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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Crash
Ugran stayed out but that decision could prove costly. He goes straight on at Indianapolis and is joined in the run-off by Lubin and Yoluc, the Turkey car careering straight into the right-rear of the Prema car as it tried to recover.
Off track
And we have another car off, it's Chandler Hull in the Walkenhorst Ferrari who has spun at the second Mulsanne chicane. Bedlam, in a word.
So after that flurry of pit activity, the #51 Ferrari is still in the lead from the #94 Peugeot, then it's the #2 Caddy and the #7 Toyota. The #50 Ferrari is now down to fifth after its off.
Through the chaos in LMP2 Scherer now has a 44s lead over Blomqvist with Kubica third. Ugran has made it back to the pits after that hefty whack on his right-rear, but is dragged back to the box for what are likely to be lengthy delays.
Meanwhile, Petronbelli has been lifted back onto the road after his off from the GTE Am lead in the JMW Ferrari. Gatting leads Cairoli by 58s, with gentleman driver Flohr doing an admirable job in third 90s back. Richard Lietz is fourth in the Fassbender 911 in the last car on the lead lap.
Crikey, visibility on the Mulsanne Straight is absolutely dreadful.
Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari came back into the pits after his off at Indianapolis. That's put him down to fifth, and a long way back from team-mate and race leader Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Green flag
With Hull's car cleared the slow zones are removed and we're back to green flag conditions. This is perhaps the definition of trecherous.
The #709 Glickenhaus has now been given a one-minute stop/go penalty for a technical infringement as the troubles continue for its cars.
The big winner through all of this is the InterEuropol car which now has a 29s lead in LMP2. Fabio Scherer has Tom Blomqvist closing though - the Briton was 12s faster last time around.
The #3 Caddy now has an off through the first Mulsanne chicane with van der Zande at the wheel as the rain continues to cause trouble.
And now it's Westbrook's turn to have a spin in the #2 Caddy at Mulsanne Corner but he remains in fourth.
The lead pro-am LMP2 runner is fifth in the class overall. Since taking over from bronze Francois Perrodo, Ben Barnicoat has hoovered up Manuel Maldonado's Panis car and then pounced upon Rene Binder's Duqueine. Impressive stuff from the Brit in these foul conditions.
Another driver on a charge is Cairoli, who carved 13s out of Gatting's GTE Am lead last time around. The Dames driver is now 22s ahead of the rampaging 'Rexy' Porsche.
Things have calmed down a little for the time being but it's still extremely slippery out there. But the #51 Ferrari is making the most of these conditions and has stretched out a lead of a minute over Duval in the Peugeot.
Meanwhile Flohr has handed the #54 Ferrari that sits third in the GTE Am ranks back to factory driver Rigon, who now sits 2m39s off the lead.
We've not talked about the Garage 56 NASCAR for a little while, but Jimmie Johnson is back aboard the Camaro which is still (just) on the first page of the timing screens in 41st position. He has seven GTE Am cars ahead of him, and is currently lapping around 18s per lap slower than Cairoli who is the fastest GT driver on track right now.
Scherer has stabilised his lead over Blomqvist in LMP2, with the gap around 28s between them. Kubica is a further 10s behind Blomqvist, while Barnicoat is applying pressure on Caldwell for fourth 82s off the lead.
As if these conditions weren't challenging enough, it appears this is Hirakawa's first experience of wet weather in the WEC so it's no surprise to see him lapping slightly slower than some of the other Hypercar contenders in the #8 Toyota.
Pier Guidi may be flying out front in the #51 Ferrari and extending his lead over the Peugeot, but fastest man on the track is Jaminet in the #75 Porsche. He's just posted a couple of 4m02s in a row
Caldwell is doing a good job of holding off Barnicoat in their battle over fourth. The Alpine rookie isn't making this easy for his much more experienced compatriot - who it must be said is making his P2 debut at Le Mans after two previous outings in GTE Am.
Now it's Duval who is the fastest among the Hypercar runners as the times are coming down. The Peugeot driver is the first to break four minutes.
Johnson's struggles in the wet means he's lost another spot in the overall rankings to Tomonobu Fuji's d'Station Aston - who is lapping around 8s per lap faster.
The pressure tells on Caldwell - he runs deep at Mulsanne Corner and loses fourth in LMP2 to Barnicoat. Not helpful was the #66 JMW Ferrari overshooting the corner just ahead of him.
Mechanical problem
And there's trouble for the #75 Porsche of Jaminet! He's stopped at Tertre Rouge.
Lead change in GTE Am. It's been coming, and Cairoli's 'Rexy' Project 1 Porsche now takes Gatting's Iron Dames example for the lead.
After all the spins and crashes, this seems to be a mechanical problem for Jaminet in the Porsche that was running in seventh.
Jaminet has now finally got the Porsche back moving but it's only at the slowest of tortoise crawls and it will be remarkable if this can get back to the pits.
Blomqvist is really making inroads into Scherer's lead in LMP2. The gap between them is down to 16s.
Ugran's Prema ORECA finally leaves the pits after its extensive repairs to the right-rear corner hit by Yoluc in the downfall at Indianapolis. It was a 39-minute spell in the pits for the Romanian.
Pit stop
The #50 Ferrari has now pitted again with Nielsen at the wheel, remember he had already made an extra stop earlier.
And the reason for the Nielsen stop is a move to slicks - this is a chance for the second Ferrari to act as a guinea-pig for Pier Guidi in the lead. Seems a bit of a gamble at this stage though.
The rain has abated and the track is noticeably less wet now but it's still far from what can be described as dry.
Duval is continuing to lap far quicker in the Peugeot than Pier Guidi in the lead and has now got the gap down to less than a minute.
We may have a lead change imminent in LMP2 as Blomqvist is just 2s behind Scherer.
Pit stop
That lead change may have to wait as into the pits come Scherer and Blomqvist from first and second.
Pit stop
And just as we big up Duval's efforts, he now dives into the pits and is joined by the #2 Caddy that was running fourth.
Blomqvist comes out ahead! With a fresh set of slicks on, the Brit emerges ahead of Scherer's InteEuropol car. They're joined in the its by Kubica and Rasmussen who had moved up to fourth in the Jota car delayed by its brush with the barriers at Tertre Rouge.
After those stops the Toyotas are now second and third, although the #8 of Hirakawa is now two-and-a-half minutes behind the leading Ferrari.
Pit stop
Now the lead Ferrari pits as Pier Guidi dives in for the #51, while further back both the #5 and #6 Porsche are also in.
By: Autosport Staff
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