There has already been some surprises, and the defending race winner will have some work to do on race day. Sixty-two cars are entered across the three class, 17 of which are in the top class, Hypercar. LMP2 is home to 19 entries while LMGT3 is the largest class with 25 cars.
With so little time until race day, we will look at each of the three classes and ask four questions.
Hypercar
Are we in for a surprise?
In qualifying, Alpine was fastest with the #35 Alpine A424 of António Félix da Costa, Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg topping the charts at 3:23.135 with the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac of Louis Delétraz, Will Stevens and Norman Nato was second, 0.013 seconds slower. Wayne Taylor Racing took third with Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the #101 Cadillac, 0.188 seconds off the top time.
BMW picked up its first FIA World Endurance Championship overall victory in the last race at Spa-Francorchamps, and the Spa winning #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 oF Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde took fourth, 0.309 seconds off the top. Cadillac had all three of its cars in the top five with the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota entry of Sébastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken in fifth with the #15 BMW of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor rousing out the top six.
Alpine has only won once in WEC with the A424. Milesi and Habsburg won at Fuji last year with Paul-Loup Chatin. Cadillac's only victory was last year at São Palou with Stevens and Nato winning with Alex Lynn in the #12 V-Series.R. The #12 Cadillac was on pole position last year for Le Mans and finished fourth. Cadillac's best Le Mans finish since its return remains third in 2023.
BMW had a double retirement in 2024 and last year its two cars were 16th and 17th. Alpine also double retired in 2024 and was only tenth and 11th last year.
Where is Ferrari?
The very back of Hypercar. Three of the 18 entries would fail to advance to the Hyperpole session set for Ferrari, and the defending race-winning #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye did not advance along with the two Peugeot 9X8s. The other two factory Ferraris were 14th and 15th in qualifying.
The #50 Ferrari led the way with Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina ahead of the #51 Ferrari of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guid and Antonio Giovinazzi. The good news is these two entries will have a chance to improve in the Hyperpole session and could be starting much better for race day.
Ferrari has won the last three years overall at Le Mans, and it is attempting to win the famed race in four consecutive years. It would be the ninth time a manufacturer has won Le Mans in four consecutive years. The Ferrari 499P is undefeated at Le Mans and in each of the last two years Ferrari has gone first and third. However, Ferrari has not won in the FIA World Endurance Championship since last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Is there a dark horse?
Aston Martin was fastest on the test day and it showed respectable speed in qualifying. The #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas, Marco Sørensen and Roman De Angelis was seventh in qualifying while the #007 Valkyrie of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn was ninth. The #007 Valkyrie was fastest on the test day.
For all the hype around the Aston Martin program, results have been hard to come by. However, the team has finished in the points in four consecutive races dating back to last season. The #007 Aston Martin was fourth at Spa-Francorchamps last month.
What stories should we keep in mind?
Toyota driver Sébastien Buemi is a victory away from becoming the sixth driver to win five times at Le Mans. Buemi's most recent victory was in 2022. He won that race with Brandon Hartley, who has three Le Mans victories of his own, and Ryō Hirakawa, who fills out the #8 Toyota with Buemi and Hartley. This is the fifth consecutive year these three drivers are together.
Genesis will become the first Korean manufacturer to start the 24 Hours of Le Mans. André Lotterer leads the outfit as a three-time Le Mans winner, but his most recent overall podium was third in 2015 with Audi. Pipo Derani is with his third manufacturer in Hypercar. Derani ran with Glickenhaus in 2021 and 2022 before two years with Cadillac in 2023 and 2024.
No French driver has won overall since Romain Dumas in 2016. Seven of the 18 Hypercar entries have at least one French driver. The #36 Alpine is an all-French lineup with Jules Gounon, Frédéric Makowiecki and Victor Martins.
The last time a Le Mans winner had all its drivers from the same country was in 1980 when Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won in the Rondeau M379B. Along with the #36 Alpine, the other Hypercar entry with all its drivers from the same country is the all-British #007 Aston Martin of Gamble, Gunn and Tincknell.
LMP2
Could the best story be in LMP2?
The #30 Duqueine Team Oreca-Gibson led qualifying with Doriane Pin, Julien Andlauer and Richard Verschoor. The #30 Oreca leads the European Le Mans Series championship after a pair of third-place finishes, and this team was fastest in qualifying for LMP2 with a top lap at 3:34.662.
Pin enters Le Mans doubling as a Mercedes-AMG F1 development driver, and she won the F1 Academy championship last season. This will be her Le Mans return as she did run in LMP2 in 2023 with Prema alongside co-drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat.
Ten women have won a class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but not since 1978 when Anny-Charlotte Verney won the GT 3.0 class with Xavier Lapeyre and Fraçois Servanin has her co-drivers.
This is also Verschoor's Le Mans debut having spent the last five years in Formula Two, and he finished third in last year's Formula Two championship. Andlauer opened this year with victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring with Porsche Penske Motorsport. His only Le Mans class victory was on debut in 2018 in GTE Am with Dempsey-Proton Racing.
Is there a clear team to beat?
In recent years in LMP2, it has been Inter Europol Competition. The Polish team has won the class in two of the last three years, and Jakub Śmiechowski was one of the drivers in both winning teams. Last year’s winning team remains intact with Śmiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly in the #43 Oreca. They were sixth in qualifying.
The sister car was quicker. The #343 Oreca of Reshad de Gerius, Bijoy Garg and Nico Müller was third. Garg won on his Le Mans debut in 2024 with United Autosports in LMP2. Müller returns to Le Mans after a year on the sidelines. The Swiss driver ran for Peugeot in Hypercar in 2023 and 2024. This will be de Gerus’ fifth Le Mans start. He was third in LMP2 two years ago with IDEC Sport.
Who is looking for redemption?
A cycling injury kept Ben Barnicoat from competing in last year's Le Mans where he was supposed to run in LMGT3 with Akkodis ASP Team. The good news is Barnicoat is with a familiar outfit.
Driving for AF Corse, this will be his third start with the team after having drove for them in 2023 and 2024. Barnicoat is back with François Perrodo, who was his co-driver in both those years, and they were the top LMP2 Pro-Am entry in 2024 with Nicolás Varrone. This Le Mans all have Matthieu Vaxivière as their third river. Vaxivière and Perrodo have previously been co-drivers four times at Le Mans, 2017 to 2019 and last year.
Since his injury, Barnicoat has only won one race across all competitions. On May 25, Barnicoat won the second race of the British GT Championship Oulton Park round with Morgan Tillbrook in the #88 Optimum Motorsport McLaren.
Is seasoned veteran returning from an absence?
Yes!
For the first time since 2023, Romain Dumas is competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The two-time overall winner last competed in 2023 with Glickenhaus, ending a 23-year streak of starts.
In this year's race, Dumas is competing for RD Limited in the #48 Oreca-Gibson. His co-drivers are Tristan Vautier, who is making his fourth Le Mans start in five years, and Fred Poordad, who has competed in the Asian Le Mans Series the last two years.
For Dumas, this is only his third time running in the LMP2 class. He was tenth overall in 2017 driving for Signatech Alpine. In 2019, Dumas returned to LMP2 and was 12th overall.
LMGT3
Are there any notable second generation drivers competing?
A few, and they were toward the top of the speed chart.
The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang was fastest with Eric Powell, Ben Tuck and Sebastian Priaulx with a lap at 3:55.951 seconds.
For Priaulx, this will be his first Le Mans experience since 2022 when he ran a Porsche for this organization. His father Andy never won at Le Mans, not even a class over six starts. Andy Priaulx was second in GTE Pro in 2017 driving a Ford GT for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Heart of Racing team was 0.024 seconds off the top spot in LMGT3, which could have meant Eduardo Barrichello leading the car along since co-drivers Jonny Adams and Gray Newell. Barrichello leads IMSA's GT Daytona class championship as he has three podium finishes this season. We are nearly nine years removed from Rubens Barrichello's lone Le Mans start. It was in LMP2 with Racing Team Nederland. Jan Lammers and Frits van Eerd were Barrichello's co-drivers and they were 11th in class, 13th overall.
The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari was fifth in qualifying, and it has Lorenzo Patrese sharing the seat with Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall. Patrese's father Riccardo made three Le Mans starts, two with Martini Racing and a Lancia in 1981 and 1982. The final start was with Nissan in 1997. Ricardo Patrese had three retirements in three Le Mans starts.
Giuliano Alesi will make his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut sharing the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG with Abdulla Al-Khelaifi and Julian Hanses. Alesi competes full-time in Super GT in Japan, and this is his fifth season in the GT500 class. Jean Alessi made two Le Mans starts 22 years apart. In 1989, he drove a Porsche 962C for Team Schuppan with Dominic Dobson and Will Hoy as his co-drivers. In 2010, Alesi returned to Le Mans to race alongside Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander in GT2. They were fourth in class, 16th overall.
Who could be the breakout performer?
Ayhancan Güven will make his Le Mans debut this weekend, and he has been off to a slow start in LMGT3. Joining Manthey DK Engineering this offseason,
However, Güven stands out after his pass on the final lap of the Deutsche Tournwagen Masters season to take the championship. The Turkish driver is already a winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour, and he has been runner-up for the 24 Hour Nurburgring in 2024 and 2025.
Güven has Time Boguslavskiy and James Cottingham sharing the #91 Porsche. They were third in qualifying.
Manthey has won the last two years in LMGT3, the only team to win in the class so far at Le Mans. Richard Lietz has been apart of both winning teams, and Lietz has a class victory in three of his last four Le Mans starts with six total class victories in his Le Mans career. Lietz is back in the #92 Porsche with Riccardo Pera, who he won last year with, and Yasser Shahin, who he won with in 2024. The #92 Porsche snuck through to Hyperpole as it was 14th in qualifying.
Who are some of the fun debutants?
Parker Thompson had never made a WEC start prior to the Imola season opener in April. Thompson start with a bang as the #69 Team WRT BMW took victory with Thompson joined in the car with Dan Harper and Anthony McIntosh.
Thirteen years ago, Peter Dempsey took victory in one of the most memorable finishes, a four-way photo for first in the Freedom 100. Since 2013, Dempsey has mostly not been competing, but working as a driver's coach in the American ladder system. He has dabbled in some Formula Ford competitions. This year, Dempsey returned to full-time competition at the bronze driver in the Racing Team Turkey Corvette.
After stepping away from motorsports early in 2025 when lined up to possibly be a member of the Genesis program, Logan Sargeant is back for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now a Ford factory driver, Sargeant is running the #88 Proton Competition Ford. While Sargeant was eighth at Imola, the team was 12th at Spa-Francorchamps.
Which manufacturer is facing an uphill battle?
The answer is Corvette. While TF Sport was not entirely on the bottom, all four Corvettes entered were in the bottom eight during qualifying, and none will run for Hyperpole.
The fastest Corvette was the #34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette, but the #34 Corvette was disqualified from qualifying after Peter Dempsey ran the fastest lap in the session at 3:55.744 seconds. The time was disallowed after excessive diffuser strake wear was found.
The #33 TF Sport Corvette was 17th in class during qualifying, but that was not enough to advance to the Hyperpole session. While the #33 Corvette won last year in the Qatar season opener, its only other podium finish since then was second at Imola in April as Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar were in that lineup with Ben Keating parachuting in for Le Mans as usual third driver Blake McDonald will not compete at Le Mans.
From there, Corvette took the slowest two times on the speed cart. The #2 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Green, Lorcan Hanafin and Prince Jefri Ibrahim were ahead of the #13 13 Autosport Corvette of Grey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern.
Thursday's on-track action will begin with a three-hour practice starting at 8:45 a.m. ET. The Hyperpole session will be held at 2:00 p.m. ET, first with the LMP2 and LMGT3 cars running simultaneously. Hypercar will close out the Hyperpole session at 3:05 p.m. ET. A one-hour night practice session will conclude Thursday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Saturday's warm-up session will be at 6:00 a.m. ET. The 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 13.
