An historic edition
First staged by Peter Auto and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest in 2002, the Le Mans Classic has been a biennial event that celebrated the rich and ever expanding history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with races for historic cars on the full 13.6 km Circuit de la Sarthe. The first edition was disputed by five age-based grids that competed three times over 24 hours. During the next editions, the event gradually expanded with a sixth Plateau for cars up to 1981 and more recently support races that were incorporated into the 24-hour period. Especially the addition of the Endurance Racing Legends grid for more GTs and Prototypes of the 1990s and 2000s has proven popular. So popular in fact that it was decided to split the Le Mans Classic in two distinctly different events. One year the cut off will be 1975, while the other will cater for the more modern machinery including GT3. The change to the annual event will happen in 2026, making the 2025 edition the last in its classic format.
Having visited every edition of the Le Mans Classic, we were once again at the Circuit de la Sarthe throughout the weekend to capture the action on track in its entirety. The result is this class-by-class 190-shot gallery.

Porsches and Group C
The most diverse of the three support events was the Porsche Classic Race for competition cars produced by the German manufacturer between 1965 and 1981. Many of the early cars were short-wheelbase 911s that normally compete in the Peter Auto 2.0L Cup, while the field also included a colourful mix of 935s and a Gulf-liveried Porsche 917. Starting from pole position was Emanuel Brigand in a 935, beating the 917 of Mr. John of B. and Soheil Ayari by a healthy margin. In the race, it was a closer fight but it was eventually settled in favour of the 917 after Brigand was penalised for an overly optimistic overtaking manoeuvre on a back-marker.
Group C Racing had a more uniform field, which represented the complete 1982 through 1993 era, starting with a Porsche 956 right through a Peugeot 905, which was a sister car to the 1992 and 1993 Le Mans winners. There was a particularly strong Nissan presence with four of twin-turbo V8 cars entered but surprisingly, there were no Jaguars on the 30-strong grid. The first race on Saturday morning had an unusual finish as Olivier Hart crawled across the line in the Lola T92/10 Judd that had been started by his father David. He did not want to complete another lap and had enough margin over the second placed car to do so. The Harts were, however, given a post-race penalty, which promoted Maxime Guenat in the Equipe Europe prepared Peugeot to the top step of the podium. Held in the pouring rain very early on Sunday morning, the Sprint Race saw the 24 Hours of Le Mans liveried Porsche 962C of Ivan Vercoutere and Ralf Kelleners claim victory.

The Plateaux
As was the case during the first editions of the Le Mans Classic, the six grids still formed the heart of the 2025 event. The official start was given at 4 pm sharp to Plateau 4 (1961 - 1965), which had followed a traditional running Le Mans start with the cars lined up in front of the pit wall.
By the time, Plateau 1 had its first race, what had been scorching sun was setting. Fastest of all in qualifying had been the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 shared by Martin Halusa and Alex Ames. In the first race, it was however Fritz Burkhard in an 8C 2300 Monza that claimed victory with the Halusa and Ames Alfa Romeo down in third. A heavy accident in another Plateau required lengthy barrier repairs, which meant the night race was scratched. Held in very wet conditions, the Sunday race saw the Halusa and Ames grab the win both in the race and overall.
Although it was Fred Wakeman with his Cooper T38 that started on pole position in the second grid, it was the Jaguar C-Type of Nigel Webb and Chris Ward that dominated, winning all three races.
Emanuelo Pirro had qualified the Lister Costin he shared with Hans Hugenholtz at the sharp end of the field of Grid 3. The Italian / Dutch pairing also won the first race but then struggled in the other two. The scratch victory went instead to Diego Meier and Remo Lips with their Ferrari 250 GT SWB.
The fourth Plateau is usually very hotly disputed with GT40s featuring at the head of the field. This year was no exception and there was a particularly great race between Max Lynn and Emile Breittmayer in race 1. This was settled in favour of the latter with a winning margin of just 0.454 of a second. Lynn did not take part in the other two races but Breittmayer had to work hard to grab the scratch win from Benjamin Monnay in a Cobra.
The drivers of the fifth grid had an eventful weekend; qualifying was delayed due to an accident on oil during the sighting lap and then the second race was red-flagged after seven cars were involved in accident on a very wet and slippery Mulsanne straight. Pole-sitter Niklas Halusa did have a great first and third race with his glorious Ferrari 512 M, which was just enough for him to claim victory over the Lola T70 Mk3B shared by Jan Magnussen and Chris Ward.
Barrier repairs also saw the Plateau 6 night race cancelled. The other two were dominated by Maxime Guenat despite only qualifying his Lola T286 in tent during a session that was frequently interrupted by slow zones. Guenat won both races and ended the day well over a minute ahead of the closest rivals.

Endurance Racing Legends
The two race days were bookended by the Endurance Racing Legends grid; the first race was 9:15 am on Saturday while the second brought down the the curtain on the 2025 Le Mans Classic at 15:15 on Sunday afternoon. The 74-strong grid was certainly both worth getting to the track early and staying. Rivals of old, the Dome S101 and Pescarolo-Courage C60 claimed the top four starting positions. Fifth was the rather more unusual front-engined Panoz of Olivier Galant. Fastest man in both races was Emanuel Collard in the very Pescarolo-Courage he raced in period. As a professional driver, he received a penalty that was translated in a longer pit stop like at other Peter Auto events. During the first race this meant that a well-timed pit-stop saw Max Lynn grab victory in the family's Bentley Speed 8. Fastest of the GT cars was Joe Macari in the Maserati MC12 that was famously banned from Le Mans in period for being just a little bit too wide. Run on a drying track, the second race was won by Max Chilton with his Zytek 04S. The former Formula 1 driver just pipped Collard, who was second once again.

Final thoughts
The 2025 Le Mans Classic presented a real challenge to man and machine, starting with scorching conditions and then consistent rain from Sunday night onwards. That so many cars and drivers reached the finish is a real testament to the quality of the preparation and the skill behind the wheel. For the 238,000 spectators, it was all part of a great show that also included plenty of off-track entertainment. We focused on the racing as can be seen in our 190-shot gallery. It was a fantastic last hurrah to the Le Mans Classic in its original form and only built up anticipation for the Le Mans Classic new style scheduled for next year.