Audi has today announced that it will return to the world of endurance racing pleasing motorsport fans across the globe.

24H Le Mans

24 Heures du Mans

Toyota Gazoo Racing Technical Director David Floury looks back at the highlights of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans and tells us how eager his team is to return to the top of the podium in 2025.

What did you feel while watching the official film of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans and looking back on your journey this far?

David Floury: It was a hotly contested race. Ferrari AF Corse won the day and, once again, I congratulate them on their victory. Watching the official film, my mind cast back to the first time I came to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a young boy. I remember marvelling at the cars and promising my big brother who brought me that I&rsquo;d be on the other side of the fence one day. I&rsquo;ll never forget my childhood dreams or where I came from. I&rsquo;m pleased to make a contribution to this spectacle so that others can dream.

This year, your two Toyota GR010 Hybrids failed to qualify for Hyperpole. What was going through your mind during qualifying?

DF: I&rsquo;m a competitor and it&rsquo;s true that qualifying was hardly the high point of the week for us. When you come to Le Mans, and you&rsquo;ve worked very hard all year to be ready for the race, it&rsquo;s quite frustrating to not qualify as well as we&rsquo;d hope. We nonetheless remained focused on what we had to do.

What do you need to do to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans again?

DF: We just need to climb one step further up the podium to win the race for a sixth time after 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. I could say we need a little luck on our side, but that&rsquo;s something we have no control over. We&rsquo;re going to work hard until next June to be in good shape to win the race. As a team, Toyota never gives up. We showed as much at the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain by picking up the Manufacturers&rsquo; title. We&rsquo;ll be in the same frame of mind in June 2025.

How does Toyota view its future commitment to the Hydrogen class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

DF: It&rsquo;s a topic we&rsquo;re examining closely and one we&rsquo;re already working on with the FIA, the ACO and other manufacturers. It&rsquo;s a real technological challenge. It&rsquo;s much greater than the hybrid challenge we overcame over ten years ago now. We&rsquo;re lucky to have the MissionH24 project already underway. Toyota has entered races in Japan with a Corolla GR H2. We&rsquo;re using this car as a learning tool. I can&rsquo;t give you an exact time frame for entering the Hydrogen class. However, it&rsquo;s a project that we hold dear. We fully intend to use racing as a platform to develop better cars.

David Floury: “As a team, Toyota never gives up”

The 12th Le Mans Classic will be held from 3 to 6 July 2025. Fans of motor vehicles from yesteryear will be able to book tickets for this iconic event from 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 27 November.

Le Mans Classic has a wide range of ticket offers available for spectators. The Admission Only ticket &ndash; from &euro;42 &ndash; grants entry to the public spaces around the track, the Race Village, the Club Facilities and a variety of activities and entertainment. Packages combining an Admission ticket with a Grandstand seat or Paddock access &ndash; or both &ndash; are also available.

Fancy enjoying the event in optimal comfort? VIP and Hospitality packages offer a premium experience while avid campers can pitch their tent or park their motorhome or caravan on the specially designated campgrounds.

<h2>Gates open from Thursday morning</h2>

For the first time, the venue will be open from 09:00 on Thursday 3 July for an extra day of activities and entertainment before the races get underway. Full timetable:

<ul>
	<li>Thursday 3 July: 09:00 &ndash; 19:00</li>
	<li>Friday 4 July: 08:00 &ndash; 02:00</li>
	<li>Saturday 5 &ndash; Sunday 6 July: from 08:00 on Saturday until 17:00 on Sunday (races end at 16:00 on Sunday)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Support for road safety through brain research</h2>

The 2025 Le Mans Classic is supporting an innovative research project conducted by the Institut du Cerveau to promote road safety. The aim of the project is to gain a better understanding of tiredness at the wheel by analysing &ldquo;local sleep intrusions&rdquo; &ndash; early signs of drowsiness and a lack of alertness.

The study will involve 40 HGV drivers whose brain waves will be recorded by EEG, firstly in a simulator and then on the road. The results could make it possible to predict the first signs of fatigue and thus reduce accidents caused by the driver falling asleep at the wheel.

When you buy your tickets, you will be offered an opportunity to support this vital research by adding a &euro;2 donation to the project.

Book now!

Do not miss this unique opportunity to experience one of the finest celebrations of classic motorsport and participate&nbsp;in a far-reaching road safety initiative. Tickets are on sale from 09:00 UTC on 27 November!

Visit the <a href="https://www.lemansclassic.com/en/" target="_blank">official Le Mans Classic website</a>&nbsp;for further information.

Buy your tickets for Le Mans Classic and support brain research

After a roller coaster of a first season for the 963 last year, Porsche Penske Motorsport was looking to get a grip on the situation in 2024. With decisive wins and decent reliability, the German carmaker showed significant progress while still facing certain major challenges.

Porsche&rsquo;s 2024 season got off to a flying start with a resounding victory at the Rolex 24 at&nbsp;Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The success infused the marque&#39;s upcoming foray into the FIA World Endurance Championship with optimism, confirmed at the opening round 1812 km of Qatar&nbsp;when&nbsp;the #6 Porsche 963 shared by&nbsp;K&eacute;vin Estre/Andr&eacute; Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor reached the top step on the podium.

Consistency was the name of the game at&nbsp;the 6 Hours of Imola, with second and third places snatched by the two official cars.&nbsp;These&nbsp;performances transformed&nbsp;Porsche Penske Motorsport into a favourite to win the 24 Hours with&nbsp;one of three factory&nbsp;prototypes. Roger Penske&#39;s team was&nbsp;hoping for a triumphant return to the biggest endurance race in the world.

<h2>Dashed Hopes at Le Mans</h2>

Despite the #6 Porsche 963 clinching the Hyperpole, Le Mans proved much more challenging than expected. Questionable tyre strategy and a top speed lower than Ferrari and Toyota&nbsp;hampered Porsche&#39;s ambitions.

The&nbsp;#6 finished fourth, the&nbsp;#5 sixth and the&nbsp;#4 was forced to retire after an incident. The outcome, though respectable, was bittersweet.&nbsp;Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh:&nbsp;We were so close to big success. That said, we must admit that we weren&rsquo;t entirely without error today.&nbsp;Kevin Estre:&nbsp;That&rsquo;s not the result we were aiming for. While we fought our way back up the order, in the end&nbsp;we couldn&rsquo;t find the pace we needed to be in contention for overall victory. We must keep learning and come back stronger next year

After the disappointment of the 24 Hours, Porsche Penske Motorsport bounced back with solid outcomes. At the&nbsp;6 Hours of S&atilde;o Paulo, the two&nbsp;Porsches made it to the second and third steps on the podium. The #6&#39;s win at the&nbsp;6 Hours of&nbsp;Fuji underscored the team&#39;s progress, marking a turning point in the season. Porsche headed into the&nbsp;Bapco Energies 8 Hours of&nbsp;Bahrain, final race of the championship, leading the Manufacturer&nbsp;standings. However,&nbsp;TOYOTA GAZOO&nbsp;Racing walked away with that&nbsp;title, but&nbsp;Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor&nbsp;scored the Drivers&#39; trophy, a stunning result demonstrating&nbsp;the increasing power of the programme.

<h2>One Clear&nbsp;Goal in 2025</h2>

Thomas Laudenbach, Porsche Motorsport Vice President:&nbsp;Compared to 2023, we made significant improvements in all areas. We brought the Porsche 963 and the entire programme to the top within a short period of time.&nbsp;Despite this, the 2024 results remained a bit of a letdown. Victory at the 24 Hours, the key to glory for Porsche, was&nbsp;missing.

In 2025, the German constructor&nbsp;will focus on one crucial objective: bringing home its&nbsp;20th Le Mans win. With at least two factory cars confirmed&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/porsche-reshuffles-lineups-for-2025-59081" target="_blank">returning seasoned driver line-ups</a>, the&nbsp;marque&nbsp;intends to capitalise on its gains while correcting its weaknesses.

Though&nbsp;2024 didn&#39;t quite live up to the hype, it nevertheless marked an important milestone for Porsche in the&nbsp;FIA WEC. With two clear wins against fierce competitors, as well as the Drivers&#39; title, the carmaker set the stage for the upcoming 2025 season. Will Porsche achieve&nbsp;its ultimate goal of winning the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le Mans next year?

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&nbsp;

FIA WEC – A positive 2024 season for Porsche Penske Motorsport

The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season saw Ferrari AF Corse consolidate its status as a serious candidate for victory in the Hypercar class. Despite a second successive win in the championship’s showcase event – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the Maranello-based carmaker had to settle for third place in the manufacturers’ standings.

At the dawn of 2024, Ferrari AF Corse was determined to prove that the iconic manufacturer&rsquo;s triumphant return to the top class of endurance &ndash; climaxed by its 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary win &ndash; was no flash in the pan. With its pair of Ferrari 499Ps, plus a third running in its customer AF Corse&rsquo;s colours, the team hoped to be in the mix for the FIA WEC Hypercar manufacturers&rsquo; and drivers&rsquo; championship titles.

Initially, Ferrari opted for stability &ndash; renewing its faith in the 2023 driver line-ups: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in the #50, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51. From the opening rounds of the season, the team showed it was competitive with two Top Five finishes before reaching the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the championship&rsquo;s headline event.

<h2>Retaining the 24 Hours of Mans crown</h2>

The #50 499P overcame the atrocious weather conditions to bring Ferrari its 11th outright win in the iconic French race. &ldquo;We are extremely proud of this success for the whole team. It&rsquo;s a key moment in our season,&rdquo; said&nbsp; Antonello Coletta, Head of the Ferrari endurance programme.

Despite the win, the firm continued development work after Le Mans. Significant improvements were made to the 499P, especially its brake cooling ducts and aero package, in time for the 6 Hours of S&atilde;o Paulo. The upgrades, combined with a better understanding of the car, enabled the team to show increasingly competitive race pace. 
The second high point of the season came at Lone Star Le Mans where the #83 499P &ndash; entered by AF Corse as a customer car &ndash; topped the podium. However, all ambitions of the title vanished in Bahrain, leaving the Prancing Horse in third place in the manufacturers&rsquo; championship table.

&nbsp;

Nonetheless, with two wins, five podiums overall and a second place in the drivers&rsquo; championship for Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen, the 2024 season was ultimately a promising one for Ferrari AF Corse. As Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars, points out: &ldquo;Compared to 12 months ago, our progress [...] is clear. We are satisfied with having recorded significant improvements over last year, aware that there are more steps to take to compete for titles.&rdquo; While the championship titles remained out of reach, the season allowed the manufacturer to lay down a solid platform for the future. Coletta remains confident: &ldquo;We saw confirmation of our cars&rsquo; and crew&#39;s improved competitiveness. We now have a solid foundation to build upon for the 2025 season.&rdquo;

With an improved technical basis and line-ups bolstered by the experience gained over he last two seasons, Ferrari AF Corse is in better shape than ever to&nbsp;challenge for the championhip titles in 2025.&nbsp;

Ferrari AF Corse aware of having “more steps to take to compete for titles”

The German manufacturer confirmed in a press release earlier that it will enter the brand-new LMDh category - a common car created by ACO and IMSA, which will be eligible to race in both the WEC and IMSA.

Today&rsquo;s news means Audi will make a much-anticipated return to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, an event which it has won on 13 occasions. &nbsp;It will also see the marque return to endurance racing where it has had huge success including winning the LMP1 FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers&rsquo; and drivers&rsquo; titles in both 2012 and 2013.

Julius Seebach, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH, commented: &ldquo;We are evaluating other possible fields of activity for us in international motorsport&hellip; This is why we are intensively preparing to enter the new sports prototype category LMDh with its highlight races, the Daytona 24 Hours and Le Mans 24 Hours. The most important message for our fans is that motorsport will continue to play an important role at Audi.&rdquo;

Audi is yet to confirm a date for its endurance return but more news is expected to follow soon.

24H LE MANS

Audi confirms return to endurance racing

Related News

David Floury: “As a team, Toyota never gives up”

Buy your tickets for Le Mans Classic and support brain research

FIA WEC – A positive 2024 season for Porsche Penske Motorsport

Ferrari AF Corse aware of having “more steps to take to compete for titles”

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