In 2024 Italian team AF Corse won the Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 title in style, finishing the season 42-points ahead of their nearest rivals. This year the race to the title was a lot closer with the gap just 9-points after the seven races.
In an excellent demonstration of consistency, Eliseo Donno and Alessandro Cozzi also became the first driver crew in the ten-season long history of the Michelin Le Mans Cup to lift the championship trophy in Portugal without securing a single victory during the whole season. The Italian-Monegasque driver duo scored five second place finishes from seven starts, never finishing outside of the top six in the other two.
The 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup started in Barcelona, with eight entries for the GT3 category. The opening qualifying session of the season saw Alessandro Cozzi claim third place on the class grid in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari, just three tenths off the pole time set by Heiko Neumann in the no65 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG.
The race was also going well for the no51 Ferrari crew for the first half of the race. However, an accident involving the no83 Iron Dames Porsche of Marta Garcia and Eliseo Donno saw the Spanish driver’s 911 hit the wall hard and the race had to be red flagged. The race resumed with Donno leading but a drive through penalty for causing the accident saw the no51 Ferrari drop back to 6th.
David Fumanelli’s no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari took the chequered flag, with Murat Cuhadaroglu joining him on the top step of the podium to become only the second Turkish driver to win a MLMC race.
Round 2 in Le Castellet saw another strong qualifying performance by Cozzi who qualified third again, 0.5 seconds behind the pole sitting no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
The GT3 class saw several changes of lead throughout the race but in the end the no11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Vantage came through to secure the victory in Le Castellet, with Rory Van Der Steur passing the no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Andrea Belicchi in the final few laps of the race. Belicchi was also passed by Eliseo Donno in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari, with the top three cars covered by just 3.5 seconds after two hours of racing.
Round 3 was the annual trip to Le Mans, with several race-by-race entries boosting the GT3 grid to 15 cars. No times were set in both qualifying sessions due to cars going off track and the sessions having to be stopped.So, the grids for the two 60-minutes races would be set by the best times in Free Practice 1 for Race 1 and FP2 for Race 2. The no51 AF Corse Ferrari would start at the front of the GT3 grid for race 1 thanks to Eliseo Donno’s best lap.
In the race, there was plenty of action and several changes of leader, but at the chequered flag the race was won by the no14 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG of Anthony Bartone and Steve Janis, a first RTLM win for the German Manufacturer. Second place went to the no51 AF Corse Ferrari, and the podium was completed by the no59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin Vantage. However, because the winning car was a race-by-race entry, the no51 Ferrari took the maximum 15-points as the first MLMC entry to take the chequered flag.
The grid for Race 2 was set using the best times of the bronze drivers in Free Practice 2. Alessandro Cozzi’s best lap was only good enough for 13th on the GT3 grid. This meant that the AF Corse crew had a lot of ground to make up during the 60-minute race.
The final lap of the GT3 race saw the no14 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG leading but Steve Janis was coming under pressure from Lukas Dunner in the no65 Mercedes-AMG, with the German taking the lead at the Forest Esses. Janis then lost another place when the no5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Bradley Ellis swept past the Mercedes-AMG in the first chicane. This then saw the three cars running nose to tail until the chequered flag, with less than 1.7 seconds covering the three cars as they crossed the finish line.
A huge effort by Cozzi and Donno saw the no51 AF Corse Ferrari finish 5th in class. However, like in Race 1, three of the cars ahead of them were race-by-race entries and this meant the no51 Ferrari was awarded 9-points for being the second MLMC entry to take the chequered flag.
After four races, Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno were leading the championship standings by 2-points, the AF Corse crew of 50-points, with Philipp Sager and Rory Van Der Steur on 48-points in the no11 Code Racing Developments Aston Martin Vantage.
After a long summer break the Michelin Le Mans Cup resumed at the end of August with the annual trip to Spa-Francorchamps.
Cozzi was immediately back in the groove in qualifying, finishing second behind Lorenzo Innocenti in the no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari and gaining a front row start for the 2-hour race in Belgium.
However, all that good work came to nought when there was a collision at the final corner involving four of the leading GT3 cars with the pole sitting no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari and the no51 AF Corse Ferrari colliding as they rounded the final turn to take the start, with the no95 Ebimotors Porsche and the no23 Biogas Motorsport getting caught up. The no17 Ferrari was judged to be a fault and Lorenzo Innocenti was later given a drive through penalty.
The no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari took control of the race and as the chequered flag approached Fumanelli was over 30 seconds ahead of Marta Garcia in the no83 Porsche, who was being challenged by the no65 Mercedes-AMG of Lukas Dunner. Dunner took the place with 5-minutes left on the clock and took the chequered flag with Garcia holding on to claim the final podium position in GT3.
However, post-race penalties for the no83 Porsche and the no65 Mercedes-AMG for Track Limits and Drive Through Penalties not served dropped the two cars down the order and promoted the no51 AF Corse Ferrari to second place.
In September the Michelin Le Mans Cup visited Silverstone for the first time in the 10-year history of the series.Alessandro Cozzi had qualified the Ferrari on the second row of the GT3 grid, but a technical issue found in post session scrutineering saw all times deleted and the no51 AF Corse Ferrari would have to start at the back of the grid.Vanina Ickx gave the Iron Dames team their first MLMC pole position of the season.
The race started with the no51 Ferrari, with Eliseo Donno having to take the start, powering to the front of the GT3 field with the no11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin and the no83 Iron Dames Porsche of Vanina Ickx trying to keep in touch.
After a short Safety Car period ended, the no51 Ferrari, the no11 Aston Martin and the no83 Porsche were on the lead lap and the rest of the field were one lap down. Alessandro Cozzi had taken over the driving duties and was leading GT3 in the no51 Ferrari, ahead of the no83 Porsche of Marta Garcia. However, fate lent a hand when the no71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier tapped Cozzi’s Ferrari into a spin.The Ferrari rejoined but Garcia had gone into the lead. Felipe Fernandez-Laser was handed a driver through penalty for causing the collision.
Marta Garcia crossed the finish line in the no83 Iron Dames Porsche to claim the first MLMC victory for the Italian team, with the no51 AF Corse Ferrari finishing 42 seconds behind.
With one race to go the no51 crew had a 16-point lead over the no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari and Portimão was the stage for the final dramas of the 2025 season.
In the final qualifying session, Alessandro Cozzi once again claimed a second-row start, his time 1.5s behind Alex Martin in the race-by race entered Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage.
In a drama filled 2-hour race, the no83 Iron Dames Porsche driven by Marta Garcia was leading but the Spanish driver had to serve a drive through penalty after jumping a red light a pit exit. This gave the lead to the no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari of David Fumanelli, with the no51 AF Corse of Eliseo Donno in second.
The two Ferraris circulated with Fumanelli holding on to the lead, with Donno knowing that second place would secure the title for himself and Alessandro Cozzi.At the flag Fumanelli was 1.4 seconds ahead, with the no11 Code Racing Developments Aston Martin in third.
At the end of the season the no51 AF Corse Ferrari, with Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno, had accumulated 104 points, nine more than the 95-points gathered by David Fumanelli and Murat Cuhadaroglu.
CLICK HERE for the final classification for the MLMC GT3 Team and Driver Championships
NEXT WEEK: The Dramatic Journey to the LMP3 Pro/Am title for Motorsport98
