Triumph for Kubica as Ferrari wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for third year in a row

LE MANS, France (AP) — Robert Kubica's long road back from a crash which nearly ended his career culminated in victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday as Ferrari won for the third year running.

Only a late surge from Porsche Penske Motorsport denied the Italian manufacturer a podium sweep.

The No. 83 Ferrari 499P crew of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Philip Hanson took the win as Ferrari won for the 12th time in the 93rd edition of the storied race, which began 102 years ago. Their bright-yellow car, privately entered by the AF Corse team, got the better of Porsche and the two official factory-entered Ferraris.

Kubica took the checkered flag after a marathon spell at the wheel Sunday afternoon to make sure of the win.

“It has been a long 24 hours,” Kubica said to his team over the radio and thanked them in Italian. “Enjoy.”

The Penske-operated No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell surged late in the race to finish second ahead of the two other Ferraris, 14 seconds behind the winner.

For Kubica and Ye, it was redemption after their car — then with Robert Shwartzman as third driver — was a strong contender to win last year's race before a crash, a penalty and finally a race-ending mechanical failure.

It’s a career highlight for 40-year-old Polish driver Kubica, whose promising Formula 1 career was interrupted in 2011 when a crash while competing in a rally left him with severe injuries.

Kubica's right arm and hand were partially severed and he had multiple fractures. After surgery and physical therapy, Kubica joined the World Rally Championship in 2013 and eventually made it back to F1 with Williams in 2019, something that even he had once considered almost impossible. He last raced in F1 in 2021.

Kubica is the first driver from Poland to win Le Mans outright, and Ye is the first from China to achieve that feat.

“It’s a great story that we finally put a perfect ending with Robert,” Ye told broadcasters. “It looks easier from the outside than it is in the car. It’s just unbelievable.”

Ferrari was off the pace in qualifying, with the two factory cars 7th and 11th on the grid and the eventual winner 13th. But once tennis great Roger Federer waved the starting flag Saturday, Ferrari’s pace over long race runs soon became clear.

After a close fight with Toyota in last year’s race, this time Ferrari often seemed in near-total control. Early Sunday morning, it was on target for the first top-class podium sweep by one manufacturer since 2012.

Ferrari didn’t have it all its own way in the final hours, though.

Alessandro Pier Guidi spun in the No. 51 car on his way into the pits, losing the lead, while the resurgent No. 6 Porsche piled on the pressure.

Le Mans is as much a test of drivers’ resilience as it is the cars’ reliability. Both held up well in an unusually calm race that avoided much of the usual nighttime drama with few significant crashes and just one safety-car period.

Polish team Inter Europol Competition won the LMP2 class and Manthey won the GT3 class in a Porsche 911.

This story has been corrected. It was the 93rd edition of the race and 102 years since it began, not the 102nd edition of the race.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Robert Kubica of Poland in his AF Corse car a Ferrari 499P crosses the finish line to win the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, Sunday June 15, 2025 in Le Mans, western France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

Robert Kubica of Poland in his AF Corse car a Ferrari 499P celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, Sunday June 15, 2025 in Le Mans, western France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

Pit crew members work on the No.51 a Ferrari 499P with Alessandro Pier Guidi of Italy, James Calado of Great Britain and Antonio Giovinazzi of Italy, races during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, Sunday, June 15, 2025 in Le Mans, western France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

Porsche Penske Motorsport car (No. 6) a Porsche 963 with Kevin Estre of France, Laurens Vanthoor of Belgium and Matt Campbell of Australia races during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, Saturday June 14, 2025 in Le Mans, western France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

AF Corse car (starting no. 83) a Ferrari 499P with Robert Kubica of Poland, Yifei Ye of China and Phil Hanson of Great Britain races during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, Sunday June 15, 2025 in Le Mans, western France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Central bankers from around the world said Tuesday they “stand in full solidarity” with U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, after President Donald Trump dramatically escalated his confrontation with the Fed with the Justice Department investigating and threatening criminal charges.

Powell “has served with integrity, focused on his mandate and an unwavering commitment to the public interest," read the statement signed by nine national central bank heads including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.

They added that “the independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve. It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability."

The dispute is ostensibly about Powell’s testimony to Congress in June over the cost of a massive renovation of Fed buildings. But in a statement Sunday, Powell, abandoning his previous attempt to ignore Trump’s relentless criticism, called the administration’s threat of criminal charges “pretexts’’ in the president’s campaign to seize control of U.S. interest rate policy from the Fed’s technocrats.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell and the Fed for not moving faster to cut rates. Economists warn that a politicized Fed that caves in to the president’s demands will damage its credibility as an inflation fighter and likely lead investors to demand higher rates before investing in U.S. Treasurys.

Other signers of the statement carried on the ECB's website were Erik Thedeen, governor of Sweden's central bank; Christian Kettel Thomsen, chair of Denmark's central bank; Swiss National Bank Chair Martin Schlegel; Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia; Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada; Bank of Korea Governor Chang Yong Rhee; Gabriel Galipolo, governor of the Banco Central do Brasil.

Also attaching their names were François Villeroy de Galhau, board chair of the Bank for International Settlements, and Pablo Hernández de Cos, BIS general manager. The BIS is an international organization of central banks based in Basel, Switzerland.

One prominent central bank not included in the statement was the Bank of Japan. The statement said that more signatures could be added later.

A video of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell plays on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)