Robert Kubica has endured heartbreak and success en route to becoming the first overall Polish race winner in the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Lone Star Le Mans.
The sixth round of the 2024 WEC delivered yet another thrilling spectacle which marked a sixth different Hypercar race winner, which has never been achieved previously in the 12 years of the championship’s existence.
Right down to the end, the #83 privateer-entered AF Corse Ferrari 499P claimed victory at the Circuit of the Americas with drivers Robert Shwartzman, Robert Kubica and Yiefi Ye taking the honours on the same weekend as the Maranello make’s Monza win in Formula 1.
A maiden WEC win to the Hypercar category was the culmination of the trio working well together, with Kubica carrying strongly into the lead during the opening stints of the race as Ye continued the momentum in the middle, and Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver Shwartzman withstanding pressure from Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi at the end.
Thirteen years after his life-changing rally accident, Kubica made WEC history after he became the first Polish driver to win overall and, after Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, became the third person to have won both in F1 and the WEC.
Furthermore, he did so behind the wheel of a Ferrari against the fiercest and most competitive top tier WEC category – with the help of his #83 teammates.
Debuting into LMP2, facing success and heartbreak
Whilst closing his chapter in F1, Kubica looked towards the tempting world of sportscar racing and specifically in prototype machinery.
In 2021, his final F1 season for Alfa Romeo Sauber, he underwent a memorable sportscar debut season.
He first asserted his form in the European Le Mans Series where there were 16 Oreca 07 LMP2 entries in total, which raced with the LMP3 and LMGTE categories.
Kubica charged to the LMP2 championship title, alongside the #41 Team WRT teammates Louis Deletraz and current Hypercar co-driver Yifei Ye.
As a trio, they took three wins out of six races which earned them 118 points at the end of the season, a 32-point margin over the #22 United Autosports Oreca.
In the midst of this forthcoming success in the ELMS however, stood a heartbreaking loss at one of motorsport’s most challenging, coveted and historic events – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Deletraz qualified the #41 Oreca on the LMP2 class front row with a 3:28.470 lap time, 0.520 away from Antonio Felix Da Costa’s Hyperpole position in the #38 JOTA Oreca.
The #41 crept down the order during the opening hours with the 24-strong class exerting intense competition for the win.
In spite of this, a strong run of pace by the #41 Oreca rewarded them in second place behind the sibling #31 WRT Oreca which held the lead at the halfway point.
From thereon, WRT controlled the LMP2 lead with both Orecas with a mindful eye on the #28 JOTA.
Both WRTs swapped places intermittently as they raced on through the night.
In the closing stages, Ye led in the #41 Oreca before disaster struck on the final lap at the Forest Curves, soon after Dunlop Bridge.
He came to a complete halt and in a matter of late drama, the #31 Oreca won in LMP2 on this particular instance by just 0.727 seconds over the #28 JOTA Oreca.
Later it emerged that the #41 stopped due to a broken throttle sensor which caused an electrical short circuit thus switching off the engine control unit.
This situation was an unanticipated nightmare which struck at the most vital moment.
Many months later, after winning the ELMS title, Kubica concluded his maiden year of sportscars in an Oreca 07 LMP2.
He replaced High Class Racing’s Jan Magnussen for the WEC Bahrain event which consisted of a six-hour race and an eight-hour race on two consecutive weekends, scoring eighth place in both.
Joining Prema’s first WEC season, returning to WRT for 2023
A fresh new year marked Kubica’s first full-season WEC campaign with a debuting team in the LMP2 category.
Prema Racing have a established reputation in the junior single-seater discipline and decided to embark on a new endeavour.
Deletraz joined him as a teammate along with Lorenzo Colombo, as they ran a fair campaign highlighted by a second-placed finish at Le Mans.
For 2023, Kubica returned to WRT with Deletraz and new teammate Rui Andrade.
Wins were accomplished once again for Kubica with the trio victorious at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 6 Hours of Fuji and 8 Hours of Bahrain, which eventually led to them claiming the final WEC LMP2 championship title.
At the special Centenary edition of Le Mans, in 2023, Kubica and the crew scored second position behind the famed Polish bakery chain Inter Europol Competition team who finished on the top step.
Making history in a Ferrari, triumphing at COTA
The departure of the LMP2 category at the end of the 2023 WEC made way for more entries in the thoroughly competitive and diverse Hypercar category.
Amidst many drivers who were keen to continue racing in the WEC, Kubica struck a deal with AF Corse to co-pilot a privateer Ferrari 499P featuring a primarily yellow livery which set it apart from the two factory-run cars.
Kubica was notable during his outings in F1 for his underrated performances, even during the difficult 2019 campaign at Williams, but more so during his earlier efforts.
The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix accident and his 2011 rallying accident diminished a dream for Polish motorsport enthusiasts to dream of him in prestigious machinery like a Ferrari.
Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI
Fast forward to the present day and Kubica made history as the WEC’s first Polish driver to win overall at COTA, having immediately fended P2 at the first corner and inherited the lead before the contending #51 Ferrari ran into issues.
Without criticising his momentous win, two rounds prior at the Le Mans 24 Hours, him and his #83 teammates could have potentially won an even more significant win if it not were for a mistake by Kubica and a late reliability issue.
The 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours was where the #83 next shone after joining its two siblings at a 1-2-3 qualifying performance at the 6 Hours of Imola.
A error by Kubica when lapping Dries Vanthoor’s #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 saw the pair make contact, as the BMW was hit hard into the barrier before the car became stranded on the right-side prior to the Mulsanne Corner.
The Polish driver lost his lead due after having been awarded a 30-second stop-and-go penalty for incident responsibility.
Later towards the 20th racing hour, Shwartzman fought for third in the #83 Ferrari against Antonio Fuoco (#50 Ferrari) and Kamui Kobayashi (#7 Toyota GR010) but their efforts were later ended after a hybrid system failure caused the front brakes to dramatically overheat, as illustrated by the smoke which poured out of the car at its pit box.
A Le Mans win may remain elusive for the Pole, but it was a turn of redemption for the privateer-entered Ferrari which finally sought a well-deserved victory at COTA.
It was a near-faultless performance by the team having ran strong pace, excellent tyre management, and a test of pressure for WEC newbie Shwartzman at the end, which he withstood brilliantly to take the win.