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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Christensen has a transmission problem in the #5 Porsche, which will mark a cruel end to the race for the German manufacturer. The next-best Porsche is the sister #6 car down in 22nd overall.
No luck for Frey so far as she tries to snatch back third place in GTE Am. Pera in third has a 10-second advantage now.
Scherer pits from the lead, feeling the pressure of great out lap by Deletraz. He'll stay on board for the final stint. And his cushion for the sprint to the flag shakes out at 11.6 seconds.
The #5 Porsche is going slowly! That fight for fifth is looking very one-sided now, as Fuoco blasts by in the #50 Ferrari. Christensen is nursing his car back to the pits.
Neel Jani jumps aboard the Duqueine car in a final bid to reclaim third place from Frijns' WRT car.
Pier Guidi's lead has been trimmed to 2m50s by Hirakawa, but that is likely to be due to the Italian taking minimal risks approaching the final 30 minutes of the race.
Last stops (barring any stop-go!) for the top two in LMP2. Deletraz is first in, having got to within eight seconds of Scherer, who has no radio communications but just came within four tenths of that car's quickest lap of the race...
Pit stop
The #50 Ferrari had briefly climbed up to fifth place ahead of the #5 Porsche, but Fuoco pits for tyres and fuel to release Christensen back up a spot.
With the all the pitstops now completed for the leading GTE Am runners, Corvette leads Aston Martin as expected. But the GR Racing Porsche of Riccardo Pera has snuck ahead of the Iron Dames Porsche for third! That's sad news for most neutrals willing on the all-female squad to a podium, but it's not over yet! And Rahel Frey is responding - the deficit is six seconds...
The reduction in disruption could also be down to stable weather conditions and a smaller field circulating, as we've lost over one-third of the cars that started this race.
It is also worth noting that after the chaotic opening 10 hours to the race with safety car periods, rain showers and clashes, the race has run without a major interruption.
The gaps between the podium trio remains unchanged, three minutes splits both Pier Guidi to Hirakawa and Hirakawa to Bamber, while Bourdais in the fourth-placed #3 Caddy is a lap back on the sister car. Barring any disasters, that looks to be settled - but you can never rule out that happening at Le Mans!
As the LMP2 runners toy with coming in for the final time, the lead for Scherer's Inter Europol car is down to 10s, with Deletraz chasing hard for Team WRT. Still no news on any penalty for that car.
The last set of GTE Am stops is now underway, with the Iron Dames having pitted from third place. Rahel Frey remains at the wheel.
The #50 Ferrari driven by Fuoco is hassling the Toyota looking for a way to gain a lap back on it. The gap is currently five laps so it isn't going to change a lot, but it is the last thing Hirakawa needs while counting the cost of his earlier off.
Pit stop
Hirakawa pits in the #8 Toyota for fuel as expected, to see Ferrari's lead grow back towards the three-minute mark.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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...
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/
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.
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.
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?
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Crash
Hirakawa is off! He locks up in the #8 Toyota and clips the barrier at Arnage!
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."
If you're wondering why the #48 IDEC Sport car has slipped down the LMP2 leaderboard a little, the reason is a puncture.
By: Autosport Staff
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