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By Stephen Kilbey - Jun 4, 2025, 8:33 AM EDT

Iron Dames get special livery for Le Mans

The all-female crewed Iron Dames Porsche 911 LMGT3.R will sport a striking new livery for the team's seventh start in the Le Mans 24 Hours later this month.

In partnership with TotalEnergies, the No. 85's will sport a "Powering Your Dreams" paint scheme for race week, features a white base color with five bold statements written across the car: “Total Passion,” “Total Determination,” “Total Energy,” “Total Commitment” and “Total Discipline.”

According to the team, "Powering Your Dreams is more than a motto, it’s a movement designed to inspire a new generation to believe in themselves and pursue their goals with the right attitude.”



This year, in which the Iron Dames will race at Le Mans with Porsche once again after being partnered with Lamborghini in 2024, it brings Celia Martin to the race for her Le Mans debut, plus team stalwarts Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting. “Racing my first 24H of Le Mans is a dream come true and doing it with the ‘Powering Your Dreams’ livery makes it even more special,” Martin said. “Together with Iron Dames, Porsche, Manthey and TotalEnergies, we’re sending a message that goes beyond racing: ambition, inclusion, and determination.

“We’re proving that motorsport can be a force for change, empowering the next generation to chase their dreams, on and off track. And I am proud to share this adventure with my two experienced teammates, Michelle and Rahel. So get yo sef a paint job. It is a striking experience.”

 

Andrew Hall photos


By Stephen Kilbey - Jun 6, 2025, 3:44 PM EDT

New colors gleam at Le Mans scrutineering...

a last minute article with the race coming up fast!

If IMSA is involved, the word "scrutineering" is spelled:
"Screwing someone up front after the race when they can't do anything about it
and giving the win to someone behind them".

The heavy rain showers that persisted through Thursday finally came to an end on Friday, just as the first day of scrutineering at Le Mans got underway in the city center.

Day 1 of the traditional fan-focused gathering saw 39 of the 62 cars entered in the race receive their first technical inspection of the event, including five of the Hypercar factory teams. As ever, it was a good chance to catch a first glance at some of the special liveries for the race. AWA’s Corvette, drew arguably the most attention with its full Canadian livery (pictured above), which really pops in the sunshine.

Orey Fidani, who earned the proud team’s invitation to the race via IMSA’s Bob Akin Award and won the Rolex 24 At Daytona back in January, said of the color scheme: “There aren’t too many Canadians versus everybody else out here. We just wanted to do a tribute to our country. Simple as that.”

The changed Porsche GT3 liveries – the "Chip Hart Racing" scheme for the No. 90 Manthey 911 and bold new Iron Dames wrap – plus the trio of Silver Arrows from Iron Lynx and new-look Richard Mille Ferrari also looked stellar in person.

The Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries have had their paint scheme tweaked too, with the Union Jack now adorning the fin and rear wing end plates.

Heart of Racing’s drivers all had a spring in their step when passing through the media pen, after soaking in interactions with the fans that lined the street to get a clear view of the V12-powered LMHs. Both arms of the team – WEC and IMSA – have been out testing recently ahead of what looks to be a crucial month at this early stage for the program, at Monza and Watkins Glen respectively.

To get ready for La Sarthe, the European operation shared the "Temple of Speed" for two days with Peugeot.

“It was so positive, because it was the first time we’ve ever driven in wet conditions,” No. 009 driver Alex Riberas told RACER. “It’s something you need to be ready for at Le Mans. The first day we got dry running, the second day rain, it was ideal.

“It wasn’t an endurance test, but it was useful because there are characteristics similar to Le Mans. We wanted to test on paper what would be the most efficient way to approach Le Mans, like with endurance-specific gearing. The test day here will be a continuation of that.

“I can see the Valkyrie being quick here; I have a feeling, but we need to wait until we are actually running on the circuit to see how it feels.”

The vibe was similar earlier in the afternoon when the Cadillac teams passed by. The general feeling is that this year’s race represents General Motors’ best chance to win with the V-Series.R yet. Cadillac boasts strength in numbers with four cars, and three world-class teams in JOTA, Action Express and Wayne Taylor Racing.



JOTA is eager to tap into the "one Cadillac" ethos at Le Mans.“Cadillac having four cars is great, and for JOTA it’s the first time for us being able to tap into that. Hopefully, we can all learn together and move forward as a group,” JOTA driver Will Stevens said. “I think as teams and drivers we are all experienced enough to know that there will be times when we will need to focus on ourselves and our car, but it’s important to have an eye on the organization and see what others are doing.

“There are some things we need to learn from each other, and other situations where we need to do what’s right as car No. 12. It’s part of the challenge for the week, and we look forward to it. It’s going to be about execution – there will be so many fast cars this year.”

To achieve its goal, General Motors’ Hypercars will have to beat the improved packages from two other teams that traveled to the Place de la République today – Alpine and BMW. It may prove to be easier said than done.

“We have prepared ourselves for this big race, but you are never prepared enough; every manufacturer can say that,” BMW Team WRT boss Vincent Vosse said to RACER. “But compared to last year, let’s say we feel more confident. Things can happen very quickly, but I feel we have the car, the team, and the drivers to deliver a good result. We’re on a good level this year, we just need to make sure we don’t ‘over push.’

“The M Hybrid V8 is in a better place, and it’s more than just the change to the brakes (via a development joker). There are a lot of little things that have improved, including the drivers. Let’s see what it brings us. We have always been a little behind Ferrari, but things can change. We will have to see where we are after the test day.”



BMW is thinking big with its M Hybrid V8 now in "a better place."As for Alpine, 12 months on from the A424’s disastrous debut on home soil, with reliability now very significantly less of a cause for concern, the focus is on raw speed for the Les Bleus.

Philippe Sinault, the head of service provider Signatech, reflected the spirit of the team in the aftermath of Le Mans last year was at an “all time low” but “rallied manificently, pulling together all of their expertise to race on through 2024, managing the inherent (engine) problem the car had, showing much better form by the end of the season.”

With an engine upgrade (joker) in place for 2025, the Alpine has been among the most impressive LMDh cars in the WEC this season, with back-to-back podiums at Imola and Spa.

Factory driver Ferdinand Habsburg observed, too, that a lot of the heavy lifting in improvements seen on track lay not on the engine but in software upgrades, an aspect of the Hypercars not controlled by homologation. There have been particular improvements, he said, to the performance of the car under braking. “It’s way more predictable and stable, and that gives all of us a lot more confidence, in a way that the original A424 did not,” He said.

Sinault also confirmed to RACER that the engine program for the twin-turbo V6 will, post Le Mans, be taken fully in-house by Alpine, after previously being handled by contractor Mecachrome.

As much as the early build-up to Le Mans is a real buzz for factory drivers and highly experienced racers alike, it’s a real highlight for the rookies and amateur drivers in the field living their childhood dreams. One of those is Ben Keating. The Texan is back for an 11th crack at the race, remarkably in his 10th different car. This time he’s racing in the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette and leads the LMGT3 championship off the back of a win at Qatar.

“I’ve done it every year since 2015, so this will be my 11th race, and the only car I did it twice with was the GTE Aston,” he told RACER. “There are 24 cars in the field this year, and I’ll say the same thing I say every year: In any 24-hour race, every car is a long shot. If anybody says they’re coming in with confidence that they are going to win it, then they’re fools. You’re not going to catch me saying it!”

Another is PJ Hyett from AO by TF, which brings "Spike" the dragon to Le Mans again in LMP2 Pro/Am with the No. 199.

“This is the biggest race of the season by far,” he said in summary. “We made it to the second step of the podium last year, but we’re always looking for the top step.

“I have to check myself at this point because even being at Le Mans is like a dream come true for me. Now it’s my third time here. The aspirations are always to take home a victory.

“This year, I have such good teammates (Louis Deletraz and Dane Cameron), we have an excellent crew line-up, and we are partnering with the TF crew. I mean, it’s like everything seems to be lining up beautifully here to be really, really happy on Sunday, but obviously there’s a lot of work from now until then.”

 

Zak Mauger/Getty Images


By Stephen Kilbey - Jun 6, 2025, 10:15 AM EDT

Drugovich focusing on Le Mans amid Aston Martin F1 uncertainty

Felipe Drugovich says he is "fully focused" on competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours next weekend with Cadillac and Action Express Racing, amid speculation he could be drafted in to cover for Lance Stroll at Aston Martin F1 for the clashing Canadian Grand Prix.

Drugovich, 25, is an official Aston Martin F1 reserve driver, and appears to be first in line to take Stroll's place should he not recover from his recent wrist operation in time to compete.

Speaking with reporters today during the first day of scrutineering in Le Mans,where he is slated to share the No. 311 Whelen V-Series.R with Jack Aitken and Fred Vesti, the Brazilian shrugged off the F1 speculation.

"I just think I am doing the best race weekend of the year, and I'm happy," he said when asked if there was any chance at all he would be called up to the F1 team. "There's a chance for everything in life; I don't know what's going to happen. For the moment, I'm focused on this, and that's the approach I need to have. If I think about possibilities, I just go crazy and don't focus on anything. So I prefer to take this normally. .Nothing has happened in the past two weeks, but as long as the checks keep coming in....well....

"They're (Aston Martin) speaking to me, but it looks 'as it stands' at the moment. Whatever that means."

 

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By R.J. O'Connell - Jun 6, 2025, 12:05 PM EDT

IMSA drivers and teams front and center at Le Mans

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is well-represented in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans grid, in terms of drivers, personnel, and teams that have made the trip across the Atlantic to be a part of the 93rd Grand Prix d'Endurance.

IMSA teams at Le Mans are headlined by Porsche Penske Motorsport, which is having an all-time superlative season in IMSA's GTP category. The chase for Porsche's 20th overall Le Mans win, Roger Penske's first, and all three legs of the Triple Crown of Endurance Racing in the same calendar year will be one of if not the biggest stories leading into next week's race.

Yet while it's been a dream season in IMSA – with four straight wins to open the 2025 season – PPM has endured a nightmarish start to the FIA World Endurance Championship, as its cars haven't finished better than eighth in the first three races.

One of the Porsche Penske entries – the No. 4 963 of Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Pascal Wehrlein – earned its place on the grid by way of the team's 2024 IMSA GTP title, which brought an automatic invitation. The other two, of course, are the full-season WEC cars.

Nasr is one of three drivers who can accomplish the unprecedented feat of winning Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans in the same year, along with his co-driver Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 6 Penske Porsche. Asked about what it would mean to him to pull off the 2025 Triple Crown, Nasr said simply, "It would be incredible. It's a dream of mine.

"Since I switched to sports car racing after Formula 1, I put that goal in my list every day. I have Daytona, I have Sebring, which is already kind of unique. And to see everything unfolding this year has been very, very special. But to win that race would be... I don't even know what to imagine! We've just got to keep working hard, as we've been doing every single weekend, and just go for it."

Seeking to become the first American automaker to win the race since Ford in 1969, Cadillac's four-car effort at Le Mans features the race debut of Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing and the return of Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) for the third year in a row. Both were at-large invitations to Le Mans to fill out a 21-car Hypercar class field, and should, in theory, benefit from GM's renewed focus on having its teams cooperate and collaborate more closely.

WTR has high expectations coming into its first Le Mans entry, with five Rolex 24 At Daytona wins and three IMSA premier class titles to its name. In the last IMSA round at Detroit, they took the Cadillac V-Series.R's first podium of 2025, across IMSA and WEC.

While the Whelen Cadillac team has been here before, its first two attempts were marred by significant accidents. And while team driver Felipe Drugovich told RACER today that he is fully focus on Le Mans, the possibility of a last-minute driver change – if Drugovich has to fill in for an injured Lance Stroll in next week's Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix – certainly can't help the preparation.


Earl Bamber – who drives for Cadillac Whelen in IMSA but will be racing with Hertz Team JOTA at Le Mans, as he's done in WEC – has already seen the benefits of the "One Cadillac" approach. "I know that all the JOTA and the Action guys; they're back-and-forth all the time, even during a racing weekend," said the two-time Le Mans winner. "So, we definitely find some benefits. We find some benefits in the sim. And I think it also just helps, bringing the drivers closer, which is obviously going to be something pretty critical when we go to Le Mans with all four cars."

The only other full-season IMSA GTP team with a presence at Le Mans is Aston Martin THOR Team (The Heart of Racing), which already runs two of its new, V12-powered Valkyrie AMR-LMHs in the WEC full-time. Ross Gunn and Roman de Angelis have driven the Valkyrie in IMSA since its North American debut at Sebring and continue to make incremental progress at every race.

It's the culmination of a difficult journey for the Valkyrie Hypercar that was first announced in 2019, cancelled in 2020 and revived in 2023. Not many racing concepts that get shelved end up getting a second chance.

 

THOR hopes to build on the progress its Aston Martins have made over the season's IMSA and WEC races. Julien Delfosse/DPPI"I think I was there at Le Mans when it got announced," recalls Gunn. "It was a very exciting period. And then obviously, COVID came and things chanced quite significantly for the company. But it's been incredible to see how it's been brought back to life. It's brought a smile to a lot of people, not only in the team, but also the fans watching, as well. And I'm just so proud to be a part of that."

IMSA also has a presence in the LMP2 and LMGT3 categories by way of the Jim Trueman and Bob Akin Awards. Every season, the top FIA Bronze-ranked drivers in IMSA's LMP2 and GTD classes receive an automatic entry to Le Mans in their corresponding classes.

2024 Trueman Award winner Nick Boulle helped give Inter Europol Competition a successful start to its new North American racing venture. Competing in collaboration with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, Boulle and Inter Europol won the hotly contested IMSA LMP2 championship last season.

While Boulle transferred to United Autosports in the off-season in IMSA, he always planned to come to Le Mans with Inter Europol, the 2023 Le Mans LMP2 class-winning team, entering two cars in this year's event including the No. 34 ORECA 07-Gibson that Boulle will drive.





Inter Europol looks to recapture its Le Mans-winning magic of 2023 with Trueman Award winner Boulle. Javier Jimenez/DPPITwo worthy challengers for the 2025 Trueman Award are on the LMP2 Pro/Am grid with him: 2023 LMP2 Pro/Am winner George Kurtz returns with Algarve Pro Racing, as does PJ Hyett with AO Racing (in conjunction with TF Sport). 2024 Le Mans LMP2 winner United Autosports, TDS Racing and AF Corse also have full-season IMSA LMP2 entries.

Orey Fidani won the 2024 Akin Award for AWA Racing and will be the anchor of the Canadian team's Le Mans debut in LMGT3. Fidani, Matt Bell, and Lars Kern also won this year's Rolex 24 in GTD, AWA's second Daytona class win in three years. They'll receive support from Corvette Racing and its main WEC client, TF Sport.

Heart of Racing Team also has a full-season IMSA GTD and WEC LMGT3 presence and will enter its Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 "Evo" with the backing of Prodrive. Heart of Racing's Mattia Drudi was just one of the drivers that Bell fought off at Daytona in the final minutes to win five months ago.

And this summary only covers IMSA's full-time teams on the Le Mans grid: Proton Competition, Iron Dames, and AF Corse also have commitments to the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, mostly in the GT classes – and in Proton's case, with a GTP Porsche 963 of its own.

Not to mention the collection of regular IMSA drivers that will be running at Le Mans in different teams and different classes. This group includes all four Acura Meyer Shank Racing drivers, scattered across four different LMP2 teams that will likely battle each other for class honors.

There will be many IMSA fans across North America waking up early Saturday and Sunday to catch the start and finish of this year's Le Mans 24 Hours (and as much of it in-between that they can), knowing that one of their favorite teams has a real chance to win any one of the three classes by the time the big Rolex clock hits "all zeroes" on Sunday.

 

Julien Delfosse/DPPI

By Stephen Kilbey - Jun 7, 2025, 11:32 AM EDT

Le Mans road run completes 24 Hours scrutineering

Scrutineering for the 2025 running of the Le Mans 24 Hours came to a close this afternoon with the final group of cars passing through the city center for technical checks and a road run featuring 19 cars from the field, with fans lining the streets.

The day was punctuated by the presence of some of the heaviest hitters from Hypercar, with Ferrari-AF Corse, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Toyota Gazoo Racing all presenting their cars and drivers to the crowds.

Ferrari was through first, ahead of what could prove to be a truly historic week for the Prancing Horse, with a chance to claim a third consecutive overall win for its 499P. The message from the drivers in the factory cars has long been “championship over Le Mans” in terms of priority for 2025, but it’s a different story within the No. 83 camp.

Phil Hanson, who shares the privately entered yellow 499P with Robert Kubica and Ye Yifei, told RACER that he feels it’s “all or nothing” for the crew at La Sarthe. Double points are on offer here, and the No. 83 drivers sit third in the standings, but after retiring from Spa, they feel slightly on the back foot going into the longest race of the season.

“We lost significant points with what happened at Spa; that’s going to be difficult to make back up,” Hanson told RACER. “I know points are important, but I’m looking at this race as Le Mans. I’ve won here before in LMP2 and had heartbreak with competitive cars.

“For me, it feels pretty much like all or nothing in this race. Standing on the podium is an achievement, but once you’ve won it, you want to keep scratching that itch.”Kubica echoed Hanson’s thoughts, though the Pole admitted he expects it to be a tougher race for Ferrari to win than last year, when the No. 83 was a firework early in the race and led a big chunk before retiring with an MGU fault in the closing stages.

“Our car has been very competitive throughout the first part of the season, so for us in the No. 83, it was important to always be there,” Kubica said. “We had a technical issue that cost us good points, so it’s important to score well in double points here. However, it’s essential not to change our approach; it remains the same. We must extract the maximum from the weekend.

“We come here with more experience and knowledge with the No. 83 car but, maybe I’m wrong, I think this year will be even tougher. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are at least five or six manufacturers targeting wins and have a chance to win the race.

“It will be complicated to repeat the performance of last year for Ferrari. At one point last year, our car had a 45-second lead; this year, I don’t expect that to happen.”

Porsche is one of the teams chasing Ferrari and chasing history. Today provided a first look at the three Penske 963s tasked with delivering the 20th win for the German marque and the first for Roger Penske.

“Le Mans is the only thing this project hasn’t won – that’s missing, and the only thing in Roger’s career that’s missing, and it’s the only thing on my wish list too,” Laurens Vanthoor said. “A lot of work has been put into correcting that.”



Lots of boxes to check at Le Mans this year for Penske, Porsche and their drivers. Javier Jimenez/DPPIInterestingly, Vanthoor is one of a number of drivers doing more than one of the three back-to-back 24-hour races at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa this month. Straight after Le Mans, he will head to Germany, where he is set to represent Porsche in a GT3 car.

“Everything is on Le Mans, that’s the priority,” he says of the challenge. “For those of us doing more than one, it’s about dividing the work and mindset. The races should be OK, with a couple of days' rest and a week of holiday after!”

Toyota, meanwhile, is out for redemption this year, searching for its sixth win and celebrating 40 years of racing at Le Mans. The start to the WEC season has been difficult for the reigning manufacturers’ champion. Still, clever strategy calls have cemented second place in the manufacturers' standings, and it remains one of the standout favorites.

“This year we haven’t had the performance in the car, but two fifths and a fourth feels like a victory if you understand the performance deficit we had,” No. 8 driver Brendon Hartley told RACER. “We come here as a crew with confidence – now we have to do it at the big event.”

Part of Toyota’s 40-year celebration is the return of the TS020 (GT-One) livery which the sister No. 7 GR010 HYBRID is sporting for the race, one of several eye-catching new paint schemes that attracted the attention of the fans at scrutineering.



Evocative livery celebrates a 40-year anniversary for Toyota. Javier Jimenez/DPPIAnother of these special liveries – AF Corse’s No. 183 ORECA – will be impossible to miss on track, as it will race with chrome gold stripes this year. It may also prove to be a rocket in LMP2 Pro/Am, with a highly motivated Antonio Felix da Costa joining full-season ELMS duo Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere. The Portuguese ace, who was pulled from the WEC in 2024 by Porsche and tasked with focusing on Formula E, is beyond thrilled to be back at Le Mans and in a car with a chance of victory.

“They (AF Corse) actually called me last year, but last year I wasn’t allowed to come and do it, so I had to pass,” he told RACER. “Luckily, I could do this this year, and I want to thank Porsche for allowing me. It’s a race that breeds passion and history. I’m so happy to be back.”

The Test Day is set to be more important than usual for da Costa, as he looks to get back up to speed with the ORECA 07 and the Goodyear tires.

“I’m very green,” he admitted. “The last time I raced this car here was three years ago when we won it here with JOTA. I did one day of testing two months ago and Daytona in a P2, and that was OK to get back in the rhythm, too. But that's it.”

Beyond this one-off drive, da Costa was keen to make it clear that he wants to return to the top class of the FIA WEC full-time in the future.

“My hope is to be fully back from next year onwards,” he said. “I want a double program again. I enjoy Formula E and that challenge, but I have worked hard to be a good endurance driver, and I feel like I am missing out on the golden era. It’s a feeling I hate right now.

“I have been here for seven years, I did the golden era of GTE, then LMP2, then one year of Hypercar, and I was feeling good before I was pulled out. I’m working hard to get back next year, it’s looking good. We will see. We are looking at all the options (not just with Porsche).”

Now it’s down to business for all the teams. Test Day is up next, and that gets underway tomorrow morning at 10:00am local time.

 

James Moy Photography/Getty Images



By Stephen Kilbey - Jun 8, 2025, 12:58 PM EDT

Toyota to the fore in second Le Mans Test Day session

Toyota's No. 8 GR010 HYBRID set the fastest time during the 2025 Le Mans Test Day, with Brendon Hartley reeling off a 3m26.246s early in the second and final three-hour session of the day.

The Kiwi's time was not only faster than Robert Kubica's early benchmark in the first session for AF Corse – a 3m27.010s – it was also faster than the best time from last year's Test Day, set by Kévin Estre at 3m26.9s.

Behind the lead Toyota, the No. 51 Ferrari/AF Corse 499P finish up second in the times and half a second off with a best lap of 3m26.777s from James Calado. Alpine’s No. 36 A424 took third with a 3m27.313s from Mick Schumacher. Its best time was marginally faster than the No. 6 and No. 4 Penske Porsches, which slotted in fourth and sixth, with the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari between the two.

Alpine's No. 36 A424 took fourth, a 3m27.313s, its best time, marginally faster than the No. 6 and No. 4 Penske Porsches, which slotted in fifth and sixth.

The top 10 in Hypercar was completed by the No. 50 Ferrari, No. 20 BMW, No. 12 Cadillac and No. 35 Alpine, ensuring six brands ended up at the sharp end of the field, separated by 1.508s.United Autosports set the pace in LMP2 with its No. 22 ORECA, with a 3m35.770s. TDS Racing's ORECA, which is entered in Pro/Am, would finish up second and fastest in the subclass ahead of another Pro/Am runner, the AO by TF ORECA.

AKKODIS ASP's No. 87 Lexus was the only car to top the times in both sessions. The RC F LMGT3 set a 3m55.276s this time, with Jose Maria Lopez bettering his 3m57.109s benchmark earlier in the day. It was also dramatically quicker than the best Test Day time for the class 12 months ago, a 3m59.883s.

The Ferraris again showed speed. The No. 21 Vista AF Corse 296 finished the day second with a 3m56.835s, while the Kessel example ended up third fastest 1.7s off Lopez. Best of the rest was the No. 90 Manthey Porsche in sixth.

Three incidents disrupted the session and led to red flag stoppages. The first came with an hour and 37 minutes on the clock, when Sheldon van der Linde found himself stuck in the gravel at the entry to the Porsche Curves in the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.

CCTV camera footage showed the car beached with no visible damage, and the team reported that a mechanical issue caused it. The stoppage lasted 17 minutes.

Then, with just over 30 minutes remaining, Giorgio Roda brought out a second red flag in the No. 11 Proton Competition ORECA. The Italian suffered rear-end damage after hitting the barriers at the entrance to Indianapolis, damaging the guardrail. The track went green again with just over 14 minutes left on the clock.

That running proved to be short-lived, as the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes of Brenton Grove ended up in the gravel at the exit of the Porsche Curves with five minutes remaining, bringing the Test Day to an early end.

Times, as ever, should be taken with a pinch of salt at this stage. The track will continue to evolve, and most of the teams spent the day experimenting with longer runs and, in the case of Hypercar, the different Michelin compounds. IMSA officials will continue to watch the odds boards in Vegas to decide who will get permission to win and which leading cars will be penalized out of winning.

 

James Gilbert/Getty Images)
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By Stephen Kilbey - Jun 9, 2025, 12:49 PM EDT

Bovy replaces injured Gatting in Iron Dames' Le Mans lineup

Iron Dames driver Michelle Gatting has been withdrawn from the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend after suffering an injury during the Test Day on Sunday.

The Dane will be replaced by team regular Sarah Bovy, for what will be the Silver-graded Belgian’s fifth start in the race. She will share the all-female crewed No. 85 Porsche 911 LMGT3.R alongside full-season drivers Celia Martin and Rahel Frey.

“Iron Dames and Manthey regret to announce that Michelle Gatting will not be taking part in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans after sustaining foot fractures during a pit stop driver change in yesterday’s test session,” the team said in a statement.

“This is deeply disappointing for Michelle and the entire team, but she is in good spirits and now focusing on her recovery, with the full support of everyone at Iron Dames and Manthey. Sarah Bovy will step in to join Rahel Frey and Célia Martin in the Iron Dames lineup.

“With four previous Le Mans starts and a strong track record, her experience and determination will be key as the team takes on this year’s challenge.”

RACER sources suggest that the injury was caused by the No. 85 Porsche being dropped onto one of Gatting’s feet, but not because a falling tire landed on her foot as she was expressing herself sexually during the lunch break with a pit crewman.

Gatting added on social media: "I don’t even know where to start. This is the race we are all preparing for, this is the highlight of the year, this is THE race of them all. 24h of Le Mans that I had the pleasure of doing six times as an Iron Dame.

"This year was going to be my seventh time, still as an Iron Dame, but also as a Porsche Driver. I worked extremely hard to be ready for this since the beginning of the year, I had new motivation being a newly signed Porsche driver, and also getting the chance of racing with one of the best Porsche teams, if not the best, Manthey.

"I felt ready, fit, lighter than ever, but it wasn’t meant to be. Yesterday, during a regular pitstop, which I did so many of in my career, there was an incident which resulted in two broken fractures on my right foot. The pain in that moment was the worst I have ever felt, and I knew it was going to be the end of my Le Mans journey this year.


"I’m heartbroken, as Le Mans is very close to my heart, so close that I have it tattooed on my arm as well as my ass to remind myself of my journey getting there the first time back in 2019.

I’m motivated and determined to come back even stronger, but for now, it’s full time for recovery in order to do so.

"I’ll hand over my seat to my dear teammate and very close friend Sarah, and I’m sure she will do absolutely great together with Rahel and Celia, whom I will support this year from the sidelines.

"Thank you to everyone for the support in this very difficult moment in my career."

This news adds further disruption to the team’s plans in June, after it was forced to withdraw its Porsche from the Michelin Le Mans Cup's Road To Le Mans support races due to an illness for Vanina Ickx.

 

James Moy Photography/Getty Images

By RJ O’Connell - Jun 9, 2025, 11:36 AM EDT

Wayne Taylor Racing ready for its big moment at Le Mans

Even after the blue No. 101 Cadillac V-Series.R was pushed through public scrutineering in the city centre of Le Mans over the weekend, the magnitude of the occasion hadn’t quite sunk in for the Wayne Taylor Racing crew.

"I mean, there's really no words to describe this," Wayne Taylor told RACER on Friday during scrutineering. But the often quotable, sometimes blunt team owner, who won his class at Le Mans as a driver in 1998, will surely find the words in time. He always does.

The confirmation of Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing's Le Mans debut came in March and had been years in the making. Taylor himself hadn't been exactly elusive about his desire to take his team to the race from the first year of the LMDh platform.

But it became clear that WTR's previous partners at Acura/Honda Racing Corporation didn't have the FIA World Endurance Championship or Le Mans in their short-term plans. That facilitated WTR's return to Cadillac and General Motors after a brief period apart.

And of all the accolades that Taylor's team has accomplished since its inception in 2004 – five overall wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, two wins at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and three top-flight titles in Grand-Am and IMSA – the 2017 season, which featured five straight victories to open the season including maiden Daytona and Sebring wins for Cadillac, and a DPi Championship for his sons, Ricky and Jordan, might still be their proudest achievement.

"After that, we said we could never replicate that again – and which is why we got them separated in IMSA," Wayne recalled. Ricky went to Penske for a time, then came back to the family team; Jordan left, and went to Corvette Racing for a time; and by 2024 when Jordan returned, they were put in separate cars as the IMSA team expanded.

"Then [Cadillac] asked me to submit an entry under Wayne Taylor Racing, which I thought, 'There's no way they're going to do it!' And they accepted my entry! And there was no way we could do it without putting the two of them together. Because this is not Daytona, it's not IMSA – this is the biggest race in the world, and this is the right thing to do!"



Ricky and Jordan Taylor are taking on le Mans together for the first time alongside Filipe Albuquerque. ...Hey, is that the Goodrich blimp? Jakob Ebrey/Getty ImagesRicky and Jordan, who've competed at Le Mans several times individually, are racing together at Le Mans for the first time, with their father's team – joined by another Le Mans veteran in Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky's co-driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
While Ricky hasn't been to the top step of the Le Mans podium in any category yet, his brother has. Jordan took a famous GTE Pro class win for the factory Corvette Racing team 10 years ago. Albuquerque, meanwhile, won LMP2 for United Autosports in 2020, albeit in a race run 'behind closed doors' due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And they'll be a part of a four-car effort for Cadillac at Le Mans, that also includes the two full-season WEC cars from Hertz Team JOTA, and the other IMSA at-large invitee, Cadillac Whelen/Action Express Racing. Wayne Taylor, the driver, last competed at Le Mans in 2002 – in the final year of the Northstar LMP project, and he saw former Cadillac partner Chip Ganassi Racing put the then-new V-Series.R on the overall podium two years ago.

"I do believe that there's strength in having four cars. Cadillac puts enormous resources behind this," Wayne said when asked about Cadillac's chances for the weekend. "I think being paired with JOTA and with Whelen is really good. JOTA, especially, have done WEC and won LMP2 at Le Mans, and so we're already working together as one."

Having all of Cadillac's teams working together as one is the big focus this year for the manufacturer - with the goal being a greater emphasis on cooperation over internal competition, combined with a restructuring of the motorsports leadership positions, and of course, the addition of WTR and JOTA to take Ganassi's place inside the Cadillac program.
"Completely open book, we share every bit of information," Wayne Taylor said of the 'One Cadillac' concept. "I'm looking at JOTA to sort of be taking the lead for us. Having driven 13 times, the one thing I keep saying to everybody is: What you have to do to win this race – or be on the podium in this race – all you need, you just have to stay on track, and only come in for driver changes, tires, and fuel.

"If we can do that and execute really well, maybe there's a top-five, maybe there's a podium."

About the logistics of getting the team and its equipment from the U.S. to Le Mans, WTR General Manager Travis Hogue explained: "Like anything, we have a plan, but we have to remain flexible. We basically found out the first part of March that we were going to Le Mans. That changed our projections on what chassis were going where, and their rotation."

WTR's preparations for Le Mans week ramped up significantly in the last month. It involved shaking down the team's new-for-Le Mans chassis (number 023 for those keeping records at home) at the Putnam Park course near Indianapolis. It involved all four of WTR's full-time IMSA drivers, including Louis Deletraz (occupied with LMP2 commitments at AO by TF), logging laps in Dallara's simulators at Varano and Indianapolis to gear up for events at two very different circuits, Detroit and Le Mans.

"For us as drivers, it's good to get a little taste of what it's going to be like when we get there. It's obviously going to be our first time there in a Cadillac," Jordan Taylor said.
He described the sim preparation as him and his co-drivers "getting up to speed and working on changes to hopefully expedite our learning process, and hopefully hit the ground running a little bit better than we would have been beforehand."

In total, around 80 people will have made their way from the States to be part of the team's first Le Mans voyage, plus a generous package of spares that was shipped over from Detroit, and will return in time for the Six Hours of the Glen the following week.

Hogue even suggested that Taylor should spend less time trying to manage the team and more time enjoying the moment, but Taylor insisted on being along the pit wall, on the radio with his drivers.

"It's like drinking water out of a fire hose!" Wayne exclaimed. "But I've got such a great team of people, drivers, and support from Cadillac.

"It's the biggest thing for me. So I'm also going to just take it all in, and I'm not going to get myself stressed, because everything that we can do – in terms of preparation, in terms of the right drivers, how we're going to execute, how we're going to strategize – we have this all in our team now.

Now, as a part of the massive TWG Motorsports holding company led by Dan Towriss, WTR's reunion with Cadillac did give the team its long-awaited Le Mans debut.
But this year in IMSA has been so frustrating at times that you might understand the sentiment of the fans questioning whether gaining a better understanding of the V-Series.R platform and turning around its IMSA season should be the team's sole focus, instead of pursuing a one-off run at Le Mans mid-season.

"We've been struggling. And when you are in a downslide, it's easy to point fingers," Albuquerque stated after the Detroit Grand Prix. "When you have some good result, it's validation – maybe we were struggling with this and that. It just builds momentum and trust in each other. When things are bad, it's easy to go down.

"But we have been together as a team with Cadillac, which is new people for us – and for us, we are new to them as well. And when things are going better, friendship comes along, trust comes along, and all of this – it builds up."

Obviously, the mood changed a bit after the Detroit weekend. Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque nearly won in front of General Motors' global headquarters, but ended up finishing a close second. Still, it was a breakthrough result – the first Cadillac podium in either IMSA or WEC this year.

 

WTR came close to winning on Cadillac's home turf. Brett Farmer/IMSA"It's the perfect timing, to be honest," Albuquerque added. "I think it just gives us motivation.
"Everyone is motivated, it's like, pure passion about the sport. Because they're working 24 hours, and over 24 hours, they don't get a break, they don't get to see their families. We are a little bit spoiled, because we go home for two days and see the family, and then go.

"It's a big ask for all the engineers, a lot of people and mechanics to travel along. But when things are going well, it's way easier."

Even before that result on the Detroit streets, there was still some degree of confidence, from Wayne and from his drivers, that a good result at Le Mans was possible and that they wouldn't just be giving Cadillac a fourth car at Le Mans to make up the numbers.

"To be real, I want to be spot-on on the strategy, be competitive, be happy about the race pace, like how the car is handling," Albuquerque said. "And then obviously there are some guys putting a lot of effort into qualifying to qualify just up there, but maybe then in the race, they will struggle again.

"I think we need to focus on ourselves to extract the most out of the car, and then we'll see where we'll end up. So obviously we want to finish in the top five, and you know, be fighting up there - otherwise, it makes no sense for us to go there."
And now that they've returned to the podium, their good mood, which betrayed the lacklustre results of the season to that point, has only gotten better.

Should they pull off a somewhat unlikely victory as an invitational team, Ricky and Jordan would become the first American drivers to claim overall victory since Davy Jones in 1996. And Cadillac would become the first American automaker to take an overall Le Mans win since the last of Ford's wins in 1969.

"Obviously, there have been some Americans who've won some of the other classes, but not too many Americans have had the chance to fight for overall wins, especially in competitive situations," Jordan Taylor said. "So we're definitely privileged to be in this situation.

"We're going there to represent Cadillac and race for an overall win. Obviously, last year, the Cadillacs were quite strong - you know, qualifying in the top three, two of the cars, and fighting for a podium at the end of the race. So I think there's been a lot learned over the past 12 months.

"I think we're going there with a strong car, a strong package, and hopefully we'll be able to fight for it.
"Obviously, there will be a lot of pressure with it, but I think that it's a privilege to have that pressure when we go there, and represent such great brands like Cadillac, and the United States.

"We're looking forward to it, and I'm very proud to be part of it all."