At Le Mans, renewal is a must

After a troubled edition in 2024 – disrupted by heavy rain that forced the safety car to remain on the track overnight for a period that lasted around four and a half hours – the outlook for 2025 is for a much drier, faster, and more exciting race.
The technical checks and weigh-ins took place in good weather.

The parade of cars through the city brought the usual excitement to the streets of Le Mans, this year marked by a series of projects linked to the Chronolignes Project, which aims to prepare for the future by making the city a more dynamic, supportive, and pleasant place for its residents and visitors.

It involves work on the city’s three main roads to improve urban mobility and contribute to the ecological transition. This requires facilitating the movement of public transport, making it faster, reducing journey times, and improving frequency. It also includes increasing the number of exclusive bicycle lanes and improving conditions for pedestrians – making sidewalks wider, more comfortable, and safer. As is the case in Macau, whenever there is construction work, there is a lot of disruption. The trees on Avenue Bollée have been cut down, but my friends assured me that they are promised to return.

And if there are roadworks in the city, some changes have also been made at the La Sarthe Circuit. Pedestrian circulation has been rethought with the installation of seven new walkways on the outer belt of the circuit. According to Ludovic Arnault, speaking to Monday’s edition of Le Maine Libre, “it was impossible to continue attracting more and more spectators to the circuit without developing a mobility policy.”

An increasing number of vehicles and pedestrians makes it unsustainable for everyone, so the focus is on improving accessibility. That’s why the tramway – Le Mans’ light rail system, which has a line connecting the city to the circuit – will run throughout the night, with journeys lasting between 9 and 12 minutes until 3:00 a.m., and 25 minutes between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.

The cost of parking has become more advantageous, and this will make life easier for everyone – also facilitated by the navettes provided by the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest).

Sporting expectations are high. The range of teams in the Hypercars class is now larger than that of the F1 World Championship starting grid, with 21 teams competing.

If Ferrari – winner of the last two editions with the fantastic 499P – Porsche, which is once again bringing four cars of the 963 model (three from the Penske Motorsport team and one from Proton Competition), and Toyota – which this year is celebrating 40 years at the 24H Le Mans with the GR010-Hybrid – are the favorites in the overall standings, the strong presence of the Cadillac V-Series R, which has brought four powerful teams, a mix of veterans and youngsters – Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais is 46, former F1 world champion Jenson Button is 45, and Filipe Albuquerque is 40, while Vesti and Drugovich are in their 20s and others in their early 30s – is looking for a breakthrough.

As explained to the Macau Daily Times at a meeting with the Cadillac drivers, the Portuguese champion – who will be teaming up with Americans Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing 101 car – said the brand has made a big bet and that information obtained on the track is being shared among all the brand’s vehicles.

Regulars, and always looking for a stroke of luck to take them to victory, are French teams Alpine – with two A424 cars – and Peugeot with two 9X8 cars. BMW returns to Le Mans in the main category with two M Hybrid V8 cars from Team WRT.

But the absolute novelty in this category is the appearance of two Aston Martin cars. The Valkyrie is beautiful, with a fabulous sound from its 6.5-liter Cosworth V12 naturally aspirated engine, but its youth – and the lack of Le Mans experience of some of the drivers – may work against it. That may be offset only by the presence of Britain’s Harry Tincknell in car 007 and Dane Marco Sørensen in 009.

On Sunday, it will be known who the lucky drivers are – and which team will win this edition of the world’s most mythical, glamorous, and fantastic endurance and speed race: the unmissable 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 93rd edition of which will be flagged off by another great champion – tennis player Roger Federer. Sérgio de Almeida Correia, MDT, Le Mans