In prestigious auction rooms, it seems that a connection to the 24 Hours of Le Mans is more of an asset than John Lennon ... A 1953 Ferrari could be sold for more than 5 million in the next few days.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has just released a stunning line of four precision watches for every racing fan and timepiece enthusiast on your gift list - including yourself!

Each running of Le&nbsp;Mans writes its own unique page in the history of the race. This year, we&#39;re commemorating the 24 Hours with an unprecedented&nbsp;<a href="https://boutique.lemans.org/en/content/52-exclusive-24-hours-of-le-mans-watch-collection" target="_blank">official&nbsp;24 Hours of Le Mans watch&nbsp;collection</a>.&nbsp;Designed for racing fans and amateurs&nbsp;of fine timepieces, these watches&nbsp;embody the power, precision and spirit of endurance that fuel&nbsp;the most iconic&nbsp;race in the world.

<h2>FOUR WATCHES BEFITTING&nbsp;THE LEGENDARY RACE&nbsp;</h2>

From trackside&nbsp;to the day-to-day, each model is&nbsp;designed to reflect a singular facet of racing.

<a href="https://boutique.lemans.org/en/watches/4527-Smartwatch-24h-le-mans.html" target="_blank">Connected Watch</a>&nbsp;&ndash; When legacy meets innovation

Fitted with an AMOLED dial and smart functions.

Price: &euro;150

<a href="https://boutique.lemans.org/en/watches/4526-Mens-Sports-Watch-24H-Le-Mans.html">Sports Watch</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Design inspired by&nbsp;performance

Inspired by raw engine&nbsp;power, the sports watch is powered by a Japanese Seiko VD53 movement. Its black steel case and pedal-shaped buttons&nbsp;make it the perfect choice for thrill-seekers.

Price: &euro;150

<a href="https://boutique.lemans.org/en/watches/4525-Classic-Mens-Watch-24H-Le-Mans.html" target="_blank">Classic Watch</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Pure elegance

The high-quality Japanese movement and leather strap make this&nbsp;an ideal selection&nbsp;for those who appreciate understated refinement.

Price: 120&euro;

<a href="https://boutique.lemans.org/en/watches/4528-Childrens-Watch-24H-Le-Mans.html" target="_blank">Children&#39;s Watch&nbsp;</a>&ndash; Perfect for young fans

Thanks to its Seiko SII PC21 movement and illustrated strap, the children&#39;s watch introduces youngsters to the legend of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Price: &euro;40

<h2>Where to find the Collection</h2>

The 24 Hours of Le Mans watch collection is available starting Thursday 9 October at 17:00 local time in all official shops and&nbsp;<a href="https://boutique.lemans.org/en/content/52-exclusive-24-hours-of-le-mans-watch-collection" target="_blank">online</a>.

<h4>Brick and Mortar Shops</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Le Mans &ndash; South Gate of the Circuit des 24 Heures</li>
	<li>Paris &ndash; 118 boulevard Haussmann (8th)</li>
	<li>Tours &ndash; 32 rue Marceau</li>
	<li>Rouen &ndash; 24 rue de l&rsquo;H&ocirc;pital</li>
</ul>

Exclusive collection of 24 Hours of Le Mans watches available now!

Two up-and-coming British drivers will have a chance to showcase their talent at the 2025 FIA WEC Rookie Test. Ollie Gray will take the wheel of the championship-winning Hypercar while Tom Fleming will climb aboard the Champagne-popping LMGT3. A golden opportunity for the two hopefuls.

Every season, the FIA World Endurance Championship concludes with the Rookie Test &ndash; a tremendous opportunity for promising youngsters to show off their potential at the wheel of the best cars on the international endurance scene. The 2025 edition, held in Bahrain on the day after the final round of the season, will spotlight two rising stars:&nbsp;former Formula racing driver Ollie Gray, now a mainstay of the European Le Mans Series grid, and Tom Fleming, a GT specialist whose career has really taken off.

<h2>Ollie Gray &ndash; from single-seaters to Hypercar</h2>

Twenty-year-old Gray has quickly worked his way up from promotion formulas to the European Le Mans Series. Runner-up in the British F4 Championship in 2022, he has enjoyed a remarkable ELMS season with VDS Panis Racing, winning the Imola and Spa-Francorchamps rounds, before putting in a bright performance on his 24 Hours of Le Mans d&eacute;but.

The young Englishman cannot wait to get behind the wheel of the World Championship-winning Hypercar.&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m over-the-moon to be selected for this year&rsquo;s Rookie Test,&rdquo; he enthused. &quot;The opportunity to drive the winning Hypercar is amazing, and it&rsquo;s a step forward in my career as that&rsquo;s where I want to be in the future (...) My long-term objective is to race in the top class in FIA WEC, so hopefully I can show what I&rsquo;m made of in Bahrain and take a step closer to that goal!&rdquo;

<h2>Tom Fleming&rsquo;s rapid rise</h2>

Fleming (23) caught the eye as soon as he began racing, finishing runner-up in the 2023 Ferrari Challenge Europe. He has competed in this season&rsquo;s ELMS, notching up two podiums at the wheel of a Ferrari 296 LMGT3 for GR Racing. A varied campaign comprising the GT World Challenge and the Michelin Le Mans Cup has given Fleming precious experience before this first outing outside Europe.

Bahrain will be a major landmark in his burgeoning career.&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m honoured to be selected for the FIA WEC Rookie Test,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; &ldquo;To be part of such an exclusive and prestigious event is an incredible privilege and an opportunity I&rsquo;m looking forward to making the most of.&nbsp;I&rsquo;ve enjoyed an extremely busy, fruitful and diverse racing programme this year.&nbsp; (...) The Rookie Test will be the cherry on the cake to conclude what has been a successful 2025. Over the years, I&rsquo;ve seen many FIA WEC and Formula One races take place at the [Bahrain] circuit, so it&rsquo;s simply surreal to think I will be heading there myself.&rdquo;

<h2>A platform for the future</h2>

Since it was created in 2015, the FIA WEC Rookie Test has provided a platform for many talented drivers including Julien Andlauer,&nbsp;Norman Nato&nbsp;and Mathieu Jaminet, to take their first crucial steps towards the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Hypercar class. In Gray and Fleming, two new faces will hope to line up alongside them very soon.

<a href="https://fiawec.tv/page/679a56921229db49627128a6" target="_blank">Watch all the action from the FIA World Endurance Championship</a>&nbsp;live or on demand with the FIA WEC TV official app! Don&rsquo;t miss a thing! Check out the app for further information.

Gray and Fleming picked for FIA WEC Bahrain Rookie Test

Alpine climbed back to the summit of the FIA World Championship podium in the series’ milestone 100th race at Fuji Speedway today, as Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin emerged on top in an epic encounter to claim the French manufacturer’s first victory in more than three years.

The #35 crew began the 6 Hours of Fuji from ninth on the 18-strong Hypercar grid, and initially fell down the field after picking up penalties for contact and a pit-stop infringement. The trio gained a crucial break shortly after the race entered its second half, however, when they benefitted from the fortuitous timing of a safety car intervention.

That elevated Milesi up the order into second, with the Frenchman subsequently settling into a three-way fight for supremacy with Peugeot&rsquo;s Mikkel Jensen &ndash; the #93 9X8 Hypercar the Dane shares with Jean-&Eacute;ric Vergne and Paul di Resta a long-time leader in Japan &ndash; and defending world champion K&eacute;vin Estre in the #6 Porsche.

With an hour remaining, Alpine Endurance Team rolled the dice. As the top three came into the pits to make their final stops, the French manufacturer elected to save time by changing only the left-hand side tyres on the #35 car, whereas Peugeot and Porsche replaced the full set.

That promoted Milesi to the lead, and the Frenchman produced a flawless performance to keep his pursuers comfortably at bay and take the chequered flag 7.682 seconds ahead of Jensen &ndash; to the clear delight of his team-mates and crew.

&ldquo;This means everything,&rdquo; confessed an emotional Habsburg. &ldquo;Holding this trophy has been in my dreams for quite some time. It&rsquo;s the coolest thing to win a race with two of your best friends in the paddock. Charles and Paul-Loup are not only some of the best drivers, but also the best people I know. They have motivated me so much through my own mistakes and moments when I was not doing so well. It&rsquo;s because of them really that we were able to win together as a team.&rdquo;

The result represented Alpine&rsquo;s third overall triumph in FIA WEC, and impressively, the #35 car is the only one in the 2025 Hypercar field not to include a top-level Platinum-graded driver. It also means that for the first time in the championship&rsquo;s history, four different marques have won in succession &ndash; Ferrari at Le Mans, Cadillac in S&atilde;o Paulo, Porsche at COTA and now Alpine at Fuji.

<h2>Corvette claims glory after late drama in LMGT3</h2>

For the second race in a row, VISTA AF Corse took the chequered flag first in the LMGT3 category &ndash; and for the second race in a row, another crew stood atop the rostrum, as TF Sport&rsquo;s #81 Corvette benefitted from a post-race penalty for the Ferrari to usurp the win.

&gt;&gt;&gt; <a href="https://www.fiawec.com/en/page/resultats-1/56" target="_blank">Race result</a> &lt;&lt;&lt;

<div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qSp3A9ih2Uo?si=Lthj3XGYpoeVZWZb" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>

&nbsp;

Alpine unleashes peak performance at Fuji to win milestone 100th race

The FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) will celebrate a memorable landmark this weekend (26-28 September 2025) at the 6 Hours of Fuji. And the 100th race in the championship’s history could prove to be crucial in the battle for the 2025 title waged by Ferrari, Porsche and Toyota.

The emblematic Japanese racetrack in the shadows of Mount Fuji will stage the penultimate round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season &ndash; a race that has all the makings of a historic event. Although Toyota will be determined to return to winning ways on their home patch, Ferrari are in the box seat to wrap up the world title. But after clinching a win at Lone Star Le Mans, Porsche is not ready to give up the fight just yet.

Since the inaugural FIA WEC season in 2012, the 6 Hours of Fuji has been a mainstay of the championship. The iconic 4.563-km Fuji Speedway is one of the most impressive of all FIA WEC venues with Hypercars topping 330&nbsp;kph on the 1.475-km long straight.

<h2>Toyota looking to bounce back</h2>

Toyota is historically the most successful manufacturer on its own track, with nine wins in eleven years. Confidence in the Japanese camp is, however, at a low ebb. For the first time since it stepped into endurance, it has endured a six-race barren spell without a single podium. It will be looking to the home crowd to spur it to success and prevent Ferrari from inheriting its world crown.&nbsp;&ldquo;After Le Mans, this is our most important race and one where we really want to perform well,&rdquo; said Toyota Gazoo Racing driver and Team Principal Kamui Kobayashi.&nbsp;&ldquo;So far this year, we are struggling but I hope we can achieve something special on our home track because we have been quite strong there in the past. We will perform to our maximum and hopefully our Japanese fans will be able to enjoy an exciting weekend and a great result for Toyota Gazoo Racing.&rdquo;

<h2>Ferrari closing in, Porsche still in the hunt</h2>

Unbeaten in the manufacturers&rsquo; title race for the past six seasons, Toyota sees its domination under threat from Ferrari. The Prancing Horse could well settle matters this weekend provided it withstands the pressure from the revitalised Porsche 963. The trio of Estre, Vanthoor and Campbell offered the German firm its first win of the year in Texas and returns to Japan with strong hopes of repeating last season&rsquo;s performance.&nbsp;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re determined to build on that success and keep closing the gap in the manufacturers&rsquo; standings&rdquo;, said Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach.

&ldquo;Three weeks ago at COTA, we were back on the podium with our #50 499P: that result was valuable for our morale as drivers, and for the points we secured for Ferrari,&rdquo; said driver Antonio Fuoco.&nbsp;&ldquo;We approach the 6 Hours of Fuji determined to remain frontrunners, even though we know this Japanese circuit could prove one of the toughest for the 499P, as we have seen in recent years.&rdquo;

Check out the full entry list for the 2025 6 Hours of Fuji <a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/ecm-prod/assets/1/course/4936/2025-fia-wec-6-hours-of-fuji-provisional-entry-list-v2_d1f6d1.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.

<h2>FIA WEC reaches the 100-race landmark</h2>

The 2025 6 Hours of Fuji will not only be decisive for the title race; it will also be the one hundredth race is FIA WEC history. This symbolic milestone adds further shine to the sporting and historic aura of this eagerly awaited meet.

The race will start at 02:00 UTC on Sunday 28 September.

<a href="https://fiawec.tv/page/679a56921229db49627128a6" target="_blank">Watch all the action from the FIA World Endurance Championship</a>&nbsp;live or on demand with the FIA WEC TV official app! Don&rsquo;t miss a thing! Check out the app for further information.

FIA WEC set to hit century of races at Fuji

<img alt="John Lennon/24 Heures du Mans : avantage Le Mans !" src="/wpphpFichiers/1/1/ressources/Image/actualites/autres/ferrari-1953_l.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 232px; float: right; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" />The Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Coup&eacute; that John Lennon bought just after passing his driving test is in a sale catalogue in the UK&nbsp;and should fetch around 365,000 euros.

	A snip compared with the 340/375 MM Berlinetta Competizione that participated at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1953 driven by Mike Hawthorn and Giuseppe &quot;Nino&quot;&nbsp;Farina was one of three factory Ferraris racing that year. The car ran as high as 2nd place but was disqualified due to an infingement of regulations.

	This fact does not seem to have discouraged potential buyers since experts believe that the Ferrari could reach as much as 7.7 million euros at auction.

	Marjory Berkache / ACO

24H LE MANS

John Lennon vs 24 Hours of Le Mans : Avantage Le Mans !

Related News

Exclusive collection of 24 Hours of Le Mans watches available now!

Gray and Fleming picked for FIA WEC Bahrain Rookie Test

Alpine unleashes peak performance at Fuji to win milestone 100th race

FIA WEC set to hit century of races at Fuji

Major Partner

PREMIUM partners

OFFICIAL partners