Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours.
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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Continuing the retirement theme, the fewest laps completed by a car last year was 77. But this year there are eight that haven't completed that distance.
As the pass around process is finally beginning it seems the right moment for Autosport to have a change-over on live text, too. Over to Haydn Cobb for the next overnight stint.
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Good morning everyone - time for the serious racing to resume very soon. The safety car pass around is under way so we'll shuffle our own papers into order and get ready to go green.
It has been a manic opening nine hours to this race, but will things settle down under the cover of night? Or will the incidents continue to pile up? We've got a green flag restart to navigate first, so that'll keep things busy to start with.
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According to the TV graphics, there's been 22 changes for the lead so far - decided by a new leader starting a new lap. Given the current leader has completed 112 laps, that's a change every five and a bit laps. Wild.
The #80 AF Corse with Barnicoat at the wheel is limping along now struggling to regain full power. It doesn't look good.
Barnicoat is crawling along at Indianapolis, going through numerous power cycles, but without much success to cure his problem. The pit entry is currently closed during the safety car drop back process, so even if he gets to the pits he'll have to wait outside. Like a teenager who has forgotten his house keys after a night out.
The safety car is coming in this lap - and the limping #80 AF Corse has been told to take to the run off before the pit entry opens. Here we go again.
Green flag
At the restart #3 Cadillac has gone by the leaders to get back on to the lead lap! And now the #8 Toyota leads, overtaking the #94 Peugeot in the darkness on the Mulsanne straight. Wow!
So that will be the 23rd change of lead on a new lap. Hirakawa leads by 2s from Muller in the #94 Peugeot, chased by the pair of Ferraris who have got up to third and fourth.
Crash
There's a tangle of LMP2s, the #28 and the #65 come together and it has seen Fittipaldi become beached. So there's another slow zone to contend with.
Penalty
The #25 ORT by TF has been given a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.
Hirakawa continues to lead in the sole remaining Toyota but cannot shake the #94 Peugeot from his tail just yet with a 3.2s gap. Pier Guidi is requesting Ferrari to allow him through on team-mate Fuoco to go after the leaders.
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The #5 Porsche is in the garage up on the jacks to make its latest tale of woe. That has allowed the #93 Peugeot to move up eighth place.
Andrade continues to pilot the #41 Team WRT in the lead of LMP2, having a very impressive stint so far. The #34 Inter Europol car is its closest challenger at the moment driven by Smiechowski.
Pier Guidi has overtaken Ferrari stablemate Fuoco to move the #51 up to third place overall. Time to scamper after the leaders.
Crash
Kvyat has crashed heavily in the #63 Prema - that looks terminal.
Pit stop
Hirakawa pits from the lead, to hand that honour back to Muller in the #94 Peugeot, but the Full Course Yellow may have changed Toyota's driver switch plan as the Japanese driver stays put.
Kvyat is OK and walking away from his crashed #63 Prema, so that is retirement number 13 in this race. The former F1 driver hit the wall hard on the left and rebounded across the track to hit the other barrier before coming to a stop on the side of the track.
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Fireworks on and off the track tonight!
Fire works at night
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Muller and his Peugeot crew have a chat about tyres and the dreaded R word is mentioned - they predict rain is coming in the next 25-30 minutes. So they wish to stick with the current tyres in case they need to switch to wets later on.
Pit stop
The #50 Ferrari pits and is wheeled into the garage for what we think is the first time this race they've needed to work on the car. They are looking for a fluid leak.
Ah, that wasn't so good. The #311 Action Express Caddy spins at the final corner under the Full Course Yellow but Derani largely gets away with it - albeit he'll be left red faced.
Off we go again! Back to green flag racing as Kvyat's destruction job is swept up.
Another leader change! The #51 Ferrari is back at the front as it overtakes the #94 Peugeot at the resumption. Pier Guidi regains the lead he lost for spinning off a few hours ago.
Pit stop
It doesn't last though as the #51 Ferrari pits. Pier Guidi jumps out and is replaced by Calado. Further down pitlane the Toyota also pits, and jumps the Ferrari in the process, with Buemi at the wheel now.
The #50 Ferrari remains in the garage with its leak issue and has dropped off of the lead lap. At the front the #94 Peugeot isn't giving up the lead easily but now has the #2 Cadillac for company just 1.3s back.
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Ferrari is reporting that the problem with #51 is the cooling system for the hybrid system.
The #37 Cool Racing leads in LMP2 and is going long in this stint to try to time its stop for when the forecasted rain arrives.
While in GTE Am, Jeannette has jumped into the leading #56 Project 1 Porsche but is being reeled in by the #85 Iron Dames with Frey at the wheel.
The #94 Peugeot and #2 Cadillac both pit to bring the frontrunners back together. Muller leads for the French squad, 6.7s ahead of Toyota's Buemi and then comes Ferrari's Calado and Cadillac's Lynn.
Yellow flag
The #50 Ferrari remains stuck in the garage and is now tumbling through the LMP2 order as the leaders in that class begin to overtake it on the leaderboard. Another Full Course Yellow has been called, presumably for debris clear up as no cars have stopped on track.
Green flag
A brief Full Course Yellow ends and we're back to full green flag conditions. At the same time the #50 Ferrari returns to the action, six laps down on the leaders.
There's a fight for second place in GTE Am erupting, with Rump in the #911 Proton passing the #85 Iron Dames with Frey at the wheel. For the film fans out there, that's the car with Michael Fassbender in it.
As we've seen so far in this race, everything can change in an instant, but all being well we have a four-way fight for victory with just 12 seconds splitting them. Peugeot vs Toyota vs Ferrari vs Cadillac. #94 vs #8 vs #51 vs #2. Bring. It. On.
By: Autosport Staff
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