Le Mans in 2025 has not fallen as a classic in history books. Safety cars appeared only once throughout the entire race on June 14/15, but the total non-existent threat of rain meant that there was less danger to the bulletproof grids of most 62 vehicles in the Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3 class.
Still, there was a flash of plot. The initial rocket start of the first hour No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport provided early credibility to Ferrari’s pre-race comments.
Ferrari eventually took over control of the race six hours after the first. No. 50 and No. 51 car penalties for yellow flag breach late at night, several team order dramas and two factory 499ps race racing technical gremlins left the door open for shocks that could impact before the checkered flag.
Certainly, the No.6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 heading into the final hours is driven by Kevin Esther.
But even he thought an attack was unlikely. “I think they (Ferrari) had such a dominance throughout the race, so it would be strange to lose all that pace in the final hour.”
Esther said the only hope is that the car with a moderately thin margin of No. 83 can put some pressure on it. In the end, they were off at some stage during the race, being told to move aside for one of the factories cars.
But despite the discomfort from the broken cooling tube in the cockpit, 40-year-old Robert Kubika, five drinks of sleep deprivation, was not going to get him to grasp his victory at Le Mans again, despite the slight squeal from a factory Ferraris who hadn’t heard the team’s orders around the 19-hour mark.
In 2021, he won the LMP2 class, before technical issues on the final lap pushed the car into a heartbreaking retirement. However, as he revealed to the media last Sunday, when his award for winning the LMP2 was pointed out to him, his disappointment was placed on one side very quickly.
“I was sure you got a Rolex by winning the LMP2,” he began. “And of course, our sister car won and after the race I said, ‘Where is the Rolex?’ And they said, “We didn’t get it.
Of course, a perfect victory at Le Mans at Ferrari means a little more than a mere watch for Kubika…
Kubica’s Le Mans Win wasn’t without challenges
There’s no exaggeration to say that Kubica was an absolute stud when he came to Formula 1 at BMW in 2007. The podium, a consistent top six finisher, seemed certain at one stage. Certainly, he stood on the podium in 2008 in just two rounds, winning the Maiden victory at the Canadian Grand Prix that year.
The victory itself was quite a bit when the Montreal Kubica race ended a year ago with a violent shunt about approaching the hairpin towards the end of the lap. In testimony to modern safety standards, he left with an ankle injury and missed our next round in Indianapolis (opening Sebastian Vettel’s door and replacing him with his Formula One debut).
The uncompetitive BMW in 2009 stifled Kubika’s progress, but his talent never abandoned him, and in 2010 he returned to the podium again after receiving the switch to Renault. For Ferrari, its future F1 titles hope to sign a deal to join the team for the 2012 campaign and get a firm rest on the shoulder.
And when he crashed during the Rondo di Andorra rally in the beginning of February 2011, it was all cruelly taken from him. A rapid crash into the guardrail caused him to suffer a serious arm injury, completely derailing his racing career. He recovered enough to start the race again in 2013, returning to Rallying and winning two WRC titles.
He began dabbing in sports car racing a few years later, and returned to the Formula 1 grid in 2019 with Williams. But combining a lot of time from F1 with non-competing machines gave Kubica a single point. Since 2019, he began racing sports car full-time at the World Endurance Championships, making an immediate impression.
The disappointment of his first visit to Le Mans in 2021 failed to hide the speed he still had to compete in major events. The following year, there was a few seconds of guise before AF Corse took him to drive his customer, Ferrari 499p Hypercar last year. Le Mans didn’t go on plans as No. 83 retired, but the car won in WEC’s Cota round.
At Le Mans this year, No. 83, driven by Kubika, Yfei Ye and Phil Hanson, did not have an easy ride. It started quite late on the 13th, with little progress in the bright yellow AF Corse car. Kubika also revealed that he fought the issues of downshifting for all races, but the balance of the car wasn’t what it used to be.
“It was all bad 24 hours a day,” he said of the downshift issue. “Unfortunately, that happened when I installed the race gearbox. I thought this was something that was related to the setting, but it wasn’t. It really, really, really, once again stressed.
But the “other” headache Kubica talks about is the team ordering teams later in the race. No. 83, previously told twice to move aside for a factory car, was on the other end of the call on the other side of the team around 18 hours when No. 51 of Alessandro Piaggidi, James Carad and Antonio Giobinazzi were told to move aside.
Corsica Cafelari No. 83, 2025 24 Hours Le Mans
©XPB Image
The instruction was passed, but not executed at that time. Kubica cuts the furious figures on the radio, noting that twice as many No. 83 followed these orders early in the race. He then ran off at the corner of Mulsanne, pulling No. 51 further out of the window to slow him down.
Kubika had to be cooled down by his race engineer, but his explosion was justified and politely squeezed down.
No. 83 ultimately became the lead in command by the start of the 21 hours as it allowed the No. 50 and 51 cars to jump through the subsequent pit stop phase. The latter also suffered from an inadequately timed full course yellow in 20 hours, stopping the second fuel stop twice, and spinning the second with a pit entry.
After the race, Kubika was still clearly annoyed by the team’s order situation, which felt that he had fallen into a “unnecessary” risk for the final push.
“We played team players, 83,” Kubika said. “We tried to help where we could, but we felt we shouldn’t be in that position, especially with more pace behind the other cars and just destroying your tires and losing performance. So when we saw the gap to (No. 6) Porsche, I think I was right to push.
“Everyone understands that they are trying to do things on their own, but sometimes they are respected. Once there’s a call that we’re not racing each other and we don’t see other cars overtake your teammates and go around the position. And we weren’t chasing the final outcome.
Ferrari defended the race management strategy, but was pleased to admit that the issues with the cars of No. 51 and 50 would not celebrate the third consecutive Le Mans victory without No. 83.
Kubika’s victory cannot be reduced by past missed opportunities
The overall result sheet paints many predicted pictures, but it is inevitable that the Ferrari victory-No.83 car reaches the top step. Kubica became the first Polish driver to win Le Mans completely, but teammate Yfei Ye is the first competitor to do so.
But the real significance is the closure of Kubika’s circle, which began almost 15 years ago when he signed a Ferrari F1 contract before an injury that changed his career.
As mentioned before, Kubica’s form in Formula 1 was in enough driver form to join the top team and compete for the championship. That reality never comes to fruition, but his drive in Le Mans last Sunday, along with his steady 83 – will be long to prove that his star had only risen without his injury.
When he began talking to the media, he cut off from a tired but contented appearance. There were emotions, but this was not a driver who lived in the past.
“I mean, it’s not,” he said, saying it felt like a closed chapter. “It won’t come back to what happened years ago, what happened with my accident when I already signed for Ferrari. But I accepted it. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t completely healed in the end.
The 24-hour Le Mans is a relentless beast, with little consideration of diligence and personal sacrifice. Kubica is one of the myriad of runs in the last 93 events that can prove this. But sometimes, sometimes Le Mans allows a happy ending.
And that’s what Ferrari, No. 83 AF Corse Car, and Robert Kubica got in 2025…
