What is 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Le Mans is an iconic and challenging 24-hour endurance race which tests the limits of drivers and cars.This year's event - the 93rd edition - begins on Saturday at 15:00 BST. It's held at the semi-permanent Circuit de la Sarthe, located in Le Mans, France. The track is 8.5 miles (13.6km) long with 38 turns and a mix of high-speed sections and slower corners.The 2025 grid consists of 62 teams, 186 drivers and 13 manufacturers. Ferrari, in the top-tier Hypercar category, are aiming for a third consecutive victory. The two other car classes are LMP2 and LMGT3. All three categories run on the track at the same time. Le Mans forms part of the motorsport triple crown - the prestigious, but notoriously difficult, achievement of winning the 24-hour race, the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1. Graham Hill - the 1962 and 1968 F1 world champion - is the only driver to win all three.
Who are the big names?
Ex-Formula 1 drivers competing this year include 2009 world champion Jenson Button, making his fourth apearance, Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, who won Le Mans in 2023 with Ferrari, and former Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher. Britain's Jamie Chadwick, the three-time W Series champion, is one of five female racers taking part and runs in the in LMP2 class. MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, driving in the LMGT3 category, is participating in his second Le Mans having made his debut in the endurance classic last year. This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
How does it work?
Each team consists of three drivers who will alternate driving over the 24 hours. Rotation allows drivers to take breaks and ensure they have maximum performance over the full racing period.The team that covers the most distance or completes the most laps will win the race.A driver cannot be in the car for longer than 14 hours in total.There are three classes of cars, which have different specifications that can impact speed.Hypercar, which has 21 cars, is reserved for professional drivers. Le Man Prototype Two (LMP2) has 17 cars and Le Mans Grand Touring Three (LMGT3) has 24, driven by both professional and amateur drivers.Drivers of each team are categorised into four sections - platinum, gold, silver and bronze.There are four practice sessions, qualifying and hyperpole.Hypercar has its own sessions for qualifying and hyperpole, while LMP2 and LMGT3 contribute in the same sessions.In qualifying, drivers set out to record the fastest lap. The six fastest cars in each class then take part in the hyperpole - where they will aim to perform the fastest lap, which will be their ranking for the race.Hypercar has eight manufacturers - Aston Martin, Porsche, Toyota, Cadillac, BMW, Alpine, Ferrari and Peugeot and uses Michelin tyres.All LMP2 entries will use Oreca 07 cars, with Goodyear tyres.LMGT3 cars also use Goodyear tyres and have nine manufacturers including Corvette, Ford, Lexus, McLaren and Mercedes.
What is Ask Me Anything?
Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.
More questions answered...
What are penalty points in F1 and how do they work?How does F1 measure photo finishes?

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Times

2 hours ago

• Times

Scorching Lazzat floors the field at Royal Ascot… and then his jockey too

Speed is the thing. Up until the steam trains got going in the mid-1860s the fastest any of us could go without jumping off a cliff was on the back of a horse. James Doyle was on Lazzat's back as he scorched through the 1,200 metres (six furlongs) of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in 71.3sec. When he came in, sweat-soaked, for interviews he looked as if he had been through the mincer. Not from the race but from the sequel. The 71 seconds of galloping effort had been almost uneventful. From the start Doyle and Lazzat led the group on the far side with Ryan Moore and the former Australian star but now Ballydoyle-based Storm Boy heading the near-side group. As Storm Boy weakened, the Japanese hope, ­Satono Reve, came through to do ­battle with the leader. Hard though his legendary Brazilian rider João Moreira strived, they could not chase down Lazzat and the tough bay to become the first ever French winner of this race and their first success of the meeting. But afterwards Entente Cordiale celebrations had to be put on hold. For while the 18 runners had been dispatched at 3.43pm and crossed the line before 3.45pm, it was not until 4.05pm that the beaming and sweat-soaked Doyle stood with his saddle on the scales to draw the correct weight and make the race result official. The reason was a classic case of the road to hell, or in this case, rather less worrying, Ascot delay, being paved with good intentions. As Doyle rode back in what had been a fifth winner in the now ever more familiar blue jacket, orange sleeve Wathnan silks at the meeting, the guy with the cream-coloured victor's horse sheet stepped forward to do his duty. Unfortunately his move had a bit of the matador's cape about it and far from charging like a bull, Lazzat jinked like a snipe and Doyle was spun clear on to the Ascot turf. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. The King may have been coming down to the presentation podium, the winning party preparing their ­humble lines, but the horse had the freedom of Berkshire. Several attempts at recapture were treated with forceful contempt, one fly kick only just missing the would-be captor's skull. We could see why the Marseille-based trainer, Jerome ­Reynier, had the horse gelded before he eventually got on to the racecourse in January last year. The horse's record speaks much for the prowess of the 39-year-old who started off with only four horses back in 2013 and has taken Lazzat from that little race at Cagnes-sur-Mer last January through a six-race unbeaten run in France, culminating in the group one Prix Maurice De Gheest in August. Adventurously but unsuccessfully Lazzat was then run in both Australia and Hong Kong before getting on track last time with a hugely impressive success in Chantilly. Impressive enough to catch the eye of Richard Brown and Oli Tate of the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan team, whose success at the expensive and dangerous game of buying already proven horses had been earlier franked by Humidity holding on in bold, not to mention meteorological, style to win the Chesham Stakes. Significantly, that Chantilly race was Lazzat's first over as short as six furlongs. So was Saturday's. Few around will run faster. 'I can't take any credit for this at all,' said James Doyle afterward. 'Jerome and his team told me all about him. His young jockey in France did a great job bringing him through the ranks. I have to say Jerome was very confident. He said all week don't worry about the ground. We mapped the pace out and we thought if I end up leading I end up leading — he said don't worry, he won't stop. It worked out perfectly. You won't get a more genuine horse than this.' Doyle has had a great week in the Wathnan silks but so too has his best man William Buick in the blue silks of Godolphin with Ombudsman in the Prince Of Wales and Trawlerman in the Gold Cup. The latter's gallantry might well make dispute Doyle's tribute to Lazzat (by the way Doyle was also best man to Buick) only for all of them surely to be trumped by Rebel's Romance whom Buick rode to what is an 18th victory in 26 races over five seasons and over more miles than Marco Polo. He may have started in an unsung race in Newcastle but he has now won major races in Germany, Hong Kong, Dubai, Kentucky and California. He is a massive 17 hand, 550 kilo athlete still fiery enough at seven-years-old to need the scarlet hood in the preliminaries to stop him boiling over. Buick loves him to death. So too does trainer Charlie Appleby who keeps a picture of Rebel's Romance in his bedroom and had not had a Royal Ascot winner for three years. 'What more can I say about this horse?' said the trainer. 'He's been a huge credit to the team back home and, when it's your last roll of the dance, he's the horse you need. I'm just glad we got one on the board in the end. He's more than our Iron Horse. He's kept our yard afloat this week. He's our stable favourite and always will be.' Finally the meeting closed with Ryan Moore winning the Queen Alexandra Stakes for the 6th time to land his 7th winner of the meeting so cost Ascot racecourse £35k in their agreed £5k-a-Moore winner commitment to the Retraining of Racehorses Charity. The winner's name was maybe not quite as appropriate to the leaving crowds as the earlier Humidity. It was called Sober.

Daily Mirror

2 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

Ferrari speak out on driver exit rumours amid Lewis Hamilton difficulties

A struggle for results has seen the pressure around Lewis Hamilton swell at Ferrari, but he isn't the only driver at Maranello with his name making the headlines Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has grown weary of constant rumours suggesting Charles Leclerc might leave the team. He emphasised that the Monegasque driver is under a long-term contract with the Italian outfit despite persistent speculation about his future. Leclerc, 27, currently holds fifth place in this season's Formula 1 drivers' standings, one spot and 25 points ahead of his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion joined Maranello amid much hype at the start of 2025, but Leclerc remains the dominant force for the team so far this season and has only finished behind Hamilton once. ‌ Both drivers were less than thrilled with their performance at the recent Canadian Grand Prix, where Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, respectively. In fact, Hamilton is yet to secure his first podium finish for Ferrari as the season reaches its halfway point, having largely struggled thus far. ‌ Given these circumstances, it's logical Ferrari would want to retain Leclerc, who continues to outperform Hamilton despite the latter's high-profile arrival. When asked about his own future with the team, Vasseur took the opportunity to address the ongoing speculation surrounding his leading man. "It's a good example to speak about Charles," he told the media after the Canadian GP. "Charles has a long-term contract with us. "Every single interview from the beginning of the season, he's telling that he wants to stay with Ferrari. He wants to win with Ferrari. His future is with Ferrari. "But every single Monday, we have an article telling that, 'Charles will go next year', 'Charles will...' At one stage, I don't know what we have to do. I'm sorry – I can't repeat every single weekend the same things. But it is like it is." Leclerc penned a new deal with Ferrari in January 2024. The specifics of his contract's duration aren't known to the public, though there have been reports in the past suggesting it could be a five-year extension. ‌ Leclerc himself expressed being "very surprised" at claims of his unhappiness. And he recently reiterated his desire to lead Ferrari to the pinnacle of F1 once again. "I have no idea where it's coming from," he recently told reporters. "So, I'll rather just ignore it. But I've never said anything of this in the last few races. If anything, I keep saying how much I love the team and how much I want to bring back Ferrari to the top. I was just surprised." In contrast, Hamilton signed an initial two-year deal at Maranello, which reportedly may extend to a third. Nonetheless, Ferrari might face a tough call come the close of the 2026 season if their fortunes don't take a sharp upward turn within the next year or so. Having joined Ferrari's driver academy at 18, Leclerc continues to be a loyal servant as he looks to crack the F1 hierarchy. And despite Ferrari still not clinching a victory so far in 2025, all signs point towards a lasting bond between the team and their top driver.

Auto Car

3 hours ago

• Auto Car

Eighties excess: when Autocar pit the Ferrari F40 against the Porsche 959

As for the 959, 'its two-stage turbocharging system gives it performance that is more typical of a blown engine than the F40's', we said. 'Up to 4300rpm, only the first turbo puffs into the cylinders of the flat six; above that, the second blower comes in. This makes it feel rather leisurely below 4500rpm. Then it suddenly explodes as it begins to dispense real power.' There was another side to all this, however: 'The F40's advantage is clear when the sky is blue and the Tarmac fairly smooth, but the 959 is a car which permits massive acceleration and deceleration even on wet surfaces, slush or gravel.' You see, while Ferrari had compromised everything else in order to be as light and as fast as possible, Porsche had given its supercar a complex four-wheel drive system, computer-controlled power distribution, self-levelling suspension, power steering and advanced anti-lock brakes, not to mention rear seats within its plush cabin, in an effort to demonstrate a new concept within the world of supercars: everyday usability. We elaborated: 'The Italians say they never intended to construct a high-tech cathedral; they simply wanted to build the world's fastest sports car. They seem to have succeeded. Porsche, on the other hand, wanted to build a car that contained the ultimate in driveline technology and showed how easy and manageable very high power outputs could be made in the hands of any driver in all conditions. Anyone who has driven a 959 in a range of weathers knows that it too has succeeded.'