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24 Hours of Le Mans
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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There were some driver changes during those stops for the leaders with Calado making way for Giovinazzi and Buemi now taking over from Hirakawa in the #8 Toyota.
The Glickenhaus has now made it back to the pits after that bump with the barriers. It's currently classified seventh but has now been put into the garage so will likely drop further back.
Long-time GTE Am leader Kimura is rapidly closing on the end of his six-hour drive time aboard the Kessel Ferrari, so expect to see him in soon with Serra (searching for a third Le Mans class win) and Huffaker closing out the race.
Pit stop
There's a flurry of stops during this slow zone for the struggling Glickenhaus including the two leaders along with the #2 Caddy from third.
Pit stop
Frey has just pitted from second in GTE Am, lifting Catsburg back up to second for Corvette. She rejoins fifth, with Cairoli still leading, Kimura into third and Eastwood to fourth.
Pla has got the Glickenhaus going again but it's crabbing badly as he slowly makes his way back to the pits.
While that Glickenhaus was busy spinning, the Porsche crew have been busy readying the #6 machine and Estre has now got it back out on track after 43 minutes in the pits but it is 12 laps down on the leaders.
Well, perhaps we were a bit quick to say Pla has got going again! All he's managed to do is drag the Glickenhaus across to the other side of the track and he's still trying to fire it up properly.
Crash
And we have a spin for the #708 Glickenhaus of Pla! It's down at Arnage and he just put a wheel into the gravel, which spun him around into the barriers on the outside. He's now got the car going but it was a fairly significant hit.
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We've had an update on Corvette's strategy from Ben Keating: "The plan was to wait until it got light on Sunday morning to use Nicky and Nico back-to-back-to back to get our lap back because when the sun comes up, I can be quicker than I can be quicker than I can at night. So it wasn't ideal but we did what we needed to do."
Pit stop
The #3 Caddy and the #5 Porsche are the latest drivers to stop from the Hypercar runners.
Unsurprisingly, Costa is putting the hammer down and pulling away from Andrade. He's now 15s up on the Angolan, with Binder 82s down in third.
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In reference to that lead battle in Hypercar, Hartley feels the #8 Toyota doesn't quite have the pace of the #51 Ferrari. “It’s great to be battling for the lead but there’s a long way to go," he says. "Even though we’ve led a lot of laps, I don’t think we have the ultimate pace."
Live timing suggests that Smiechowski has now done his six hours, so it will be Costa and Scherer all the way from here. Whisper it quietly, but it's looking good for InterEuropol.
Pit stop
Driver change in the LMP2-leading InterEuropol car which pits one lap after Andrade took over from Kubica. Former Lambo factory driver Albert Costa is installed and rejoins 12s up the road.
While there's been plenty of action in the lead of the other classes, the gap in Hypercar has remained fairly static with Calado's advantage still just under 20s over Hirakawa.
Lead change in GTE Am as Cairoli takes Frey into Indianapolis.
Pit stop
Kubica has handed over the leading LMP2 car to Andrade, who rejoins second.
Another problem for the #708 Glickenhaus as it will have to serve a five-second penalty at its next stop for a pit infringement.
Cairoli has closed in on Frey in the battle between the GTE Am leaders. Kimura has dropped 25s behind in the Kessel Ferrari and is absolutely still in contention.
Off track
Ian James has had a spin at the Indianapolis left-hander in the Heart of Racing/NorthWest AMR. No harm done other than flat-spotted tyres.
Pit stop
Into the pits comes Rump to hand over the #911 Proton Porsche to Michael Fassbender. He's not yet reached half of his six-hour drive time.
A pitstop infringement for the #23 United car with Josh Pierson at the wheel means they will have to serve a drive-through penalty. After Tom Blomqvist's off with braking issues, they lost 11 minutes in the pits when Oliver Jarvis had a wheel part company with the car.
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Lead change in LMP2! Kubica picks his moment into the first Mulsanne Chicane and muscles his way past, leaving Smiechowski no option but to cede. His move is greeted by Rui Andrade, who has his helmet on and will imminently take over the #41 WRT machine.
Back at the front, Hirakawa is eating into Calado's lead and the gap is now down to 20s from the 25s it was earlier.
Hairy moment for the LMP2 leaders coming up to lap Rojas through the Porsche Curves. Kubica tries to take advantage of Smiechowski's caution but thinks better of it.
Pit stop
The #50 Ferrari of Fuoco that started the race from pole 16 and a half hours ago has just made its latest stop and is in ninth.
Jimmie Johnson is running ahead of all the GTE Am cars at the moment in the Chevy Camaro. He's 72s ahead of Frey, the GTE Am leader in Iron Dames' Porsche.
Change for second in GTE Am as Cairoli dives inside Kimura into Mulsanne Corner. The Japanese knows this isn't his fight though - and he's much closer to the end of his drive time than the bronze for Project 1 PJ Hyett to the tune of 80 minutes.
For those wondering what's happening with the #6 Porsche that was in strife about half an hour ago, it's still in the pits for that floor change and has now dropped to 10th in the order, five laps off the leaders.
It seems only a matter of time though before Kubica launches another assault on Smiechowski. He's all over the InterEuropol driver through Indianapolis and Arnage.
In the all-Polish battle for the LMP2 lead Kubica is right with InterEuropol's silver driver Smiechowski. He lunges inside at the Ford Chicane but has to use a fair amount of run-off to do it and so allows the green and yellow car back through.
Flohr pits from third, as Frey begins to hassle Kimura. The move when it comes is an easy one down the straight into the first Mulsanne Chicane, as the Kessel bronze doesn't fight too hard against the gold-rates Dames Porsche.
We've had plenty of retirements in this race already and there's almost a third of the distance to go. There's just 42 cars still running and the last time there were few finishers than that was in 2018 when 41 cars made it to the flag.
In fact, the top four in the Am class are split by just 17s. Frey is right with Kimura for the lead, while Cairoli is storming up on Flohr's third place.
A few stops for the leading GTE Am drivers brings Kimura back to the front ahead of Frey's Iron Dames Porsche. Flohr is up to third, then Cairoli and Catsburg.
Pit stop
Lynn in the third-placed Caddy is the latest frontrunner to have a stop.
During those recent stops for the leaders Hirakawa had longer in the pits and the lead for Calado is now up to 25s.
Unsurprisingly, Smiechowski doesn't have quite the same pace as Kubica who has closed to 5s behind in the LMP2 lead fight. Meanwhile van Uitert takes Lafargue for fourth.
The #6 Porsche is having some fairly extensive work in the garage, looks like the crew is working on the floor.
By: Autosport Staff
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