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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But, just as we type that, the Jota Porsche is one of three Hypercars to stop as the two Ferraris elect to make their third stops during this slow zone.
Yellow flag
While we have the slow zone to recover Schiavoni's stricken Ferrari, let's just take a pause and recap what has been a relentless start to this race. An aggressive Buemi grabbed the lead from the front-row starting Ferraris on the opening lap before a lengthy safety car. Buemi continued to lead thereafter as the Ferraris battled the second Toyota.
Various different cars have had a stint in the lead as different pit strategies emerge but it's now Buemi back at the front from the Jota Porsche of da Costa that stopped during the early safety car.
Meanwhile the DKR ORECA is trailing slowly back to the pits with damage to the rear wing on Maxime Martin's machine, which has had a tough old day of it so far.
Race control confirms that Ricky Taylor is okay after his earlier crash. Excellent news.
Pit stop
Kubica now pits from the LMP2 lead. He'd built up a lead just over 10s from Milesi, who stays out as Fittipaldi follows the WRT machine in. Pierson likewise comes in from fourth.
Pit stop
Lead change in GTE Am as Cairoli pits the erstwhile leading Project 1 Porsche and hands over to PJ Hyett. Barker remains on track ahead of Frey, Lietz, Rigon, Eastwood and Segal.
It's all getting really close at the front in the group battling for second. Down the Mulsanne, Fuoco goes on the grass in his efforts to pass the Vanthoor Porsche and just squeezes through to take third.
Crash
Two GTE Am Porsches make contact entering Tertre Rouge. The Iron Lynx of Schiavone gets on the grass exiting the Esses and spins into the path of the helpless Proton example of Hardwick, who has nowhere to go. Both are able to continue but with not insignificant damage.
Back at the front, Buemi has a 10-second lead but the next four cars - two Porsches, the first Ferrari and the second Toyota - are now covered by three seconds.
The Vanwall has now returned to the fray after a left-rear damper failure. It is last of the Hypercar machines now running and is four laps off the leaders.
Christensen now pits the #5 from the lead of the race so that cycle of stops have now been completed. Buemi in the #8 Toyota retakes the heading the #38 Jota-run Porsche, which was the first car to stop, and the #6 Porsche of Vanthoor.
One of the best battles on track at the moment is for fifth in LMP2, with Gabriel Aubry just ahead of Neel Jani, Jakub Smiechowski and poleman Paul-Loup Chatin. A tight four-car scrap is unfolding around 47s off the lead.
Pit stop
Nasr is the latest of the frontrunners to stop in the #75 Porsche and has a similar fall down the order to Bamber the previous lap and is 11th.
Pit stop
Jenson Button takes over the NASCAR as it makes its second pitstop. So far its been single stints for the Camaro's three drivers.
After that stop from Bamber, which coincided with the end of the slow zone, the Caddy has dropped all the way back to 11th.
The top three in LMP2 have broken clear somewhat of the rest, with 8s between Kubica and his 2021 WRT team-mate Milesi (now at Signatech). Fittipaldi is right behind Milesi, with 17s in hand over United Autosports' silver driver Pierson in fourth.
Pit stop
Having spent quite a while in the lead, Bamber now pits the #2 Caddy so joins the majority of the Hypercar runners in having made two stops. The two cars that haven't, the #5 and #75 Porsches, now lead. But Buemi in the #8 Toyota in effect has the lead.
Pit stop
Further back in the Hypercar class, there is trouble for one of the garagiste cars as the Vanwall has entered the garage with a possible rear suspension. Yet another of the cars in this race to have hit trouble.
One to keep an eye on in the GTE Am class, the pitstop of AF Corse's #83 Ferrari during the handover from Alessio Rovera to Luis Perez-Companc is under investigation.
Da Costa has a big lock-up into Mulsanne Corner but is able to maintain that lead over Vanthoor after passing the fellow Porsche a few laps ago.
Here's an image showing the damage on the #3 Cadillac after that GTE Am hit.
Damage to the #3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger Van Der Zande, Scott Dixon
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
Rigon has claimed fifth in GTE Am from Cozzolino, but has some ground to make up on the battle for third up ahead between Frey and Lietz.
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Renger van der Zande has blasted de Pauw for crashing into the Bourdais' Cadillac during that recent incident entering the slow zone, describing the Ferrari driver's actions as "unacceptable".
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It's a gutting early end to the race for the Nielsen team that ran fifth in LMP2 during the the early laps with Beche at the wheel. The team confirms Sales is okay after this clash with the barriers.
Scott Dixon has now taken over from Bourdais as the Caddy that was caught up in that GTE Am crash returns to the track.
The Porsches continue to squabble among themselves in Hypercar with the Jota car of da Costa just blasting past Vanthoor for fifth.
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"It was a tricky stint with the first chicane down in Mulsanne completely wet," says Mike Rockenfeller of his first stint in the Garage 56 NASCAR. He reports that "the car feels good" but is struggling for balance as Hendrick predicted there would be more rain.
We've not seen a replay of what happened to cause Bourdais to come into the pits, other than from a forward camera on the Caddy that was rear-ended by either de Pauw or Birch. Both the Ferrari and Aston remain stranded by the roadside with heavy frontal damage.
This episode is showing the value of the Slow Zones that the ACO introduced a few years back. They are essentially temporary virtual safety cars in which the cars are limited to 80km/h that do away with the need for a safety car proper.
Pit stop
Sure enough, Bourdais now pits and has the damage assessed on the Cadillac. And it is rolled back into the garage with Bourdais exiting the car.
We've not updated the LMP2 order for a little while. Kubica leads Milesi, who now appears to be back on sequence in the Signatech car. Fittipaldi has moved up to third, while early leader Chatin lost 20 seconds in the pits and has dropped to eighth.
While Bourdais' Caddy is in strife, one of the others - the #2 in the hands of Bamber - is now the leader following that flurry of Hypercar stops.
Replays show Bourdais in the #3 Caddy was thumped from behind and spun around. But its not yet clear whether Bourdais was hit by de Pauw or the #55 GMB Aston of Gustav Birch which is also stopped by the side of the road. Bourdais has continued but has damage to the rear of his car.
Crash
Goodness, another accident exiting the Dunlop Chicane. It's a two-car incident with Ulysse de Pauw's #21 GTE Am Ferrari involved.
Pit stop
Calado is now pitting from the lead in the #51 Ferrari as much of the circuit is currently being covered by slow zones. The #93 Peugeot of di Resta also stops.
No new Michelins there for either Toyota. They got fresh rubber last time when the team reacted to the rising temperatures and change tyre strategy.
Following a six minute delay in the pits addressing its broken bonnet, the NorthWest Aston has rejoined the circuit and is like the Corvette two laps down on the GTE Am leaders.
Jimmie Johnson in the Camaro is behind the top four GTE Am runners after his first stop, then it's the best of the Ferraris - the Kessel example with Cozzolino at the wheel. He's followed by Rigon, Yount (Proton Porsche) and Jeff Segal's Walkenhorst Ferrari.
At the last round of stops in GTE Am, Picariello climbed out of the Iron Lynx Porsche that had been running second and handed over to bronze Claudio Schiavone. Tincknell also handed over to Don Yount, with both dropping back as a result. It's a Porsche top four at the moment, with Cairoli's Project 1 example heading Ben Barker (GR), Rahel Frey (Dames) and Richard Lietz (Proton).
Calado is now the leader in the #51 Ferrari having only pitted once, from the Cadillac of Earl Bamber and the two factory Porsches yet to stop for a second time.
By: Autosport Staff
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