24 HOURS OF LE MANS 2023. The arrival of the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans promises to be historic. Ferrari and Toyota engage in a terrible duel for the final victory. Find the updated classification and information to follow the finish live on TV.
[Updated June 11, 2023 3:11 p.m.] Ferrari is racing to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this Sunday. While the #8 Toyota was battling for seconds with the leader, the #51 Ferrari, Japanese Ryo Hirakawa, winner last year but a priori slower than his teammates Sebastien Buemi and Brendan Hartley, was chosen by Toyota to take the last stint against Antonio Giovinazzi, ex-F1 driver at the wheel of the Ferrari.
A few minutes later, shortly before 2:20 p.m., just 1:40 a.m. from the finish, the Japanese driver made a mistake at the Arnage corner, damaging the front of his Hypercar and losing nearly a lap on the Ferrari driven by Antonio Giovinazzi then Alessandro Pier Guidi. The Italian now manages the gap above 3 minutes with one hour left in the race. The arrival of these 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023, centenary edition of the event, will be followed at 4 p.m. live on La Chaine L’Equipe and on Eurosport.
The ranking (top 10) at 2:00 p.m. after 22 hours of racing
View the standings live.
The ranking of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is based on the number of laps covered between Saturday 4 p.m. and Sunday 4 p.m. There is a general classification but also a classification by categories. Three categories coexist: the Hypercars group together the favorites (Toyota, Glickenhaus, Porsche…), the LMP2 prototypes a little less powerful and the LMGTE am, the only GT category now. Note that a Nascar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be the only competitor in the Innovative Cars category.
What a spectacle since the start given at 4 p.m. on Saturday! On a track that was still wet, Toyota quickly took the lead by placing Sebastien Buemi’s #8 in the lead ahead of the leading Ferraris. If the head of the race passed the first corners without incident, an outsider has already lost big, Cadillac with the crash of the n°311 painfully returning to the pits after only five minutes of racing. The race was then neutralized under safety car to repair the damaged safety rails before the race resumed at 4:40 p.m.
Cadillac reacted with the #2 in the hands of Earl Bamber who even took the lead at 6 p.m. taking advantage of slow zones following accidents and offbeat strategies. With the arrival of the rain, accidents, off-tracks and interruptions followed one another resulting in a waltz of the leaders. Among the losers at the start of the race were the No. 3 Cadillacs and No. 93 Peugeots after Jean-Eric Vergne went off the track. The No. 6 Porsche also lost time shortly after 8 p.m. following a puncture.
The second major race event occurred at midnight with a crash involving several competitors including Toyota n°7, forced to retire, the Hypercar then driven by Kamui Kobayashi being the victim of a chain collision at midnight with two LMP2 and a Ferrari GT. The crash, hitting the GR010 Hybrid at the rear, caused its retirement. Toyota already had only one car left in the race even before the halfway mark, but Ferrari and then Porsche were also going to suffer mechanical problems. Porsche no. 5 also let go after a cooling problem, like Ferrari no. 50 betrayed by its mechanics and which lost nearly 30 minutes in repair. At Peugeot, it was the number 94 of Gustavo Menezes, then third, which went to fault in the Mulsanne chicane, losing more than 20 minutes in repairs and would see its dreams go up in smoke.
Toyota, with the #8, then regained the lead after the Mulsanne outing of the #51 Ferrari, but the night failed to create any significant gap. At daybreak, the #8 Toyota was only thirty seconds ahead of the #51 Ferrari and one lap over the #2 Cadillac in ambush. The gaps then remained small all morning, the rare lead taken by the Ferrari going up in smoke after a difficult restart in the pits at 11 am. So much so that at three hours from the finish, the gap between the two leading cars, Ferrari n°51 and Toyota n°8, did not reach 20 seconds. Peugeot n°93, 5th, cracked shortly after 1 p.m. following a hydraulic problem and lost 4 places to drop to 9th place.
This year, two TV channels are broadcasting the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Eurosport, a broadcaster for many years, provides full coverage via Eurosport channels 1 and 2 (as well as the paid Eurosport Player app). The broadcast took place at 3 p.m. on Saturday June 10, one hour before the start, for broadcast until Sunday, with a part reserved for the post-race. Eurosport is accessible by subscription.
La Chaîne L’Equipe provides free broadcasting of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023. Available on TNT (channel 21) or via the internet (connected TV or internet box), La Chaîne L’Equipe will broadcast the pre-race, the start at 16 hours then many hours of racing.
You can also follow the race live on the net via the on-board cameras offered by Peugeot Sport on board the 9X8 n°93 and n°94.
