Richard Lietz of the #92 Porsche 911 led Manthey to the LMGT3 class win in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Manthey took a consecutive win – after 341 laps – at the second running for the LMGT3 category since doing so in 2024, which also marked Lietz’s sixth class win in Grand Touring machinery for the Weissach manufacturer.
Furthermore, it marked Manthey’s second WEC win this season following their success at the 6 Hours of Imola.
Alike Imola, the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo were highly on course to command their way to victory; however, unlike at Imola, the #46 suffered reliability problems in the form of an electrical issue.
The #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 crew of Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau claimed a second podium this season after winning last time out at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
TF Sport took third place with the #81 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R drivers Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy.
Heart of Racing’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo crew finished fourth in the hands of Mattia Drudi, Zach Robichon, and team principal Ian James as Jose Maria Lopez rounded out the top five in the sole-running #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 with his team-mates Petru Umbrarescu and Clemens Schmid
Heart of Racing at the front, Hawksworth on a charge
As the lights went out for the 93rd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the starting grid ran eagerly close, motivated by the proximity of their close track position.
Drudi retained his pole position for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, whilst second-placed starters #21 AF Corse Ferrari and driver Francois Heriau fell to fourth, unable to match Ahmed Al Harthy’s form.
Iron Lynx’s #61 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 of Maxime Martin jumped one position into third amid Heriau’s difficulty in putting down immediate pace.
Most notably, Jack Hawksworth charged from eighth place in the #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 to fourth, and then the lead. Unfortunately, on the next day, they suffered one of the key heartbreaks within the LMGT3 category.
The FIA Bronze-graded drivers are not mandated to take the race start at Le Mans, prompting mainly professionals to deal with the intensity of the start, whilst other teams were keen to get an early start into eating into the minimum drive time.
By the end of the opening hour, Akkodis ASP and WRT were key players, but the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Martin hung around third and fourth during the opening phase of the race.
The first retirement took place within the fourth racing hour, concerning Giammarco Levorato’s #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang after 46 laps. He went wide and hit the tyre barrier amidst a spin, caused by a loose left-rear wheel nut; the tyre detached before he made contact with the tyres.
Valentino Rossi maintained the charge for the #46 WRT crew as Rovera and Lietz hung around during their maiden stints in the race.
AF Corse fight early with WRT
Rovera established a 12-second gap to the #46 WRT BMW. Heart of Racing’s Rubichon was only three seconds behind the BMW.
Pera took over in the #92, which started fifth on the grid in the hands of Hardwick, who drove a Proton-run Ford Mustang last year.
United Autosports’ McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evos endured challenging reliability issues. The first of which impacted the #95 McLaren after five hours and 41 minutes of racing, when Darren Leung was forced to stop on the driver’s right-hand side towards the end of the Mulsanne.
The #95 subsequently retired due to a mechanical drive issue with a short full-course yellow called for the stranded car. It was unable to rejoin the race when a fuel delivery issue prevented the car from engaging forward drive.
The third retirement – of which there were seven in LMGT3 (the most out of the classes) – was the #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Lorcan Hanafin after a broken alternator belt damaged an oil line.
Towards the halfway point, the #92 Porsche controlled the front with the #81 TF Sport Corvette in fair proximity behind, followed by Finn Gehristz’s #78 Akkodis Lexus.
Double misfortune for WRT
Kelvin van der Linde dramatically went off at Porsche curves in the #46 WRT BMW, having understeered off to the driver’s left side.
Marshals retrieved the beached #46 BMW, though WRT later said a technical issue affected the power and therefore the power steering, resulting in retirement.
Meanwhile, the other #31 BMW unfortunately hit a rabbit, which ended their race.
Lietz and Rovera fought avidly during the night and the early morning as Rahel Frey was tapped around by the #87 driver, Schmid.
During the early morning phase, after the night-time, the daylight welcomed the front-running #92 Porsche team although the #85 Iron Dames Porsche hit gear shift troubles later on.
Hawksworth continued the charge even with 18 hours completed after he fought with Drudi, before the #27 Aston Martin driver pulled off a cunning outside move at the second Mulsanne chicane.
Later, however, Finn Gehristz showcased an example and the consequences of overcoming driver fatigue; all 50 teams who finished faced.
In the penultimate hour, after previously nursing their alternator issue, Gregoire Saucy of the #59 McLaren stopped on the approach to Indianapolis, and was put behind barriers and stopped conclusively, with the team not unclassified as they completed the minimum 75% of the distance.
Another retirement included the #54 AF Corse Ferrari of Davide Rigon.
