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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As the pre-event ceremonies continue, the sight of six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx on the grid prompts applause from the stuffed grandstands across from us. Spoiler alert, he ranks pretty highly in our top 10 Le Mans drivers feature compiled by chief editor Kevin Turner, which you can read here.
So, what have we learned from the week so far? Gary Watkins, Jamie Klein, Stephen Lickorish and myself weigh in on the main topics from practice and qualifying here.
We're a little over half an hour away from the start now. There were spots of rain on the track earlier today, and skies remain overcast, but we're a way from the pre-race deluge that meant the 2016 race started behind the safety car.
The ByKolles-run Vanwall Vandervell 680 will start 15th after struggling with a lack of power from its engine in the heat. This was the car that 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve campaigned for the first three rounds of the season, but he has been replaced in the lineup alongside Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri by Tristan Vautier.
The task for garagiste entrant Glickenhaus has got an awful lot tougher this year due to the huge influx of competition. A podium finisher last year, its two cars will start 12th and 14th, either side of the third Caddy run by Action Express with Frenchmen Olivier Pla and Franck Mailleux the starting drivers aboard cars #708 and #709.
It's been a bit more of a struggle this week for Peugeot, leaving Jean-Eric Vergne to state that a top-five finish would feel like a victory. It's fair to say a fourth Le Mans win for the French lion, triumphant in 1992, 1993 and 2009, would come as something of a surprise. The two 9X8 machines, with their distinctive absence of a rear wing, start 10th and 11th in the pack.
It certainly does make for a refreshing change to have multiple manufacturers back in the top class. We've yet to even mention Cadillac, which had both its Ganassi-run cars reach the Hyperpole session before a fire stranded Sebastien Bourdais. On its return to Le Mans for the first time since 2002 with the disastrous Northstar LMP programme, the GM brand is a much more serious entity these days and is another not to discount.
In all, there are 16 cars in the top Hypercar class, although Jota's 963 will start 60th in the 62-car field after an electronics problem ruled it out of qualifying. A busy first stint ahead then for Antonio Felix da Costa, who will take the start aboard the Hertz-liveried #38 car he shares with Will Stevens and Yifei Ye.
The best of the Porsche 963s split the two Toyotas in qualifying, and will therefore line up fourth as the best of the LMDh entrants running the spec hybrid system. On its return to the top class for the first time since 2017, when its last LMP1 outing with the 919 Hybrid yielded victory, it has three Penske-run works cars and Jota's customer entry in the field as it seeks a record-extending 20th win.
Can you believe that this is my 33rd Le Mans, and my 30th reporting for Autosport. I'm gonna put my neck on the line and say I've never seen such a massive crowd. Quite right too in this, the anniversary year of the race that has defined my working life.
Ferrari's Hyperpole showing meant the best of the Toyotas had to settle for third on the grid, feeling disgruntled that years of hard work had been “more or less nullified” by the last-minute BoP changes. But it would take a brave man to dismiss the Japanese marque's prospects given its prowess in recent years. It has won the last five editions, including both since the move to Hypercar rules in 2021.
Ferrari had already shown its potential by taking pole for the competition debut of its 499P LMH at Sebring, but it has been convincing throughout proceedings here. That culminated in a 1-2 during Thursday's Hyperpole session, with Antonio Fuoco leading team-mate Alessandro Pier Guidi. You can read the full session report here: https://www.autosport.com/le-mans/news/le-mans-24h-ferrari-tops-hyperpole-to-lock-out-front-row-/10480401/
Toyota has won all three rounds of the 2023 WEC so far, but we can't use the form guide as a reliable guide because of a pre-event Balance of Performance change. It's fair to say that caused a bit of controversy in the paddock, not least because it was imposed without the agreement of manufacturers, but what it has done is closed the order right up.
We're just over an hour away from the start, and ceremonial proceedings are already well underway. We've had a parade of legendary Le Mans vehicles (from the successful, to the quirky including the WR-Peugeot that holds the official top speed record of 251mph) and the grandstands opposite the media room look packed to the gunnels.
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to our live text updates from the big one. The centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours is finally almost upon us, and we'll be with you for every step of the way for the next 25 hours or so.
By: Autosport Staff
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