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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The leading LMP2 pro-am car remains the Algarve Pro entry with George Kurtz currently at the wheel in P10, albeit only 13s ahead of the fast-closing Memo Rojas who dealt the #7 Toyota a blow in its race-ending incident. You may recall that Kurtz lost victory on the line in the LMP2 class at Daytona to the Proton car of James Allen, who is sharing his car here.
Good and bad news for Peugeot. Jensen has just done the fastest lap of the #93, a 3m29.9s, while Muller in #94 has been taken back into the garage on its skates.
There's a flurry of pit activity among the Hypercars as Giovinazzi pits from the lead and the #8 Toyota now also enters for its stop.
Keating was 5s faster than Hyett on each of the last two laps, bringing the gap down to just 1.2s between the two bronzes currently running second and third in GTE Am.
Yellow flag
It's a case of deja vu at Glickenhaus as the sixth-placed #709 of Malleux now also spins at Indianapolis! But this time the car has spun into the barriers on the opposite side of the track having dropped a wheel in the gravel.
Keating has passed Hyett for second in GTE Am with a move to the inside of the second Mulsanne Chicane. Eastwood is closing on the pair of them in fourth.
Green flag
We're back to green-flag running, as the Glickenhaus makes its way back to the pits to assess the damage following that spin.
That long stop as Huffaker took over from Kimura dropped him a lap down to seventh in GTE Am, 53s behind Ben Barker's GR Porsche up ahead.
There is clearly some pace in the #50 Ferrari despite its earlier woes as Fuoco now sets the fastest lap of the race with a 3m27.434s. That was almost three seconds quicker than leader Giovinazzi's most recent lap in the sister 499P.
Change for third in GTE Am as Eastwood demotes Hyett a place. The Aston factory driver now has Corvette's bronze Keating in his sights. TF's silver Michael Dinan and bronze Ahmad Al-Harthy each has a single stint left to do to reach their six hours of driving time.
Both Glickenhaus cars have emerged from the pits, a regular stop for the #708 and repairs for the #709.
The gap up front has gone out to a minute. Giovinazzi didn't take tyres and Buemi did, which added 12s to his deficit.
Eastwood has now moved up into second ahead of Keating. He's 69 seconds behind Frey, but the Dames' bronze Sarah Bovy still has 90 minutes of driving time to use up - which could factor into the mix later on.
Off track
Pro-am LMP2 leader Kurtz has a gravelly moment at the first of the Porsche Curves, which sees him drop behind Memo Rojas in the battle for tenth in class.
There's been many a great sportscar that has never graced the Le Mans 24 Hours. From the Mercedes CLK-GTR, to the Eagle MKIII and Lancia D24, here's our countdown of the very best.
Another milestone in the race as he now have just one quarter of the race remaining. But plenty of opportunity for things to change in the remaining six hours.
So, with the length of a regular WEC race remaining, let's take a look at the order in each of the classes.
In Hypercar, the current order is:
1. #51 Ferrari
2. #8 Toyota
3. #2 Cadillac
4. #3 Cadillac
5. #93 Peugeot
6. #5 Porsche
In LMP2, Costa has stretched his advantage to 44s over WRT's silver Andrade. InterEuropol has the luxury position of having used up the six hours of driving time for its silver Smiechowski, but Andrade has now hit that mark too - so WRT can swap between Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz for the rest of the way.
Over in LMP2, it's slightly closer at the front with the current leaderboard:
1. #34 Inter Europol
2. #41 WRT
3. #30 Duqueine
4. #65 Panis Racing
5. #36 Alpine
6. #31 WRT
And, finally, it's also an intriguing fight over in GTE Am. This is how it currently looks:
1. #25 TF Sport Aston
2. #33 Corvette
3. #56 Project 1 Porsche
4. #85 Iron Dames Porsche
5. #54 AF Corse Ferrari
6. #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari
Next up at the wheel of live are two fresh hands, Stefan Mackley and Sam Hall. Over to you chaps as Stephen and I take some brief respite (hopefully not in the form of the last remaining Toblerone).
We've just had a round of GTE Am pitstops, which have boosted Keating to the lead. He's due in soon though, with Eastwood in last time around.
Morning folks! Less than six hours left and the #51 Ferrari has a lead of more than a minute as it stands at the head of the field. A healthy margin, but as we've seen before, plenty can happen until the final minutes.
Thanks to the early starters, as Stefan and I join the party with glorious sun beaming down on Le Mans. No such Toblerone problem on this end, I am happy to report!
The #2 and the #3 Cadillacs still remain in contention and on the lead lap in the Hypercar class. It's not inconceivable to think there will be at least one more safety car in this wild and unpredictable race, which would bring them right back into the mix.
The #38 Jota Porsche enters the pitlane with heavy damage. Replays show that Antonio Felix da Costa lost it on the exit of Indianapolis and hit the wall head-on.
The #34 LMP2 leader with Fabio Scherer takes advantage of the slow zone to pit, as does the second-placed WRT of Louis Deletraz.
Yellow flag
A slow zone is in place at Indianapolis following that incident for the #38 in order to repair the barrier. Not the first piece of Armco that's needed attention during this race...
The #3 Cadillac has entered the pits from fourth place, with the top three looking likely to follow suit on the next lap.
GTE leaders the #33 Corvette pit and lose position to the Iron Dames Porsche. Rahel Frey is currently at the wheel of the 911 RSR.
In the battle at the front of the GTE class, the Iron Dames have stopped just 17 times compared to the 19 of the Corvette.
In third, with Charlie Eastwood currently at the wheel, the ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR has stopped on 20 occasions.
In third, with Charlie Eastwood currently at the wheel, the ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR has stopped on 20 occasions.
As expected, the leading #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi has pitted and hands the car over to Alessandro Pier Guidi. All seems calm in the Ferrari camp.
Just as we say that, drama! The #51 appears to be stuck in the pits!
Change of the lead in Hypercar! The #8 Toyota takes the lead in the pits. The #51 has rejoined just behind, but a near-minute lead as evaporated for the Ferrari.
It's not yet clear what the problem was for the #51 Ferrari, but Pier Guidi now trails the Toyota of Sebastien Buemi by 6s. Long way to go, but could this be the start of a bigger problem for the Ferrari?
Drama in the Hypercar class - meanwhile, we're enjoying a moment of calm in LMP2 and GTE. That's not something that has often been said!
More issues for the #51 Ferrari, as Pier Guidi's race engineer comes over the radio to say he can't hear his driver. It's all starting to unravel a little bit...
Stop number 28 for the fourth-placed LMP2 Duqueine entry. Nicolas Pino is at the wheel and trails the #65 Panis Racing car by over four minutes.
We're hearing the #51 Ferrari needed a full power cycle at the latest pitstop. Plenty of discussions will be occurring in the team to make sure it doesn't need to be done again at any of the remaining stops.
Whether the issue happens again remains to be seen. But one thing that is clear is that Pier Guidi wants the lead back. The gap between the leading two cars is down to just 2.6s.
By: Autosport Staff
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