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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Stopwatch
Hartley is chiselling away at Giovinazzi's lead. Last time around he set the #8 Toyota's fastest lap of the race of 3m27.855s to bring the gap down to 12.6s.
Meanwhile Kubica is struggling to make an impression on Costa in LMP2. The gap is hovering around the 22s mark, though the Pole's last lap was a second slower than the Spaniard's.
Pit stop
Makowiecki in the #5 Porsche pits and comes out behind the #50 Ferrari which it is now fighting for fifth place. It hasn't been a great race for any of the Porsche runners in the top category, the #38 Jota's brief time leading the standout moment.
Hartley improves on his lap time again to cut the gap down to 11.5s. The Toyota remains in striking range, but can it carve out an opportunity to pass on track or through strategy?
Robin Frijns is among the LMP2 chasers setting a roaring pace, having just set the fastest lap for the second WRT entry - three seconds faster than Kubica in the team's lead car! They're second and fifth in the class - and while Kubica chases Albert Costa, Frijns will have his eye on at least Neel Jani in the Duqueine up ahead.
Stopwatch
Another lap, another Hartley personal best lap in the Toyota. A 3m27.549s pulls Giovinazzi ever closer, the gap down to 9.5s.
The Corvette's lead in GTE Am is now north of 70 seconds! Michelle Gatting may soon need to worry about defending second place from Charlie Eastwood, who is now within 20 seconds of the Iron Dames driver and lapping faster.
Just like earlier this morning, the joker in the pack is the #50 Ferrari which is between Hartley and Giovinazzi on the track but is six laps down. How much will Ferrari use the sister car to hold up the Toyota and aid its leading effort?
Pit stop
The answer is not much. The #50 Ferrari pits on schedule to give the Toyota a clear track ahead. Nielsen jumps out of the Ferrari to give way to Fuoco.
After a lengthy stop in the garage with a driveline issue, the #24 NASCAR effort is back out on the track and currently 39th overall.
As the LMP2 brigade complete another round of pitstops, things are strategically quite interesting if the race stays green to the flag. Making it home with two stops from here might be a tight business - but nothing a slow zone or two won't solve...
Pit stop
Hartley pits for Toyota and after a mega effort trying to close the gap to Ferrari, that task is now Hirakawa's, who has been given the nod over Buemi with just under two hours to go.
Pit stop
The #51 Ferrari pits as expected a lap later than the Toyota for fuel and a touch up before its next stint.
It's still Costa v Kubica at the top in LMP2, with the gap now out to 27s. But Nicolas Pino has taken over the Duqueine entry from Neel Jani, and his immediate job will be defending third place from the still-flying Robin Frijns. That second WRT car is the quickest on track right now, and just 11s off a podium spot.
Stopwatch
Fuoco pops in a new fastest lap of the race in the #50 Ferrari, a 3m26.984s, to demonstrate his one-lap class having taken pole for the race earlier in the week.
Gatting (still struggling not to picture a bearded England cricketer...) neatly kicks off the next round of GTE Am stops. She hands over to Rahel Frey, who may be involved in a close fight for second with Charlie Eastwood once the stops are done...
If you're wondering why the #48 IDEC Sport car has slipped down the LMP2 leaderboard a little, the reason is a puncture.
For those who aren't so familiar with Hirakawa's exploits, here's Jamie Klein's insight on the 29-year-old trying to win Le Mans for Toyota:
"Hirakawa is arguably facing the biggest pressure of his career in this final stint in the #8 Toyota having replaced Kazuki Nakajima in the marque's WEC line-up for 2022.
"Hirakawa shot to prominence in 2017 when he and Nick Cassidy won the SUPER GT title for TOM'S, becoming the youngest-ever GT500 champions. Several near misses followed in the subsequent years, most notably when Hirakawa ran out of fuel within sight of the chequered flag at Fuji in 2020, creating scenes eerily similar to Toyota's heart-breaking last-lap stoppage in 2016.
"The 29-year-old from Hiroshima is also handy in a single-seater, finishing runner-up in 2020 in Super Formula, a series he continues to combine with his WEC duties. Next weekend, he'll be in action at the wheel of his Team Impul car at Sugo."
Crash
Hirakawa is off! He locks up in the #8 Toyota and clips the barrier at Arnage!
The Toyota locked up under braking, drifting into the barrier on the left, and slide into the run-off. Hirakawa gets going again but his car is damaged - is that where this race was lost for Toyota?
Pit stop
Hirakawa makes its back to the Toyota pits for his team to assess the damage, but he has fallen a lap down on the lead #51 Ferrari and with only 100 minutes left to go in this race, that could be that.
Hirakawa is back on track and avoided falling a lap down, but the lead Ferrari is right behind the Toyota on track. The gap is at 3m22s which is, in effect, a full lap.
24s is Costa's lead over Kubica in LMP2. It's been in that ballpark for some time now. Things are getting hot for third, though, with Frijns now 4.5s off Pino.
The small slice of good news for Toyota is that it remains in second place, having earlier built up a big enough buffer over the #2 Cadillac. Hirakawa has 2m40s over Westbrook.
Charles Leclerc is in the Ferrari garage watching the #51 on the cusp of victory... you can make up your own punchline for that one.
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With Catsburg now having stopped the lead Corvette and emerged still in front, the last of the front-runners to make their (probable) penultimate stop in GTE Am is the #56 Project 1-A0. The toothy green machine may thus be one to watch if a safety car comes along late in the race. Meanwhile Eastwood is well within sight of Rahel Frey, looking to grab second place.
Frey has made a couple of errors in races this season, and needs to keep cool with Eastwood hunting her down. Will she risk a likely podium by fighting the (currently) quicker Aston?
After all that drama things have settled down again, with Giovinazzi leading by 3m22s from Hirakawa, with the Japanese driver 2m59s up on Westbrook in third.
Eastwood has passed Frey into the first chicane. The Porsche looks to strike back, but it looks like the Irishman has secured second place for now.
Breaking news
Here's the full story on Hirakawa's off which has badly dented Toyota's victory hopes: https://www.autosport.com/le-mans/news/toyotas-le-mans-hopes-take-major-blow-after-hirakawa-off/10481571/
As the penultimate round of stops begins in LMP2, the lead car's toughest battle still seems to be with officialdom. The #34 is under investigation once again...we'll keep you posted...
Given the gaps are stretched out at the front, the closest fight for position in the top class is between the #5 Porsche and #50 Ferrari for fifth place. Fuoco has trimmed the deficit to 17s, but Christensen is keeping him in check for now.
Fabio Scherer hops his way over to that #34 car and relieves Albert Costa. The Inter Europol team car takes on new tyres - and will now have Louis Deletraz to hold off after he took over the Team WRT machine from Robert Kubica. The gap is a comfortable 18 seconds, but there is still that investigation pending...
Pit stop
Giovinazzi pits from the lead in the #51 Ferrari to hand over to Pier Guidi for the final hour and eight minutes of the race.
Pier Guidi is given new medium tyres for the start of his final stint and he should take the #51 Ferrari to the finish - all things being well.
Frijns has just grabbed the third place he had been hunting for some time in LMP2. Rene Binder was the victim, having taken over the Duqueine from Nicolas Pino.
While the Corvette still holds a comfortable lead of over a minute in GTE Am and is the fastest of the front-runners, LMP2 is bubbling up regardless of any impending penalties. Louis Deletraz is eating into Fabio Scherer's lead - it's down to 14s.
Quote
Speaking to TV, Giovinazzi gives his take on his final, and potentially decisive, stint: "I'm really happy for what we've done so far with the team. The last stint was quite tough, we were pushing Toyota and us, and we tried to put some pressure on Toyota to make a mistake and this is it. We're still pushing, still one hour to go."
Less than an hour to go now, so that means the new one-car safety-car procedure can't happen. It would be the 'old' three-car set-up if a yellow is called now.
By: Autosport Staff
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