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24 Heures du Mans 2023 - HIGHLIGHTS AFTER NIGHT

24 Heures du Mans

 

24 Heures du Mans 2023 - HIGHLIGHTS HYPERPOLE

24 Heures du Mans

 

Le Mans Hypercar 2023 - All Teams/Cars/Specs FIA WEC LMH - Ferrari 499p, Peugeot 9X8, SCG 007, GR010

ARC Driver
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A detailed look at the 6 cars and teams that are expected to compete in the 2023 FIA WEC LMH Le Mans Hypercar season. Including the Ferrari 499p, Peugeot 9X8, SCG 007, Toyota GR010, Alpine A480, ByKolles Vanwall Vandervell

 

Le Mans Trackside Report: 'Rexy' 911 RSR with Gunnar Jeannette presented by Michelin

The RACER Channel
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AO Racing's Gunnar Jeannette takes RACER's Marshall Pruett for a tour of the popular Porsche 911 RSR with the T-Rex livery--nicknamed 'Rexy'--at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. …

 

FERRARI WIN THE 24H OF LE MANS! - Final Commentary,
but it's not over until it's over.

Sharl Leg
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- FERRARI HAVE WON THE 24H OF LE MANS …

Ferrrari Hypercar #51 to the Le Mans Podium I 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans I FIA WEC

FIA World Endurance Championship
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Ferrrari Hypercar #51 is going to the Le Mans Podium at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

LM24, Hour 24: Ferrari wins Le Mans, ending Toyota’s reign

Alexander Trienitz/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | June 11, 2023 10:21 AM ET

The 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours, the centenary edition of the event that was first run in 1923, has been won by Ferrari AF Corse’s No. 51 499P Hypercar. In a race that had everything — incidents, sudden weather changes, surprise class leaders, mechanical dramas and countless on-track battles — Antonio Giovanazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi survived to take a famous win at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

It was a race that lived up to expectations and saw most of the Hypercar manufacturers in contention for the first half of the race before it came down to a battle between Ferrari and Toyota.

After a titanic scrap between Ferrari and Toyota’s No. 51 and No. 8 Hypercars, it was the Prancing Horse that claimed its 10th overall Le Mans win and its first since 1965.

The race went down to the wire, with the top two on the lead lap until the very end, as close as 16 seconds apart in the penultimate hour before a costly error from Ryo Hirakawa in the No. 8 at Arnage effectively ended Toyota’s chances.

The No. 8 GR010 HYBRID came home second, but that will come as a colossal disappointment for Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Hirakawa and the entire team, who headed into the race with the sole aim of scoring Toyota’s sixth consecutive overall win. Instead, they settled for a podium finish, crossing the line 1m21s behind the winning Ferrari — which had a minor drama at its final stop, the car struggling to fire up.

Completing the podium was the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, which had a metronomic run to the flag, a spin in the wet at Mulsanne Corner the car’s only notable hiccup. It was a really promising performance from Richard Westbrook, Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber, scoring Cadillac its first podium in WEC competition. Cadillac should take great pride in being the first team running an LMDh prototype across the line.

It was by no means a simple race for Cadillac, though, as the other two V-Series.Rs hit trouble in the race and spent much of it recovering. The Action Express example had its chances of a strong finish ended on lap 1 when Jack Aitken had an off in the wet on the exit of the first Mulsanne Chicane, going nose first into the guardrail, causing damage that cost the team multiple laps in the garage. The No. 3 Cadillac Racing machine had a better race, finishing fourth despite losing time when Sebastien Bourdais was rear-ended by the No. 21 AF Corse GTE Ferrari at the Dunlop Bridge and required a trip to the garage for repairs.

The No. 50 AF Corse 499P was delayed by mechanical issues and finished fifth.
Historic win in LMP2 for the Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson of Jakub Smiechowski, Albert Costa and Fabio Scherer. Alexander Trienitz/Motorsport Images

In LMP2, there was drama all the way to the final hour. Winning the race was the No. 34 Inter Europol ORECA in what was a coming-of-age performance from the Polish team, which scored the first-ever Le Mans win for a Polish team. Albert Costa, Jakub Smiechowski and an injured Fabio Scherer (who drove with a broken foot after being run over by the Corvette) were superb in the second half of the race when things started to die down. They were pushed to the very end by WRT’s No. 41 ORECA of Louis Deletraz, Rui Andrade and Robert Kubica, who were just 21 seconds behind by the end of the race.

There were multiple late-race scares for the Inter Europol team, which was under investigation for a pit infringement that would have cost the team its lead if a drive-through was handed out. Fortunately for them, the stewards opted only to issue a reprimand. However, the team’s focus quickly shifted as it had to manually place signage on the pit wall to instruct Scherer to pit in the closing hour as the car’s radio failed. In the end though they finished up first and will celebrate long into the night.

The No. 41 WRT ORECA finished second, with the No. 30 Duqueine ORECA third after the No. 41 WRT sister 07 Gibson had a nose change at its final stop and dropped out of the top three.

GTE Am was a war of attrition, won by Corvette Racing and its pole-sitting No. 33 C8.R. Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg were by far the best trio in the field throughout on pace, but it was not a simple victory. A damper failure in the second hour forced the car into the garage for attention, costing it two laps.

The rest of the race saw a spirited fightback through the field, with all three drivers fast and fault-free, climbing back onto the lead lap and into the class lead with a combination of pace and safety car neutralizations.

It was a historic ninth class win for Corvette in the final GTE race at La Sarthe.

Completing the podium was the No. 25 ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage, which was in the running throughout. The car consolidated second in the final hours when Charlie Eastwood was installed and tasked with catching and passing the Iron Dames Porsche, which dropped to fourth after a lengthy stop at the end.

GR Racing recovered from an early off in the rain showers while leading at the Porsche Curves to complete the podium, Riccardo Pera coming home just five seconds ahead of the all-female crewed Iron Dames Porsche.

Further down the order in GTE Am it was a story of accidents and misfortune, with only nine of the 21 cars in the category finishing. The heavy rain on Saturday caused so many incidents, the changing conditions catching out so many drivers.

Full report to follow.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS

 

Ferrari wins Le Mans as Hypercars claw through 24 hours of drama

Alexander Trienitz/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | June 11, 2023 12:05 PM ET

Ferrari AF Corse’s No. 51 499P Hypercar has won the Le Mans 24 Hours — the centenary edition of the event that was first run in 1923. In a race that had everything: incidents, sudden weather changes, surprise class leaders, mechanical dramas and countless on-track battles, Antonio Giovanazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi survived one of the most chaotic races at La Sarthe in recent memory to take a famous win in front of an enormous crowd of 325,000 people.
Race winners Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi in their Ferrari AF Corse 499P relishing a win in front of the biggest crowd seen at Le Mans in years. Rainier Ehrhardt/Motorsport Images

It was a race that lived up to wild expectations and saw most of the factory cars in the top class remain in contention for the first half of the race before it came down to a battle between Ferrari and Toyota on Sunday morning.

After a titanic scrap between the No. 51 and No. 8 Hypercars, the Prancing Horse claimed its 10th overall Le Mans win and its first since 1965 — an achievement all the more impressive given the young the age of the 499P program. In the car’s first Le Mans appearance, the No. 51 was fast and near-bulletproof, breaking Toyota’s unbeaten run to start the FIA WEC season by completing 342 laps of the circuit.

Racing went down to the wire, with the top two on the lead lap until the very end, as close as 16 seconds apart in the penultimate hour before a costly error from Ryo Hirakawa in the No. 8 at Arnage effectively ended Toyota’s chances. The pendulum kept swinging, with the Toyota’s chances of victory changing by the hour before Hirakawa was entrusted with chasing down the Ferrari in the final dash to the finish. The pit wall was urging him to catch and pass Giovanazzi, but the pressure got to the Japanese driver, who ended up in the barriers with damage to the front and rear of the car that required an emergency stop for repairs. In doing so, the car almost fell off the lead lap.
The aftermath of Hirakawa’s exuberant driving. Rainier Ehrhardt/Motorsport Images

Giovanazzi was ebullient during the celebration.

“It’s just special. We ran the car less than a year ago for the first time. To be here is fantastic. We didn’t expect to survive for 24 hours, but the whole team did a fantastic job. We are all here… After 50 years, we are back and we need to be really proud,” he said.

The No. 8 GR010 HYBRID would eventually come home second, but the runner-up result will come as a colossal disappointment for Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Hirakawa and the entire team, who headed into the race with the sole aim of scoring Toyota’s sixth consecutive overall win. Instead, they had to settle for a podium finish, crossing the line 1m21s behind the winning Ferrari, itself having a minor drama at its final stop, the car struggling to fire up.

“It was a tough one, just to remain on track,” Buemi said. “We were a bit too slow (and) we had to over-drive to keep up with them (Ferrari). They were faster than us. They had more pace. We did everything we could, but full credit to them, they have been very impressive. We have to come back stronger at Monza.”

Completing the podium was the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R which had a metronomic run to the flag — a spin in the wet at Mulsanne Corner was the car’s only notable hiccup. A really promising performance from Richard Westbrook, Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber, scored Cadillac its first podium in WEC competition, the first LMDh car across the line.

“We knew coming in that we had to run our race. We had to run clean because we knew Ferrari and Toyota would be super fast and we had to be the car that doesn’t make a mistake and is always there,” Lynn said. “That is the theme of our season. We always dig in and grind out a result. That’s why I’m so proud of this team and this Cadillac race car. It never misses a beat, and now we can say — on the biggest stage — it didn’t even in the first year of the program. It’s only going to get better.”It was by no means a simple race for Cadillac though, as its other two V-Series.Rs hit trouble early and spent much of the race recovering. Action Express had its chance of a strong finish end on the opening lap when Jack Aitken had an off in the wet on the exit of the first Mulsanne Chicane, going nose-first into the guardail, causing damage that would cost the team multiple laps in the garage. The No. 3 Cadillac Racing machine had a better race, finishing fourth, though it, too, lost time when Sebastien Bourdais was rear-ended by the No. 21 AF Corse GTE Ferrari at the Dunlop Bridge on Saturday night and required a trip to the garage for repairs.

The No. 50 AF Corse 499P was delayed by mechanical issues, including a lengthy stint in the garage for a brake leak, and finished fifth.

For Toyota and Ferrari, the second half of the race was extremely tense as both teams were left with a single car apiece in the fight for victory. The No. 7 Toyota had looked to be the faster of the two GR010s but Kamui Kobayashi ended up getting caught in a multi-car pile-up at Tertre Rouge going into a slow zone. Kobayashi was hit from behind by two cars at once — an Alpine ORECA and the JMW Ferrari — which terminally damaged the car.

Ferrari’s No. 50 also looked strong from pole position, but its woes meant Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina were forced to play rear-gunner for the second half of the race and apply pressure to the No. 8 crew when the two cars came together on track.

But what of the other manufacturers? Porsche and Peugeot both spent time in contention for victory, in part because the opening hours of this race were so chaotic. Pre-race rain made for a greasy track at the start. Further heavy rain came in two bouts into the evening, each time shuffling the order and catching out so many key drivers who were left to fend for themselves on slick tires in the driving rain.

After struggling through the opening rounds of the WEC season with its 9X8s, Peugeot’s search for pace and durability led to Gustavo Menezes hauling the No. 94 into the lead. The Californian was mercurial in the tricky wet conditions, putting Peugeot in the shock position to fight for a famous upset.
The most surprising development early on was the rise of Peugeot, the final classification not telling the full story for the French manufacturer. Rainier Ehrhardt/Motorsport Images

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and the race gradually unraveled for the Peugeot TotalEnergies effort. Menezes, in fact, went from hero to zero overnight, ending up in the barriers at a Mulsanne Chicane, which resulted in the car being repaired in the garage for over 20 minutes. Later in the race the No. 94 hit further trouble with its hydraulic pressure, an issue that impacted both cars.

The No. 93’s eighth-place finish wasn’t the result anyone in the team would have aimed for. Nevertheless, making the end with both cars, and showing some pace on the most important circuit on the calendar, was a mark of real progress, leaing the team wondering whether or not this is the moment the 9X8 program turns the page.

Yifei Ye, another driver who took the lead and then ended up in the barriers, turned the heads of everyone when he steered the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche (which started 60th) to the lead in the fifth hour. Ye then pushed too hard through the Porsche Curves and had an off that severely damaged the car. JOTA would cross the line, but as the last of the classified finishers — 244 laps completed after a lengthy list of woes later in the race. It was a memorable outing for JOTA in only its second race with the 963, but it will leave knowing a better result was on the table.

The same can be said across the board for Porsche. The three factory Penske cars had a torrid time, with mechanical issues impacting each of them. The No. 75 IMSA-crewed car retired out on track with a power loss overnight. The two WEC cars made the finish, 13 and 22 laps down, after a leaking coolant pipe issue overnight and a power loss in the final hour for the No. 5. A puncture, high voltage issue and an off at the Porsche Curves for the No. 6 while pushing to take fourth from the No. 3 Cadillac ended its chances. Unfortunately for the German giant amid its 75th anniversary celebrations, the post-race debrief will not be a positive one.

Of the three non-hybrid entries from Glickenhaus and Vanwall, the American 007s impressed the most, finishing a very respectable sixth and seventh overall.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS BY CLASS

 

Inter Europol overcomes adversity to win LMP2 at Le Mans

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | June 11, 2023 12:55 PM ET

In LMP2, there was drama all the way to the final hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans before the No. 34 Inter Europol ORECA completed what was a coming-of-age performance from the organization, which scored the first-ever Le Mans win for a Polish team.

Albert Costa, Jakub Smiechowski and an injured Fabio Scherer (who drove with a broken foot after being run over by the Corvette in pit lane) were superb in the second half of the race when things started to die down. They were pushed to the very end by WRT’s No. 41 ORECA of Louis Deletraz, Rui Andrade and Robert Kubica, who were just 21 seconds behind by the end of the race.

“When I started the race I thought it was over after 15 minutes because my foot hurt so much,” admitted Scherer, who hopped to the car at each pit stop. But with a lot of treatment, I was able to race. The adrenaline kicked in and I was in the flow. Now I start to feel my foot more and more but it doesn’t matter — to win Le Mans means everything. I don’t care if I can’t walk out of here!”
There were multiple late-race scares for the Inter Europol team, in addition to managing Scherer’s injury. It was under investigation for a pit infringement two hours from the end that would have cost the team its lead if a drive-through was handed out. Thankfully, the penalty was limited to a reprimand.

However, the team’s focus quickly shifted as it had to manually place signage on the pit wall to instruct Scherer to pit in the closing hour as the car’s radio had failed. But they shook it all off and will now celebrate long into the night.

“After our podium at Spa, I thought Le Mans was still too big for us,” said Costa. “But it happened and I am lost for words. I was always following this race when I was younger. So to do it in my first attempt, to win this, is all I can say. It’s amazing.”
Inter Europol Competition’s Jakub Smiechowski, Fabio Scherer and Albert Costa let loose on the Le Mans podium. Alexander Trienitz/Motorsport Images

The No. 41 WRT ORECA of Andrade, Deletraz and Kubica held on to finish second. In the closing stages there was little to separate the Belgian-flagged car and its rival from Poland. But every time the gap between them threatened to get into single digits Inter Europol’s Costa and later Scherer responded.

Completing the class podium was the No. 30 Duqueine ORECA, which was promoted to third after WRT’s sister No. 41 07 Gibson had a nose change at its final stop and dropped out of the top three. It was a frustrating end for Robert Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Sean Galael, who recovered nicely from a front and rear change early in the race after an off in the tricky sodden conditions.

Inter Europol’s victory looks even more impressive when you scan down the final classification and study the teams that failed to feature in the 24-car-strong category. It really was one of the more unlikely victories in the history of the LMP2 class…

Both of United Autosports’ ORECAs, which struggled for ultimate pace in qualifying, hit trouble and came home a distant eighth and 11th.

Prema’s ORECAs struggled too — the No. 63 which featured Doriane Pin, Daniil Kvyat and Mirko Bortolotti in its lineup crashed out overnight and the No. 9 was caught up in the rain, getting speared the out-of-control Racing Team Turkey ORECA at Indianapolis. It limped home 16th.

Panis Racing’s ORECA, with the rapid Job van Uitert aboard, threatened to challenge at times too, but it had a starter motor master switch failure that dropped it down towards the end.

With a 10th-place finish in class, the No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA of George Kurtz, Colin Braun and James Allen won LMP2 Pro/Am, which was a rather chaotic affair. Of the nine cars that took the start, five of them retired, including the No. 80 AF Corse crew of Francois Perrodo, Ben Barnicoat and Norman Nato that looked set to run away with the subclass honors before Barnicoat crashed out at the Porsche Curves after sunrise on Sunday morning.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS BY CLASS

 

2023 LM24, Hour 24: Ferrari Wins The Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans!

Inter Europol Competition wins LMP2, Corvette Racing takes the final GTE victory!

11 June 2023, 3:05 PM
For the first time since 1965, Ferrari has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans!

The #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi won a grueling, action-packed Centenary Edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours. It’s also the first competition win for the 499P in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The winning car completed 342 laps in 24 hours and won by 81.793 seconds.

It wasn’t without a final flash of drama after the car struggled to fire after the last pit stop, but the #51 got going in the end and Ferrari has won the Grand Prix d’Endurance for the first time in 58 years!

In second is the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID (Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa), which came just short of the manufacturer’s sixth straight Le Mans victory after a heartbreaking spin and crash for Hirakawa in the final two hours.

The #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R (Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook) came home third, a lap behind, to take Cadillac’s first overall podium at Le Mans in a formation finish with the other two Cadillacs.



In LMP2, the pride of Poland, Inter Europol Competition, has claimed the greatest win it has ever achieved – a class win at Le Mans!

Punctuated by the gutsy driving of Fabio Scherer, on an injured foot for most of the race, the green and yellow #34 Oreca 07-Gibson of Scherer, Albert Costa, and driver/owner Jakub Smiechowski held on for a popular win in its class.

Scherer gritted though the pain to hold off the #41 Team WRT Oreca (Rui Andrade/Louis Deletraz/Robert Kubica) by =21.015 seconds. Third in LMP2 went to the Team Duqueine #30 (Neel Jani/Rene Binder/Nicolas Pino).



Corvette Racing, for the ninth and final time as the singular factory racing team known for generations, has won at Le Mans – and they are the final winners in the history of the GTE class.

Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating, and Nico Varrone took the honour of being the final class winners in GTE Am history in their #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. The final margin of victory was just a bit over two minutes.

The #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage GTE (Ahmad Al-Harthy/Michael Dinan/Charlie Eastwood) finished second in the end despite carrying a damaged bonnet for most of the race.

And after a spin and crash earlier in the race, the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 (Michael Wainwright/Benjamin Barker/Riccardo Pera) powered through to take third in class.



The innovative and fan-favourite #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 stock car, driven by Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, and Jenson Button took the chequered flag 39th out of 62 starters, completed 285 laps – and most important of all captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of racing fans around the world.

More to come in our expanded class reports!