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24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours.
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The eagerly-anticipated centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours is the first in which cars built to the new-for-2023 LMDh ruleset have been eligible to compete.
Toyota is seeking a sixth consecutive victory at the world's most famous endurance race, while Ferrari on its first factory effort in the top class in half a century and fellow returnee Porsche are gunning for their 10th and 20th victories respectively.
A field of 62 cars, including the Garage 56 NASCAR entry and 21 GTE Am machines on the category's Le Mans swansong, will take the start at the Circuit de la Sarthe at 4pm local time and race through the night.
Join us here for live updates throughout the race.
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Pit stop
Next up to pit is the #7 Toyota as the strategies are starting to converge a little in the Hypercar class following the stops for wets. The #8 also stops further back.
Pit stop
Richard Lietz has just pitted from fourth in GTE Am, and stays aboard. A steady pair of hands if ever there was one, as these certainly aren't ideal conditions to plug in the inexperienced Michael Fassbender.
Quote
Here are a few thoughts from early leader Sebastien Buemi about the chaotic first chunk to this year's race: “I have never seen so many incidents at the start of Le Mans before. Our first priority was to stay on track and out of trouble, because you don’t win the race in the first hour. It was important to keep it clean and not make any mistakes.”
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It seemed a fairly innocuous crash, but the 72 TF Sport Aston has been retired after Arnold Robin's brush with the barriers at Porsche Curves.
Mechanical problem
And those troubles for the #75 seem to be terminal as there are reports that the Porsche has a fuel pressure problem and is out of the race.
Pit stop
An intriguing message pops up on the timing screens - car #23 is requested to enter the pitlane and the driver to be sent to the medical centre. LMP2 leader Blomqvist duly complies, just two laps after he'd made his last pit visit.
After all the drama, it's surprising that's the first Hypercar retirement of the race, considering there are eight across the other classes.
Crash
We're informed that Blomqvist informed his United Autosport team he had no brakes and had front and rear damage prior to coming in. His #23 ORECA is still in the pits having lost two laps. A nightmare development for the erstwhile leader.
Also problems for the #93 Peugeot as the car is reported to have its door open and sure enough it pits.
Crash
Another one in strife is the Vanwall as Guerrieri has spun off at the Esses and is stuck in the gravel.
We've also heard that Scherer, who is now back in the lead for InterEuropol, has an injured foot. The team says it doesn't know the extent of the problem. He is 24s ahead of Kubica out in front.
After losing two laps, Pierson is back out of the pits in the #23 United car that had to make that out of sequence stop.
This has been quite the storming stint from Cairoli, who has pulled away from Gatting to the tune of a minute out in front. Fun fact: one of the key engineers behind that Project 1 car, Richard Selwin, is maybe better known as one of the key players behind the iSport GP2 team.
The Vanwall has now been retrieved from the gravel and is back on its way, it's eight laps down after its earlier woes.
Penalty
Car #32 earns a 15-second stop-go for a pitlane speeding penalty. InterEuropol's cars almost bookend the LMP2 field, in first and 21st. Anders Fjordbach is 13 laps down, ahead only of the DKR ORECA.
Injured foot or no, Scherer is extending his lead over Kubica in LMP2 which now stands at 29s. Only nine cars are still on the lead lap, and there's a frenetic battle for eighth between Maldonado (Panis) and Lapierre (Cool).
We haven't mentioned the overall leaders for a little while and that's because they're continuing to pound around at this stage of the race. Pier Guidi continues to lead in the #51 Ferrari and is 48s ahead of the #94 Peugeot, which continues to impress in second. Next up is Kobayashi in the first of the Toyotas and then it's the second Ferrari.
Up in the fully dark skies over Le Mans, the fans in the grandstands and spectator banks are being treated to a tremendous drone light display that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the famous race.
It's been a long old slog for Corvette Racing after its early damper delay. Catsburg is 11th, still two laps down on the GTE Am leader and behind the GR Porsche which pounded the Porsche Curves barriers backwards when the first chaotic rain fell.
Blomqvist is fine, according to United Autosport, but protocol dictated by his in-car G-sensor required him to pay a visit to the medical centre. His car is still running with Pierson aboard in P17.
Vanthoor has returned to the track in the TF Sport-run Team Turkey ORECA that Yoluc was driving when he encountered Urgan in his path at Indianapolis. It was a half hour delay for the British squad, which now is down to just two cars in the Am division.
Muller in the second-placed Peugeot is continuing to close the gap to the leading Ferrari and it now stands at 43s.
There's a brief spin for the #311 Action Express Cadillac that was in strife on the very first lap of the race but it now gets back on its way and remains 17 laps down.
Comfortably the fastest LMP2 driver on track right now is Bortolotti in the #63 Prema car which was badly delayed early on by debris from Aitken's opening lap crash. Its 12th right now, monstering up behind the #36 Signatech in which Julien Canal led early on before spinning into the barriers exiting the second Mulsanne Chicane.
Nielsen has brought the #50 Ferrari in from fourth for its latest stop, while Pier Guidi has upped his pace a little at the front and has extended the gap over Muller's Peugeot in second again.
Yellow flag
We've now got a slow zone in place to retrieve some debris from the track, not too sure who or what is responsible.
D'station's Aston has been in the pits for a little while now and is tumbling back down the GTE Am order. Cairoli now leads by 1m10s from Gatting, with Rigon still 2m28s down in third. Huffaker in the Kessel Ferrari has dropped a lap down in fourth and is 39s up on Lietz in fifth.
Pit stop
Muller is the next of the Hypercars to pit as he brings the #94 Peugeot in from second - the 9X8 continues to defy expectations with a competitive run to date.
Pit stop
More cars pit as the Hypercars are now running similar strategies and it's the #2 Cadillac of Bamber.
Pit stop
Scherer pits from the lead of LMP2 with 90s in hand over Kubica, who had already stopped.
Pit stop
And now it's leader Pier Guidi's turn to bring the #51 in for its 10th stop of the race.
Pit stop
Kobayashi also stops in the #7 Toyota that had moved up to second following the other pit visits, while the #5 and #6 Porsches are serviced as well from lower down in the top 10.
After passing the Alpine rookie on track, Barnicoat had dropped behind Caldwell in the previous stint. But when his Signatech LMP2 team inserted Memo Rojas, Barnicoat moved back ahead into third in the leading pro-am entry. Scherer remains in the lead after his stop by 12s over Kubica, while Binder (Duqueine) has moved ahead of Rojas into fourth.
Off track
And there's trouble for long-time leader Pier Guidi! He's spun at the first chicane and we've now got a Peugeot leading!
The Ferrari is beached in the gravel at the Daytona chicane on the Mulsanne and there seemed to have been contact from cars in front of him.
Pier Guidi is told to make sure he "shakes off the rocks" before he drives back and his car is very quickly recovered by the rescue crews. But the Ferrari has already dropped to fifth.
Pit stop
It's of little consequence relative to the overall leader but Binder has pitted from fourth in LMP2.
It looks like the #911 Porsche of Lietz and the Glickenhaus of #708 tangled in front of the Ferrari and Pier Guidi was left with nowhere to go.
Mechanical problem
Drama, the JMW Ferrari is smoking and stranded on track before Tertre Rouge!
And there's trouble for the #7 Toyota as well as three cars have come together approaching Tertre Rouge! We're now under full course yellow.
By: Autosport Staff
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