Every car that dropped out of Le Mans 24 Hours contention

The Le Mans 24 Hours has changed, with drivers acknowledging reliability has taken a back seat to performance in the modern '24-hour sprint'.

But that doesn't mean everyone will make the finish - across 24 hours in varying conditions, with the complexity of the car and the natural peril of navigating traffic (or being traffic), sometimes in low visibility, cars will drop out and top condenders will hit trouble.

Across the 21 Hypercars, 17 LMP2s and 24 LMGT3s, here is our constantly-updated guide to the cars that have either formally retired or hit obvious race-ruining trouble in the 2025 edition.

Hypercar

#101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing

Ricky Taylor/Jordan Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque

It took nearly half the race for the Hypercar class to lose its first entry, with the IMSA regular WTR crew forced to pack up for the day when Albuquerque parked the car on the straight with a reported engine failure.

#311 Cadillac Whelen

Jack Aitken/Felipe Drugovich/Frederik Vesti

Cadillac's other IMSA 'import' had a better day but not by much, with the car dropping out of the Hypercar battle - for any meaningful positions, anyway - with a long pitstop for a precautionary brake change.

It then suddenly ground to a halt on the run towards the Dunlop chicane.

#8 Toyota

Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa

A suspension failure triggered by a loose wheelnut after Hirakawa left pitlane forced a long lap back to the pits and then a long stay in the pits for repairs for the #8.

#15 BMW

Dries Vanthoor/Raffaele Marciello/Kevin Magnussen

BMW's promising starting positions didn't translate into a strong 24 hours.

Its #15 car - which qualified fourth - was in the mix for a top-10 finish but fell out of contention with "cooling issues in the hybrid system". A prolonged spell in the pitlane dropped it to the back of the pack of Hypercars still running, 14 laps down.

The #15 then spent further time in the pits in the final hour.

#20 BMW

Rene Rast/Robin Frijns/Sheldon van der Linde

The sister BMW M Hybrid V8's race also unravelled in the closing stages.

The #20 stopped for a significant amount of time in the pitlane with unspecified engine issues.

LMP2

#37 CLX Pure Rxcing

Aliaksandr Malykhin/Tom Blomqvist/Tristan Vautier

The car had a major collision with LMP2 rival TDS Racing in the early hours - then spent a race-ruining 30 minutes in the pitlane.

#24 Nielsen Racing

Naveen Rao/Cem Bolukbasi/Colin Braun

A Bolukbasi crash into the barriers at Tertre Rouge ended the car's day and brought out the first safety car of the marathon.

Bolukbasi visited the medical centre in the aftermath, albeit only as a precaution given the size of the accident.

#18 IDEC Sport

Jamie Chadwick/Mathys Jaubert/Andre Lotterer

The Hyundai/Genesis-affiliated LMP2 entry caused a slow zone just before daylight broke through by losing a rear wheel on the Mulsanne straight while Le Mans veteran Lotterer was driving.

#28 IDEC Sport

Paul Lafargue/Job van Uitert/Sebastian Alvarez

The same fate awaited the #28 as its sister car, though many hours later. Van Uitert's rear right came off and pitched him into the gravel, leaving him with no way to get back to the pits, just like in Lotterer's case.

LMGT3

#73 Proton Ford Mustang

Stefano Gattuso/Giammarco Levorato/Dennis Olsen

A hard impact with the barriers at Tertre Rouge came already after the left rear of the car came off in unclear circumstances - but obviously compounded the damage to the Ford, which was being driven by Levorato at that moment.

It was the first retirement in the race, its exit coming at the start of the fourth hour.

#60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG

Andrew Gilbert/Lorcan Hanafin/Fran Rueda

The Mercedes developed a technical issue, forcing Rueda to limp to the pits - where the car was found to require massive repairs for a recurring oil leak.

#95 United Autosports McLaren

Darren Leung/Sean Gelael/Marino Sato

The #95 brought out a full course yellow when Leung was forced to park at the side of the Mulsanne straight, seemingly due to a failure on the car.

#46 WRT BMW

Ahmad Al Harthy/Valentino Rossi/Kelvin van der Linde

MotoGP legend Rossi's bid for a first Le Mans 24 Hours class win was looking in great shape when his and his team-mates' hopes unravelled suddenly and sharply - with a power cut forcing van der Linde off the track.

It meant the car first lost several laps in the pits and then retired after an aborted attempt to resume its race.

#31 WRT BMW

Yasser Shahin/Timur Boguslavskiy/Augusto Farfus

A collision with a rabbit forced the BMW into the pits for extensive, prolonged repairs - and eventually retirement followed.

#54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari

Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon

The Ferrari was brought into the pits by Rigon with an unspecified but ultimately terminal issue during the dawn portion of the race.

#85 Iron Dames Porsche

Celia Martin/Rahel Frey/Sarah Bovy

The Iron Dames entry was in top 10 and even top five contention throughout, but was rather unceremoniously punted into the gravel by the #87 Lexus, which required the Porsche being lifted out of the gravel trap and set facing the right way.

The car then got stuck in sixth gear, so was brought into the pits by Frey.

#78 Akkodis ASP Lexus

Arnold Robin/Jack Hawksworth/Finn Gehrsitz

A long trip through the Porsche Curves gravel ended with a significant barrier impact for Gehrsitz - who was battling in the top five - badly damaging the car's rear suspension, this being swiftly followed by an official retirement.

#59 United Autosports McLaren

James Cottingham/Gregoire Saucy/Sebastien Baud

The sole remaining United Autosports McLaren following the #95's exit spent several laps in the pits troubleshooting an alternator issue.