1 career that looked destined to take him to a Ferrari seat in 2012. Instead, Kubica faced a gruelling recovery and comeback that against all odds eventually took him back to F1 with Williams and as a reserve with Sauber Alfa-Romeo, albeit in much diminished form. But it has been the conversion to sports car racing that has really allowed the 40-year-old to shine at least a little like he used to before the accident.

And now he has won the world’s greatest endurance race in a Ferrari. That reads better than a Brad Pitt Hollywood movie script.

“[During] my time here I’ve always been close [to victory],” Poland’s first Le Mans winner reflected. “OK, the first three years I raced in LMP2, but out of the last five Le Mans my cars have been racing in the top three positions 70% to 80% of the time. Now I’ve finally managed to win it, and in Hypercar, so that means overall. The Rolex will be nice! Great job from everyone, we have been strong. It has not been a smooth one but we deserve it, we have been fast. Only two mistakes we could have avoided, but that’s Le Mans. I’m happy for Ferrari, three years in a row with three different crews and cars. Congratulations to them, it’s amazing.”

There was no over-wrought emotion because that’s just not Kubica. But there was clear pride in his voice as he described those final hours when he chose not to vacate the cockpit, in his bid to complete the job on his own terms.

“Fortunately I managed to control everything, always concentrating with no mistakes,” he said. “When I needed to I pushed and when I didn’t I conserved my tyres and managed to bring it home.”

Later he reflected further on how this victory at least addresses the devastation of a lost class win in the final lap of his first 24 Hours of Le Mans after his car broke down. The overall win this time is all the sweeter given that he shares it with Yifei Ye, China’s first Le Mans champion, and the man who was in the WRT ORECA they shared in 2021 on that fateful lap.

“It’s a special day,” said the 2008 Canadian GP winner. “Winning Le Mans [has been my ambition] since I started coming here in 2021. I really enjoyed my first Le Mans although it ended in the most dramatic way, losing the win in the LMP2 category on the last lap. I really enjoyed it like a small kid when I was racing in karting, but the difference was I was already 36 years old. The emotions that weekend gave me were something special and this one for sure will be emotional.

“Probably now there is a bit of tiredness and adrenaline, and I’m just looking forward to resting a bit and enjoying it. I didn’t expect it.”

For Ye too, this victory soothes the memories of 2021, and also last year when their first Le Mans in the yellow AF Corse Ferrari ended in a car failure in the 21st hour.

“I’m still dreaming,” said Ye. “Like Robert, my first Le Mans was in 2021, racing in LMP2 when we were leading until the last lap and the car stopped at the Dunlop chicane. It was heartbreaking. Last year again the car was working very well and we were in a position to try to fight for the win and unfortunately we had another issue. Which is why Robert was joking with me over the weekend that twice we have raced together at Le Mans and haven’t finished. So hopefully this year was going to be different.

“This year we knew Ferrari was very strong on this track. The No51 crew won in 2023, the No50 crew won last year and I’m just super-proud to help Ferrari make this three out of three. In the middle of the race we actually had a healthy lead and then the safety car broke a bit of the rhythm for everyone and kind of reset the race. At the end it was very tight, every mistake you make costs you important time in the race and we are lucky to have crossed the finish line at the end.”

There was satisfaction too for Briton Phil Hanson, who joined Kubica and Ye this season in the World Endurance Championship. Now at just 25, Hanson has become the third British Ferrari victor after 2023 winner James Calado – and Lord Selsdon of Croydon, who drove only for a small portion of Ferrari’s first Le Mans win in 1949. The result is the final vindication for Hanson’s decision to sidestep single-seater racing as a teenager to set his sights firmly on a career in sports car racing.

“I echo what Robert said: the emotions probably haven’t hit yet,” he admitted. “Just a lot of relief at the moment from those last few minutes. I was actually racing against these two when they broke down on the last lap, so 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. It was just relief, to be honest.

“Plus the last time these two raced together here they had that issue so I almost thought they were a little bit jinxed!”

Such thoughts have been well and truly banished by Kubica’s stunning final hours in the car on Sunday. The vanquished No51 crew, who finished third behind the Porsche, paid tribute to their sort-of team-mates and rivals, just to emphasise how well deserved this historic win really is.

“For the last two weeks they have been quicker, and we knew from the start they would be a huge challenge,” said James Calado, who at least with team-mates Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi strengthened their hold on the World Endurance Championship. “We weren’t quick enough and all three of us made a few mistakes. That cost us another position but at the end of the day third is a good result at Le Mans and it’s good for the championship.”

Calado summed up the mood of all, after a race run in hot and dry conditions and flat out with only a single safety car interruption. “I’m happy, I’m knackered, I’m tired. I just want a beer and to chill out.”

We know the feeling.