A few days before the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, the chain of events resulting from Mike Conway’s accident led to Akkodis ASP Team calling up Jack Hawksworth – 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD Pro champion – to stand in for José María López in the Lexus RC F GT3. Hawksworth will be back in 2025.

24H Le Mans

24 Heures du Mans

Robert Kubica puts the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P on top spot in the final warm-up session before the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans which starts this afternoon.

<p>Thunderstorms, heavy rain and even hailstones fell on Le Mans and the surrounding areas last night - bringing the temperature down slightly - giving a slightly cooler feel to the Saturday morning proceedings. The 15 minute warm-up - the last chance to shakedown the cars, bed in brakes, scrub tyres, radio check and make sure everything is all set for the start of the race at 16:00 local time. The final dress rehearsal for the 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was here.</p>

<h2>Hypercar</h2>

<p>The #83 AF Corse Ferrari set the pace in the brief session - with Robert Kubica managing to clock a 03:26.908 and four laps in the process. Always in the hunt - many are tipping the striking yellow machine to be a dark horse.</p>

<p>The #50 factory Ferrari 499 in the hands of Antonio Fuoco was just 0.123 behind in second while the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 - Hybrid sporting its retro nineties inspired livery took third - one of its most competitive showings of the week.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Aston Martin Thor Racing with the #009 Valkyrie sealed fourth as the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA rounded out the top five. Pole Sitters - the #12 Cadillac from Hertz Team JOTA were just behind - keeping pace in sixth.</p>

<p>The #311 Cadillac made an excursion into polystyrene branding at the bottom of the hill after the Dunlop Bridge - a brief Full Course Yellow (FCY) with 11 minutes on the clock remaining was quickly resolved and the only incident of note during the Warm-up.</p>

<h2>LMP2</h2>

<p>It was as IDEC Sport one, two in LMP2 with the #28 just ahead of the #18 car. LMP2 prototype pole sitters, the #19 TDS Racing car was third ahead of the #16 RLR M Sport ORECA and #16 RLR M Sport car.</p>

<h2>LMGT3</h2>

<p>Kessel Racing with their#57 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 strutted their stuff at Circuit de la Sarthe to seal top spot in the GT class ahead of Vista AF Corse in the #54 Ferrari 296 LMGT3. It was to be TF Sport with their #81 Corvette in third ahead of the Akkodis ASP Team who have been at the sharp end most sessions put their #78 Lexus in fourth with the #46 Team WRT BMW in fifth.</p>

<h4><u>Warm Up: Top 5 Classification:</u></h4>

<p>1. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse &ndash; Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson - 03:26.908<br />
2. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse &ndash; Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina - 03:27.031<br />
3. Toyota GR010 Hybrid #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing &ndash; Mike Conway / Kamui Kobayashi / Nyck de Vries - 03:29.294<br />
4. Aston Martin Valkyrie #009 Aston Martin THOR Team &ndash; Alex Riberas / Marco S&oslash;rensen / Roman De Angelis - 03:29.343<br />
5. Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA &ndash; Earl Bamber / S&eacute;bastien Bourdais / Jenson Button - 03:30.607</p>

<h4><u>Warm Up: Fastest times in the LMP2 and LMGT3 categories:</u></h4>

<ul>
	<li>LMP: Oreca 07-Gibson #28 IDEC Sport &ndash; Paul Lafargue / Job Van Uitert / Sebastian Alvarez - 03:38.589</li>
	<li>LMGT3: Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #57 Kessel Racing &ndash; Takeshi Kimura / Daniel Serra / Casper Stevenson - 03:57.681</li>
</ul>

<p>Next up on track - we begin the countdown to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. Whatever you are doing and wherever you are - be sure to join us for the start of the race at 16:00 local time.</p>

Kubica sets the warm-up pace in the AF Corse Ferrari as race countdown begins

The British manufacturer has chosen Le Mans as the place to unveil the Hypercar that will join the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027.

<p>Following the announcement of its <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/mclaren-racing-to-join-the-hypercar-fray-in-2027-59502" target="_blank"><u><strong>Hypercar entry</strong></u></a>, in April, McLaren has taken the wraps off the car and disclosed the overview of its programme. The entry is a collaboration with United Autosports, a leading light of the LMP2 class since 2017. The twin-turbo V6 engine was designed by McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive. The chassis will be developed and built by Dallara.</p>

<p><strong>James Barclay</strong>, currently managing director of JLR Motorsport and Team Principal of Jaguar TCS Racing, is to join the team in September at the end of the Formula E season. McLaren Racing CEO Zac Brown says of Barclay: <strong>&ldquo; James&rsquo;s leadership will be crucial in guiding us through the coming months as we prepare for our 2027 entry. We have a rich history in the sport, and with James at the helm, we are confident that McLaren Endurance Racing will quickly establish itself as a competitive and successful team. I&rsquo;m looking forward to seeing the team&rsquo;s future take shape under his leadership.&rdquo;</strong></p>

<p>Take a look at the freshly-released pics of the McLaren Hypercar in the gallery below.</p>

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans: McLaren introduces the world to its Hypercar

Today is finally the day! At precisely 16:00 local time, the start of the 93rd running of Le Mans, fourth round of the 2025 FIA WEC season, will be given. Official starter Roger Federer will wave the French flag, releasing competitors for 24 hours of heart-pounding racing. Will Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot, Porsche or Toyota lift the iconic trophy? Watch the action and find out tomorrow at 16:00.

<h2>24 Hours of Le Mans | Warm-up</h2>

<p>A few hours before&nbsp;the start of the race, teams get one last mini free practice, the&nbsp;Warm-Up, between&nbsp;12:00 and&nbsp;12:15. This&nbsp;is their final opportunity to fine-tune settings and adapt their cars to the day&#39;s weather conditions.</p>

<h2>24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans | Start</h2>

<p>The start of the 93rd 24 Hours will be given at 16:00&nbsp;by world tennis legend Roger Federer this year. Look for the ceremony&nbsp;preceding the start to be&nbsp;even more stunning&nbsp;than usual, thanks to all-new staging, as a&nbsp;helicopter delivers the French&nbsp;flag, <em>La</em>&nbsp;<em>Marseillaise</em> is played and&nbsp;sung in chorus by the crowd, and&nbsp;the cars take their places on the starting grid. The pressure continues to mount until the official starter waves the flag, releasing the&nbsp;62 competitors whose adrenaline immediately goes through the roof as they head into 24 hours of white-knuckle&nbsp;racing!</p>

<h2>Road to Le Mans</h2>

<p>From&nbsp;10:05 to&nbsp;11:05, Road to Le Mans competitors hit the track for Race 2. This support race is the third of six rounds of&nbsp;the&nbsp;2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup reserved for cars in the LMP3 and&nbsp;GT categories.</p>

<h2>Ford Mustang Challenge</h2>

<p>Ford Mustang Challenge teams face off in&nbsp;Race 2 between 08:45 to&nbsp;09:30 when their powerful&nbsp;Ford Mustang Dark Horse Rs equipped with a naturally aspirated 500 hp V8s&nbsp;take the track.</p>

<h2>DJ Loran, Kool &amp; The Gang and&nbsp;The Avener Concerts</h2>

<p>Kool &amp; the Gang, formed in&nbsp;1969, is an emblematic band known for classic hits like <em>Celebration, Cherish, Jungle Boogie, Summer Madness </em>and<em>&nbsp;Open Sesame</em>. They have won two Grammy Awards, seven&nbsp;American Music Awards and have released&nbsp;31 certified gold or platinum albums. Their longevity set&nbsp;the&nbsp;record for the longest active R&amp;B group and their music has heavily influenced hip-hop as&nbsp;one of the most sampled groups, second only to James Brown.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Tristan Casara, a.k.a.&nbsp;The Avener, is no ordinary&nbsp;DJ/producer. Trained in classical piano from the age of five at the Conservatory of Nice, he is first and foremost a musician and composer.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Avener already performed an exclusive night set during the 2020 Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans. This time, he will perform on the main stage of the Le Mans classic!&nbsp;</p>

<h2>The&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans Show</h2>

<p>Kicking off at midnight, the 24 Hours of Le Mans&nbsp;Show promises to be an unforgettable experience as always.&nbsp;With the theme &quot;24H&nbsp;On Board&quot;,&nbsp;spectators are&nbsp;plunged into the heart of the race via&nbsp;a 20-minute immersive show. Fireworks, and a drone and laser show, enhance this exceptional evening spectacle. As the drivers push their limits on the track, this thrilling moment will thrill young and old alike.&nbsp;</p>

<h4><u>Saturday 14 June Programme</u></h4>

<p>08:00 &ndash; 02:00&nbsp;: 24 Hours Museum open<br />
08:45 &ndash; 09:30&nbsp;: Ford Mustang Challenge | Race 2<br />
09:00 &ndash; 01:00&nbsp;: Fan Zones and&nbsp;Kids Zone open<br />
10:00 &ndash; 00:00&nbsp;: Constructors Village and ACO H2 Hydrogen Village open<br />
10:05 &ndash; 11:05&nbsp;: Road To Le Mans | Race 2<br />
12:00 &ndash; 12:15&nbsp;: 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans | Warm-Up<br />
13:35 &ndash; 14:35&nbsp;: Gridwalk<br />
15:25 &ndash; 15:50&nbsp;: Official starting ceremony<br />
16:00&nbsp;: 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans | Start<br />
20:00 &ndash; 23:00&nbsp;: DJ Loran, Kool &amp; The Gang and&nbsp;The Avener concerts<br />
00:00 &ndash; 00:20&nbsp;: 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans Show</p>

<p>Watch the&nbsp;<a href="http://fiawec.tv/page/679a56921229db49627128a6"><strong>FIA WEC live</strong></a>&nbsp;or on demand on the official&nbsp;FIA WEC TV app, your all-access pass to the FIA World Endurance&nbsp;Championship including the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans. Don&#39;t miss a second of the action! For more info, go to the app.</p>

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – Saturday 14 June programme

The American marque divulged on Friday at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans several aspects of its future involvement in Hypercar, namely that it will rely on ORECA for its chassis.

<p>As announced in January, <strong><a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/ford-in-the-top-class-at-the-24-hours-of-le-mans-in-2027-59293">Ford will return&nbsp;to Le Mans and the FIA WEC in 2027</a></strong>. We have all been waiting for&nbsp;more details to emerge, including who is&nbsp;involved in the programme aimed to add a fifth win to Ford&#39;s list of accolades. Just a short distance from the Ford Chicane,&nbsp;and in front of a large audience of journalists, the American carmaker&nbsp;revealed more.</p>

<h2>Oreca, Much More Than a Chassis Supplier</h2>

<p>Dan Sayers was hand-picked to lead Ford&#39;s Hypercar efforts in the FIA WEC.&nbsp;Already a project&nbsp;director at Red Bull Ford Powertrains, he worked at Prodrive (Aston Martin Racing at the time) and at Ricardo where he helped design and develop transmissions, notably for LMP1. Sayer is the first&nbsp;key player&nbsp;in the organisational chart that will be completed in the coming months.</p>

<p>The principal&nbsp;announcement today addressed&nbsp;the American manufacturer&#39;s&nbsp;partnership&nbsp;with ORECA.&nbsp;Ford&nbsp;chairman and CEO&nbsp;Jim Farley and Ford Performance Director&nbsp;Mark Rushbrook were in attendance for the occasion, along with ORECA founder&nbsp;Hugues de Chaunac.&nbsp;The Frenchman was clearly&nbsp;moved and excited to contribute&nbsp;to Ford&#39;s return. <strong>Hughes de Chaunac:</strong> <em>You don&#39;t say no to</em>&nbsp;<em>Ford!&nbsp;They are extremely hands-on and are very open to collaboration. They want to win. If something goes wrong, we have to say so. It&nbsp;gives us real responsibility. This is not always the case: some constructors do not ask us for this much involvement. With them, we have the closest possible connection. They want us to share everything.</em></p>

<h2>A True Ford Hypercar</h2>

<p>The selected engine block &ndash; already defined &ndash; was not revealed and there are no further details on the design of the future Hypercar. De Chaunac: <em>It will truly be a Ford.</em> Can we expect a V8, the type of engine that allowed the marque&nbsp;to earn&nbsp;its four consecutive wins from 1966 to 1969? Or could it be&nbsp;a V6 like in the Ford GT that won the 2016 LMGTE Pro championship? Anything is possible.&nbsp;De Chaunac:&nbsp;<em>As for the engine architecture, there&#39;s no problem. We designed our chassis from the start to be adaptable to several configurations.</em></p>

<p>For the overall design of the future Hypercar, perhaps it will modelled on...the Mustang. <strong>Jim Farley:</strong> <em>We&#39;ve always wanted to run production cars, as close as possible to production cars. In 2016, we created the Ford GT, but we originally wanted to enter a Mustang.&nbsp;So, while the Mustang LMGT3 is a major player&nbsp;in the category, and is clearly looking to win on&nbsp;Sunday, it seems plausible the future Hypercar will feature some of the same aesthetic elements. It&#39;s impossible to convert a road car into a Hypercar, but there will be a connection.</em></p>

<p>As a curtain-opener for the 2025 24 Hours, Mustangs will take the track for the&nbsp;Ford Mustang Challenge and even&nbsp;Farley himself is racing this weekend:&nbsp;<em>I think it&#39;s great that we are racing at Le Mans the way an American brand should. During the first couple of laps, when we were all together, seeing the others on the Mulsanne Straight after Tertre Rouge &mdash; more than 30 cars &mdash; it was really an emotional moment for me. Seeing those Mustangs built in Flat Rock, Michigan, with manual transmissions, drivers warming up their tyres, it made us proud. We are doing something just the right way.&nbsp;</em></p>

<h2>A Legacy to Carry On</h2>

<p>Ford currently boasts four overall wins at Le Mans, and remains the only American carmaker to win the race.&nbsp;This is a&nbsp;phenomenal achievement&nbsp;given the number of top-tier constructors&nbsp;from the U.S. to&nbsp;have competed&nbsp;over the decades. Chrysler and General Motors have made their mark in GT&nbsp;since the 2000s, with the occasional involvement in&nbsp;prototypes, and Briggs Cunningham was a pioneer, just as was Don Panoz&nbsp;in his time, adopting&nbsp;a disruptive approach and&nbsp;attempting to bring down Audi.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ford&#39;s Hypercar programme leaders refer to the legacy of the 1966 and 1967 wins in particular. They&nbsp;were secured&nbsp;by&nbsp;Carroll Shelby&#39;s team, including&nbsp;the&nbsp;addition of the all-American driver line-up of Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt in 1967. The two subsequent&nbsp;wins in 1968 and 1969 with&nbsp;the&nbsp;Brit&nbsp;John Wyer at the helm, though legendary, will never have quite the same resonance.&nbsp;Farley: <em>Bringing Ford back to the top class at Le Mans has always been a dream for many of us, including our Executive Chair Bill Ford.&nbsp;</em><em>Dakar, Daytona 500, Daytona 24, Le Mans 24 &mdash; all those races are the pinnacle for us</em>.</p>

Ford partners with ORECA for Hypercar programme launching in 2027

24 Heures du Mans 2025

<p><strong>Jack Hawksworth</strong>&nbsp;will replace&nbsp;<strong>Ben Barnicoat</strong> for the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (11-15 June 2025), with the Chesterfield-born driver still recovering from a bike accident. Hawksworth will share the wheel of the #78 Lexus RC F GT3 with <strong>Finn Gehrsitz</strong>&nbsp;and <strong>Arnold Robin</strong>.<br />
Last year, Esteban Masson, Takeshi Kimura and Hawksworth drove the #87 Lexus to 10th place in the LMGT3 class after entertaining hopes of a podium for a while.</p>

<p>The #78 Lexus RC F GT3 currently lies <strong>third in the chase for the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Teams</strong> on the back of a fourth place in the Qatar 1812 Km and a third place in the 6 Hours of Imola.</p>

24H LE MANS

Jack Hawksworth to replace Ben Barnicoat for Akkodis ASP Team

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