Endurance Weekly: 12th - 18th June

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Jun 18
7 min read

Written by the DIVEBOMB Endurance Team, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri

This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team look ahead to the IMSA round at Watkins Glen, take a look back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and report on all of the breaking news stories you may have missed.

WEC (World Endurance Championship)

24-Hour Le Mans Review

A triumphant performance by the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari crew saw them beat the two factory Ferraris and a Porsche Penske car to victory. 14 years after his career was nearly ended in a rally crash, Robert Kubica bought the No.83 across the line, after a relentless drive.

The victory didn’t come without conflict however, for a long part of the race the No.83 car was sharing the track with the two red cars. This prompted team orders to come, as Kubica was told at one point to not overtake the No.51 Ferrari, an order he refused.

The stellar efforts of Ye Yifei and Philip Hanson cannot be forgotten about. Despite being less experienced than their Polish teammate, both drivers showed immense pace and did well to keep a level head fighting at the front of the Le Mans field.

Despite starting last, and not having a car as fast as the Ferrari’s, the No.6 Porsche of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell finished in second place. Estre put in an overwhelmingly strong opening stint, putting their car right into contention and was even leading the race at one point.

All three drivers drove flawlessly, with the No. 6 the only Hypercar not receiving a penalty or making any critical errors. The No.6 managed to split the Ferraris and only finished 14 seconds back from the No.83.

The No.51 Ferrari finished third, ahead of the No.50 Ferrari. The Ferrari in fourth place was later disqualified for not meeting the required technical standards post-race.

After late drama in the LMP2 class, the No.43 Inter Europol Competition car took victory, ahead of the No.48 VDS Panis car. The No.43 led most of the race, but then received a penalty towards the end of the race.

As the VDS Panis crew celebrated they were leading with only a few minutes remaining, their car ran into issues and the No.43 re-overtook the No.48.

The LMGT3 race was comfortably won by the No.92 Manthey 1st Phorm car. The German car finished over half a minute ahead of its nearest rival, the Vista AF Corse Ferrari.

Read the full review here on the DIVEBOMB website.

McLaren unveil upcoming 2027 Hypercar

McLaren Endurance Racing and United Autosports took the covers off their upcoming WEC challenger last weekend, before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The car — to be run by United Autosports — will be powered around the tracks of the world by a V6 twin-turbo engine developed with help from Autotecnica Motori. The bodywork shown above will be built on top of a Dallara LMDh chassis, currently used by BMW and Cadillac.

The team in Papaya also announced James Barclay as the team principal for the British outfit. Barclay is currently finishing up his stint as team principal for the Jaguar Formula E team, a stint that saw him lead the British outfit to their maiden Formula E title in 2024.

Ford announces chassis supplier for Hypercar

Ford’s upcoming 2027 Hypercar program will be run on a chassis from Oreca Motorsport, the American brand announced last Friday.

The LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) regulations require each manufacturer to use a pre-built chassis from one of four brands. Ford have chosen Oreca, who already supply Alpine and Acura with chassis, and will soon supply the Hyundai luxury brand Genesis in 2026.

Ford Motor Company President and CEO said, “In 2027, we are coming with the same level of expectation, and we are entrusting ORECA to help us take on Ferrari and the other top-class teams as we did back in the 1960’s.”

2026 WEC calendar released

The WEC have released the schedule for 2026, and it’s the same as the previous two seasons. The season starting and ending in the Middle East, from Qatar to Bahrain, does not tell the full story of how the WEC reaches all corners of the globe.

After Qatar, the WEC will head to Imola and Spa before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Post Le Mans, the teams will head to the other side of the planet to race in Sao Paulo, then to COTA (Circuit of the Americas) and Fuji, before finishing out the season in Bahrain.

Hypercar regulations extended to 2032

On the eve of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ACO and FIA announced that the Hypercar regulations, which have revolutionised the sport, will be extended from 2029 to 2032.

The regulations, first implemented in 2021, have proven to be highly successful in the last couple of years as the WEC has gained traction with the fans, and viewership has soared.

The Hypercar regulations have brought some major car manufacturers to the top class in sports car racing, such as Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Aston Martin, and more recently, McLaren.

Compared to the LMP1 days when only a handful of teams entered cars, lower running costs have paved the way for as many as eight different manufacturers in the WEC this season.

ALMS (Asian Le Mans Series)

Hypercars to run in ALMS

In a press conference during the Le Mans weekend, the ACO announced plans for a Hypercar class in the ALMS for the 2026/2027 season.

The Hypercar class will only be available for private entries, rather than factory entries. This allows teams that cannot afford to race in the WEC to race instead in the ALMS. Additionally, this gives younger drivers a chance to prove themself in the fastest sports cars.

Teams must use at least one Bronze driver, as all entries will be Pro-Am. This is big news as Bronze drivers are not permitted to drive Hypercars in the WEC.

These plans are in the early stages, and a lot of details are yet to be confirmed. If the Hypercar class works in the ALMS, there is a chance the ELMS (European Le Mans Series) will also look at creating a Hypercar class.

IMSA

Watkins Glen Preview

The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship heads to New York State this weekend for the 2025 Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Qualifying on Saturday starts at 2:15 pm local time. Coverage of the 6-hour race begins at 12 noon local time on Sunday, June 22nd.

There are 13 GTP entries made up of the 11 full-season GTPs and two additional teams committed to the Michelin Endurance Cup races. 12 LMP2 entries, 10 GTD Pro, and a whopping 21 GTD entries add up for a 56-car grid.

Although Porsche’s win streak has ended, they still hold a commanding lead in the standings, with all four Porsche Penske drivers sitting in the top four positions in the standings, the No.7 car leading the No.6. The No.24 BMW M Team RLL sits in third followed by the No.93 Meyer Shank Acura.

LMP2 is currently led by the No.74 Riley car. In GTD Pro, the No.77 AO Racing Porsche still dominates the standings. The No.57 Winward Racing car leads the GTD championship going into the Six Hours of The Glen.

Since the 12 Hours of Sebring, changes have been made in terms of Maximum Stint Energy across the grid. Acura now sits at 915 MJ, up from 903. Aston Martin received a +6 MJ jump, Lamborghini +10 MJ. Porsche and BMW were hit with reductions in MSE, BMW with a -7 MJ cut and Porsche with a huge -33 MJ reduction. This reduction could make for a half a lap to almost a full lap shorter stint compared to Sebring.

After Acura’s impressive result in Detroit, we could be in for a jumbled result this weekend at the Glen. However, Porsche’s undefeated record thus far in the 2025 Michelin Endurance Cup make them the favourites on Sunday, but a disproportionate BoP change in Maximum Stint Energy could affect their performance this weekend.

IMSA continue allegiance with ACO

One of many announcements over the Le Mans weekend was that the ACO would continue their strategic alliance with the IMSA series in America. This is good for all sports car racing fans as it allows ‘coherent’ management across the globe.

The agreement means that three IMSA entries are awarded entries to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petite Le Mans. Additionally, it gives potential for the IMSA to extend the LMDh regulations to 2032, but this is not yet official.

24h Nürburgring

24h Nürburgring Preview

There will be four qualifying sessions prior to the Nurburgring 24 Hours, taking place on Thursday and Friday. Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2 takes place at 11:00 and 18:00 GMT respectively. Top Qualifying will take place at 11:20 GMT on Friday, ahead of the final qualifying session, Qualifying 3, at 14:15.

The green flag will fall at 14:00 GMT (16:00 local time), and the cars will race through the night, hopefully with no disruption such as last year. As per all 24-hour races, it will end a day later at 14:00 GMT, after a gruelling two times around the clock.

The weather is set to be sunny for the whole race, which is a surprise considering the often-varying weather at the German track. While rain can not be ruled out, it looks like the temperatures will be reaching highs of 27 degrees Celsius, hopefully without a cloud in the sky.

Porsche will be hoping to continue their run of good form, as they have won each of the previous five NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) races. They will be led by the “Grello” car driven by Kevin Estre, Ayhancan Guven and Thomas Preining.

The No.16 Scherer Sport car is also one to watch for, having dominated both the N24 qualifying races, Scherer Sport will also enter an Audi R8 LMS, a triumphant car at the venue last year. BMW will only enter one car, as will Ferrari. Meanwhile, Lamborghini and Mercedes will enter three cars each.

The race can be streamed for free from YouTube, as can all the qualifying sessions.