Ex-F1 Driver Fulfills Le Mans Dream After Shattering 42 Bones in Horrific Crash

Miami Herald

17-06-2025

Robert Kubica achieved his championship dream after winning the renowned 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside his teammates Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye in the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P LMH last weekend. The victory marked his huge comeback from a horrific rally crash that broke 42 bones during his Formula One racing days in 2011.
Kubica won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. However, a championship was what he was aiming for while he raced alongside F1's greatest drivers such as Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. While he was set to join Ferrari for the 2012 campaign, tragedy struck the year before at the Rally Ronde di Andora, where Kubica suffered serious injuries.
A guardrail went right through his Skoda Fabia at high speed, affecting Kubica quite severely and leading to a partial amputation of his right forearm. Surprisingly, his co-driver was unharmed in the incident. The event had a big impact on his racing career. A few years later, in 2019 and 2020, another chance at F1 rekindled hopes of success, but Kubica was unable to beat the competition.
Life had other plans for the Polish driver, as he managed to win a championship with Ferrari, not in F1, but in the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans, which puts even the best drivers to the test. Kubica and his team won the 2025 race at the Circuit de la Sarthe, marking Ferrari's historic third win in a row.
Despite the yellow Ferrari 499P LMH starting the race from 13th place, the team finished with flying colors. Kubica drove for 43% of the race and even managed 59 laps with a non-functioning drinks bottle. Despite the huge roadblock that shattered his F1 dream with Ferrari, he was destined to win with the Maranello outfit several years later.
Ferrari released a statement after the race, revealing that the 499P has won every race at the Circuit de La Sarthe since its race debut. It read:
"For the third year running, Ferrari has triumphed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, securing the 93rd edition of the French endurance race with the number 83 499P driven by Prancing Horse's official driver Yifei Ye, alongside Phil Hanson and Robert Kubica, who crossed the line in the AF Corse team's Giallo Modena-liveried car. In the fourth round of the 2025 FIA WEC, the number 51 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi took third, ahead of the other official Ferrari – AF Corse car, number 50, driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.
"Thanks to the Italian manufacturer's extraordinary result, Ferrari will now keep the winners' trophy forever – a right granted to those who secure victory in three consecutive editions.
"After the wins in 2024 with Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen and the Centenary edition in 2023 with Pier Guidi-Calado-Giovinazzi, the Maranello manufacturer once again climbs to the top step of the podium with a car already etched in motorsport legend – the Ferrari 499P, which has won every race contested at the Circuit de La Sarthe since its competitive debut.
"The Maranello manufacturer now boasts 12 overall victories in the world's oldest and most prestigious endurance race between 1949 and 2025.
"Ferrari has now secured three consecutive outright victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since the 1960s, when the Prancing Horse won six editions in a row between 1960 and 1965. The last of those, achieved with the Ferrari 250 LM, was also the final overall triumph in France before its return to the top class of endurance racing starting in 2023."
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