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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So, racing will be getting back under way very soon as this safety car shuffle heads to its conclusion. Given the length of this entire process on top of the long safety car period for the incidents anyway, this may need a rethink for next year.
The payoff for all this safety car shuffling is the frontrunners are nose to tail for the recommencing of green flag racing, with the top 12 all on the lead lap.
Green flag
Here we go again!
As Gary predicts, a host of Hypercars pit on the restart. The #94 Peugeot stays out so continues to lead chased by the #38 Jota - behind them it is two Ferraris, two Porsches and a Cadillac all fighting for the same part of track!
Cameron in the #5 Porsche wins that almighty battle to move up to third at the end of the Mulsanne straight.
The top three in LMP2, along with several other cars, have pitted just as the race went green again. That puts the Jota #28 car, which Pietro Fittipaldi gave up to Oliver Rasmussen in the middle of the SC period, into the lead. Liechtenstein's leading Le Mans racer Matthias Kaiser is second for Vector Sport.
A change for the lead! The #38 Jota Porsche driven by Ye overtakes Menezes in the #94 Peugeot and then Cameron in the #5 Porsche zips by to take second.
At the end of that frantic restart lap the #94 Peugeot pits - so maybe it was all for the glory of leading at the restart...
The #36 Alpine has had a spin in the hands of Julien Canal! He lost the front-running LMP2 Alpine exiting the chicane on the Mulsanne and hit the barrier nose-first. But he's on the move again, hopefully without too much damage...
Yellow flag
It hasn't been a great showing for the #311 Action Express Racing Caddy so far. Sims has spun at the Daytona chicane to trigger a brief yellow flag but he gets going again.
Canal has made it back to the pits. Also in LMP2, we have a three-minute stop and go penalty for the #22 United Autosports car. That's for Frederick Lubin's role in the earlier incident with the #77 Porsche.
Penalty
The #3 Cadillac has been give a one-minute stop and go penalty for a technical infringement. The car, currently driven by van der Zande, is currently 12th in class and at risk of dropping off the lead lap.
Iron Dames have held onto their lead in GTE Am since the restart, with Sarah Bovy pulling over five seconds clear of Martin Rump in the #911 Proton Competition car.
Ye in the #38 Jota continues to lead but is now being chased by the #50 Ferrari, which has Molina at the wheel, who has just got by Cameron in the #5 Porsche. We were critical of the safety car procedure but it has guaranteed restart action everywhere you look.
A slow zone has been called for an advertising board which has found its way on to the track. Elsewhere, on the Mulsanne straight, Estre has picked up a right-rear puncture on his #6 Porsche.
Iron Dames and Proton have promptly brought their cars in from the first two spots in GTE Am. The latest leader is Thomas Neubauer for JMW Motorsport...but now he's in as well! This puts AF Corse back in front with its #54 car. And with that car having pitted for slicks shortly before the green, you could argue that the strategies in GTE Am are starting to align and settle. Castellacci now leads Rump, with Iron Dames fourth.
Cameron's early charge has been checked, as he gets loose in the Daytona chicane and is shuffled back to fourth by the #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, who makes the easiest overtake of his career.
The #6 Porsche is crawling back to the pits due to its puncture and has been put a lap down on the leaders.
The #6 Porsche makes it back to the pitlane and the crew get to work on repairs. At the front, Ye is stretching his lead and is 13.5s clear of Molina in the #50 Ferrari.
The #5 Porsche has been reported to the stewards for overtaking the #100 Walkenhorst Ferrari under the safety car.
Oliver Rasmussen's LMP2-leading #28 Jota car has pulled out 10 seconds on AF Corse's Norman Nato on the tricky, drying circuit. But Nato is responding already...
Stopwatch
Ye is on it, oh yes Ye is. The #38 Jota Porsche driver puts in a 3m28.979s to set his car's fastest lap of the race and push his lead to 14s.
Bovy has brought the Iron Dames Porsche back into the top three, passing Robin Arnold on track - where the sun is shining in places.
Penalty
That earlier investigation on the #5 Porsche has been concluded and it is bad news for the German squad, as the car has been given a drive-through penalty for overtaking under the safety car.
The #30 LMP2 car of Nicolas Pino has taken a trip through the gravel. Meanwhile Julien Canal's #36 Alpine, which clouted the barrier not so long ago, is running, 16th in class, but not turning in particularly good lap times.
Crash
Oh no! Ye has crashed from the lead in the #38 Jota! He's gone off at the Porsche curves and hit the wall, taking off the rear wing and sustaining a lot of damage.
Yellow flag
Ye gets going again but in his haste is hitting kerbs and throwing more debris all over the track. He makes it back to the pits as a Full Course Yellow is called.
The #51 Ferrari has duly picked up the lead after Ye's off. It is a Ferrari 1-2, Giovinazzi leading from Molina in the sister car.
Ye is out of the #38 Jota as his crew gets to work on repairs. The Chinese driver looks devastated, glaring at the ground while reflecting on what's just happened.
Pit stop
Just before the Full Course Yellow gets withdrawn, both Ferraris pit together to cycle back into the pack and now the #75 Porsche heads the field driven by Tandy.
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In GTE Am it's still AF Corse (Castellacci), Proton Competition (Rump) and Iron Dames (Bovy) leading the way for the moment. Meanwhile the #923 Racing Team Turkey LMP2 car has had a little off, as Louis Deletraz continues to hold a narrow class lead over Oliver Jarvis.
We've not spoken about the Toyotas since they both pitted on the safety car restart, but they are up to 2-3 tucked behind the #75 Porsche as the #94 Peugeot pits from second.
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Dixon on his opening stint in the #3 Caddy: “Definitely a tough first stint just with weather and a lot of slow zones. That was pretty much the only drive time I had was in slow zones. With that massive downpour, I actually spun the car and was worried I was going to get hit from behind like two or three other cars behind me. Luckily, I just grazed the wall and I had a flat tyre. We had to pit that lap anyway.”
Oliver Jarvis has just pitted for United Autosports. He'll remain in the car for the next stint in what happen to be fairly reasonable conditions - the air temperature is at a comfortable 23 degrees. Deletraz comes in next lap around, promoting Rasmussen to the lead.
It hasn't been a good hour or so for Porsche, as the #5 is now crawling on the Mulsanne straight. At the same time the #38 Jota Porsche is repaired and back out on track with Stevens at the wheel - but in 14th in class and four laps down.
It's tight in GTE Am, with just a couple of seconds splitting leader Francesco Castellacci and second-placed Martin Rump. The Iron Dames, Sarah Bovy at the wheel, are 1.5s further back.
The Toyotas pit together to drop to sixth and seventh, giving Tandy in the #75 Porsche a breather as he now has a 10s lead over the Ferraris.
By: Autosport Staff
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