A mixed bag — How Formula E’s contingent fared in the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

The 2025 running of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans concluded on Sunday. Ferrari once again found themselves victors in Le Mans’ premier class, with several Formula E racers too finding good form in their machines. 

Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Media

As DIVEBOMB had reported ahead of the weekend, eight Formula E drivers from the 2025 grid took to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including one driver making his Le Mans debut. The contingent from the all-electric series experienced varying degrees of success, as some found it a struggle, while others experienced success after a gruelling 24 hours of racing.

The entire grid moved up one position after the No. 50 Ferrari was disqualified from fourth on the road. 

DIVEBOMB takes you through the tales of the eight full-time Formula E drivers at Le Mans, delving into how their stints and overall races panned out. 

Norman Nato - Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA: Fourth

The No. 12 JOTA finished fourth on the road | Credit: IMSA

Cadillac were the stars of qualifying on Thursday’s hyperpole session, with Alex Lynn — a former Formula E racer himself, delivering the quickest lap time of the session, as onboard cameras showcased Lynn pushing the JOTA car to its limit through the Indianapolis and Arnage corners on his pole position lap. 

JOTA took a front row lockout, while the No. 311 Whelen Cadillac made it three cars from the manufacturer in the top ten, qualifying eighth for the race. 

It was Will Stevens who kicked off the race for the No. 12 JOTA, and while he was overtaken by a speedy Julien Andlauer in the No. 5 Porsche, who opened up a gap early on, the Tunbridge Wells outfit kept at it, sitting second and third after an hour of running. 

However, as the race went on, the JOTA cars fell back in the pecking order, suffering from a lack of overall pace and straight-line speed compared to their Ferrari and Porsche counterparts. Stevens also found himself stuck behind the No. 311 Whelen Cadillac before finding himself amid a scrap with the sister No. 38 JOTA of Earl Bamber. 

The duo lost time scrapping, with Bamber on the radio asking for Stevens to return the position he had gained off the racetrack.    

Nato took over the wheel from teammate Lynn, who was first change after Stevens completed his stint, in Hour 5. As the night stages beckoned, the JOTA pair slipped further down the order, as Toyota and Porsche continued to work themselves into the race. 

As day broke and Nato relinquished the seat to his teammates, JOTA began to find their pace. Capitalising on errors and poor pace for those around them, moving back up into the top five as the race reached its closing stages. 

With just over two hours to go, Nato took over at the wheel of the No. 12 JOTA, guiding them to a strong fifth by the flag, running his stints largely without incident. Promoted up to fourth after Ferrari’s disqualification, he wound up the highest-placed of the Formula E contingent at Le Mans. 

Nyck de Vries — No. 7 Toyota - Fifth

The No. 7 Toyota recovered strongly to finish fifth | Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Only days earlier, Nyck de Vries was distraught. Disconsolate as he returned to the pits. In a major shock, the No. 7 Toyota, a contender for victory in 2024, ended up down in 17th, failing to make it into the fight for hyperpole. 

Promoted up one spot after the disqualification of the No. 6 Porsche from qualifying, the No. 7 Toyota didn’t quite have the smoothest race. A lock up for Kamui Kobayashi early in the race forced him to go around the roundabout on the outside of the Mulsanne corner, as he rejoined further down the order. 

Capitalising on the slow zone from the No. 88 Mustang’s crash in Tertre Rouge, Kobayashi made up positions on the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche, as well as the No. 35 Alpine to move up into 12th. 

While Kobayashi and teammate Mike Conway saw out the early stages, de Vries took over the wheel four and a half hours into the race. Scrapping away with Michael Christensen in the No. 5 Porsche, de Vries took the team into the tricky night stages, a juncture when the team has come a cropper in the past. 

Despite being slapped a whopping 50-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane, de Vries navigated the stages without incident, before coming back on as dawn grew closer. With the race settling, the Dutchman chased down the No. 38 JOTA, with 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button at the wheel, for eighth on the road. 

Relinquishing the seat to his teammates as daylight broke out, de Vries would return in the 19th hour of the race, aiding the team’s climb up the order. With Kobayashi eventually finishing the race, the No. 7 Toyota ended up sixth at the flag, a strong comeback drive after starting down in 16th, and missing out on hyperpole contention. 

Pascal Wehrlein — No. 4 Porsche Penske - Eighth

Wehrlein drove strongly in his first Le Mans to finish eighth | Credit: Porsche

Pascal Wehrlein experienced a stellar Le Mans debut weekend, taking the No. 4 Porsche Penske to eighth by the flag. The German, who had already gained endurance racing exposure in the 24 Hours of Daytona and at the 6 Hours of Spa in May, drove superbly during his stints, for a driver so young in the world of endurance racing. 

With the No. 4 Porsche qualifying up in fifth, Felipe Nasr kicked off the race for the IMSA invitational entry. Despite losing out to the charging No. 6 Porsche of Kevin Estre, both Nasr and teammate Tandy were able to run steadily before Wehrlein jumped into the Porsche hypercar for his first stint. 

Running sixth in the order at the end of six hours of running, Wehrlein held a steady pace. Despite losing position to the No. 38 JOTA initially, Wehrlein utilised the superior straight line speed of the Porsche Penske hypercar to fend off Frederik Vesti’s No. 311 Whelen Cadillac, which found itself on fresher rubber. 

Despite experiencing a lock up in Mulsanne corner, and running outside the top ten with over five hours to go, Wehrlein dug deep to gain positions, moving up into ninth on the road, and making up one free position from the stricken No. 8 Toyota that suffered a puncture in Hour 18. 

All in all, a strong showing from Wehrlein, who also set the quickest lap time of the trio running the No. 4 Porsche hypercar. With a strong debut under his belt, Wehrlein would be looking to return to Le Mans next year, with greater resolve and drive to secure a top-five finish, or even finish on the podium. 

Stoffel Vandoorne: No. 94 Peugeot - 11th

The No. 94 finished the better of the two Peugeot cars | Credit: XPB Images

It would be a home race to forget for Peugeot once again. The home team found themselves on the back foot right from Wednesday, with neither car making it past the hyperpole fight, only ahead of one Aston Martin Valkyrie on paper. 

With nothing to lose, Peugeot ran an offset strategy to the rest of the field, which even saw them run in the top three and the lead at points in the race. Vandoorne had a quiet first stint, running lower down the order for large parts of his stint. 

The No. 94 Peugeot found itself in the wars in the seventh hour, spun around by Paul Loup-Chatin in the No. 35 Alpine at Mulsanne corner, losing yet more ground in the process. 

As the race petered on, Vandoorne and Peugeot found themselves scrapping away with the two Alpine cars for the final points positions. Vandoorne engaged in a scrap with Schumacher heading into the 19th hour of the race, passing and repassing the Alpine hypercar, before the German driver would eventually regain position. 

Eventually, the No. 94 Peugeot would finish 12th, missing out on the points to its French counterparts, capping off a difficult day for the team. 

Sébastien Buemi: No. 8 Toyota - 15th

The No. 8 Toyota's race came apart in the final quarter | Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Having run in a competitive position for a large portion of the race, Toyota’s No. 8 hypercar suffered big time after daybreak in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing down in 16th by the flag. 

Being the only Toyota hypercar to qualify in the top ten, Sébastien Buemi would start the race for the Toyota hypercar, running up in the points as the race began to settle. 

After swapping with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa through the night stages, Buemi took back the wheel heading into daylight, running high up in the top three (and later the top five) as the Toyota team looked on course to get points with the No. 8 hypercar. 

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. A loosely-fitted wheel nut during Hirakawa’s stint with just over four hours to go derailed the team’s charge. With the No. 8 Toyota scampering over the gravel at the Dunlop chicane, and forced to limp the entire 13-km circuit to return to the pits, losing heaps of time in the process. 

Having suffered bodywork damage, the mechanics wheeled the No. 8 Toyota into the garage at the stroke of the 20th hour, frantically repairing the damage, before sending the car out after 15 minutes. 

However, the damage had been done, with the Toyota now several laps behind the leaders. Buemi eventually finished the race for the entry in 16th, rounding out the race seven laps down on the race-winning No. 83 Ferrari. 

Jean-Éric Vergne — No. 93 Peugeot: 16th

Much like his Peugeot compatriots in the No. 94, Vergne’s Peugeot 9X8 failed to make it into hyperpole on Wednesday. He would start down in 18th, hoping to make up ground in the 24 hours to score points. 

Although the No. 93 endured a torrid Le Mans showing, on the backfoot from the very beginning of the race. Paul di Resta, who kicked off the race for the Peugeot entry, oversteered into the Porsche curves on the stroke of the first hour, as he tried to lap a GT3 car. 

In a bid to stop the 9X8 from clouting the outside barrier head-on, di Resta attempted to steer sideways as he careened towards the barriers. While this helped avoid a bigger crash, the Peugeot still made contact with the barriers, losing bodywork on the rear of the car, and leaving part of the hypercar exposed. 

Di Resta limped back to the pits, as the French manufacturer attempted to fix the issue as soon as possible. Even though the Peugeot was sent back out after a few laps with fresh bodywork, the damage had been done, even before Vergne took the wheel. 

Although Vergne’s stints went along without much incident, the Peugeot would suffer further setbacks during the only safety car period of the race. Mikkel Jensen spun, trying to catch up to safety car A, losing further ground in the race. 

The No. 93 Peugeot never recovered, running several laps down on its competitors as the race wore on. Di Resta eventually brought the car home, eight laps down on the leader, the only solace to take away from a difficult weekend. 

Robin Frijns — No. 20 BMW Hypercar: 17th

Frijns finished down the order after BMW suffered technical issues in the race | Credit: BMW Newsroom

For the second Le Mans race, both BMW cars ran into trouble, wheeled into the garage as the race wore on, and the mechanics left, finding a solution to their gremlins. 

The technical troubles came back to hurt Frijns and the No. 20 BMW crew big time, with the team even running firmly in the points at several junctures during the race. 

Starting sixth for the race, Sheldon van der Linde saw out the first part of the race, while Frijns took over the wheel in the second hour. The Dutchman found himself at the tail end of a four-car battle during the third hour of the race with both Cadillac JOTA drivers and the rising No. 51 Ferrari. 

Running strongly in the points after making up ground, Frijns once again took over the wheel from teammate, and former Formula E man René Rast, over nine hours in, traversing the night stages, with the BMW running as high as fifth at one point. 

Taking over the wheel with five and a half hours left on the clock, Frijns raced on. However, an engine issue for the No. 20 BMW hypercar forced them back into the garage, with teams losing valuable time as they attempted to troubleshoot the issue. 

Finally out on track after a delay, the No. 20 was slapped with a 20-second penalty for a pit lane infringement, compounding a woeful second half of the race. The only solace proved to be limping home to finish 17th on the road, classified as Le Mans finishers this time around, with Frijns at the wheel in the end. 

António Félix da Costa — No. 183 AF Corse LMP2: 9th in class

Credit: Javier Jiminez/DPPI

In a competitive LMP2 class dominated by the likes of Inter Europol, Panis Racing, the pole-sitting TDS Racing, and the RLR M Sport Oreca cars, the No. 183 AF Corse ran a largely nondescript race to finish ninth in its class. 

Qualifying seventh in the LMP2 class, the trio of da Costa, François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxivière remained away from the lead battles for most of the race. 

The biggest moment of the race came during da Costa’s stint at the 19-hour interval, when the Portuguese racer ran over the gravel at the Porsche curves, rejoining dangerously close to the cars behind him on the road. 

However, he managed to keep it pointing in the right direction, away from the gravel. Teammate Vaxivière eventually finished the race ninth in the class, seeing out the race for the team.