2023 24 Hours of Le Mans
Held in front of 325,000 spectators, it was the 91st running of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's 24-hour race—100 years after the first—and marked the fourth round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Their teammates James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the second AF Corse Ferrari won overall after leading the final 55 laps.
Corvette Racing's Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nicolás Varrone in a Chevrolet Corvette C8.R came from two laps down, after a second-hour pit stop to replace a failed damper, to win the final Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Am (LMGTE Am) and GTE race, one lap ahead of ORT by TF's Aston Martin Vantage AMR shared by Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood.
Calado, Giovinazzi and Pier Guidi's victory moved them from fifth to second in the Hypercar Drivers' Championship, 25 points behind leaders Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa.
Andrande, Delétraz and Kubica remained the leaders in the competition for the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers; category winners Costa, Scherer and Śmiechowski moved from sixth to second.
Ferrari AF Corse's Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen were third, with Cadillac Racing's Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook fourth.
[3] In the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers, Phil Hanson and Frederick Lubin of United Autosports led Team WRT's Rui Andrade, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica by an eight-point advantage while Corvette Racing's Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nicolás Varrone led the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams from Richard Mille AF Corse's Luis Pérez Companc, Alessio Rovera and Lilou Wadoux by 39 points.
Concerns made by drivers at the preceding 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps race weekend, where many cars slid off the track on cold tyres and crashed in changing conditions, forced the modification.
[16] Entries were selected for their sporting quality, technical, fan, media and public interest and commitment, loyalty to other ACO-administered series and entrant's performance.
[25] In LMGTE Am, every car model in the Porsche 911 RSR-19, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, and Aston Martin Vantage AMR received more ballast to affect their handling.
[10] Some drivers missed part or all of testing because they were competing in the Formula E double-header in Jakarta, the GT World Challenge Europe round at Circuit Paul Ricard or the IndyCar Series event in Detroit.
93 Peugeot halted testing at the exit of the first Mulsanne Straight chicane due to a probable electrical hybrid problem triggered by a red light illuminated to compel a high-voltage safety protocol.
33 Corvette when he also lost control of the car on a kerb into the Tertre Rouge corner and crashed rear first into the tyre barrier, ending the session with four minutes remaining.
[43][44] The stewards deemed Thomas to have not slowed enough before hitting Stevenson and imposed a four-minute stop-and-hold penalty on Tower Motorsports to be served within four laps of its announcement after the race began.
[46] Alexander Sims' Action Express Racing (AXR) car suffered front-right bodywork and minor cluster damage during the session and was driven into the pit lane for repairs.
93 Peugeot stopped on the right-hand side of the Mulsanne Straight with an electrical fault, and race director Eduardo Freitas red-flagged practice for 19 minutes after becoming annoyed with drivers driving on the right rather than the left.
Keating's Corvette took the class pole position with a 3:52.376 time set on his final lap,[62] ahead of Ahmad Al Harthy's ORT by TF Aston Martin and Thomas Flohr's No.
[78] Basketball player LeBron James waved the French tricolor to start the race before 325,000 spectators at 16:00 CEST,[79][80] which was led by the pole-sitter Nicklas Nielsen's No.
[92][93] Heavy rain fell from Indianapolis corner to the start/finish straight before the end of the third hour, and several vehicles were caught off guard by the sudden drop in grip while braking and leaving turns on slick tyres.
83 Richard Mille Ferrari and crashed backwards into the Porsche Curves right-hand side wall at high speed and underwent precautionary checks at the track's medical centre.
[99][100] Heavy rain again fell on parts of the circuit and reduced visibility in the seventh hour and more vehicles were caught out by the changing conditions as they made pit stops for wet-weather tyres.
25 ORT by TF Aston Martin pace and pit stop strategy allowed him to join the LMGTE Am lead duel as Keating passed P. J. Hyett's No.
51 Ferrari, which had difficulty restarting from his pit box due to a cockpit communications system failure, but reclaimed it by passing Buemi on the outside through slower LMP2 traffic into the second Mulsanne chicane.
911 Proton Porsche's rear exiting Karting corner, crashing into the tyre barrier hard enough to force the car to retire with rear-right damage after 20 hours.
45 team of James Allen, Colin Braun and George Kurtz despite a puncture and functioning accident data recorder needing replacing won the LMP2 Pro/Am subclass by five laps over the No.
34 car during a third lap pit stop, had his crew adjust run plans to allow for rest, and treatment permitted him to continue driving,[81] saying: "I tried to just go for it because winning Le Mans is the biggest thing for me to achieve in Europe, in motorsport.
[151] WRT owner Vincent Vosse voiced his dissatisfaction at finishing second in LMP2, which was heightened as the team had lost the class victory on the final lap of the 2021 race due to a throttle sensor issue.
[152] Catsburg stated he did not think a comeback from two laps down to win the race was possible, calling it "insane" that Corvette's pace allowed his team to re-enter LMGTE Am contention.
[154] Iron Dames' regret at not finishing on the LMGTE Am podium after duelling for the class lead was voiced by Bovy, while co-driver Gatting said that they were hindered by a brake replacement.
Catsburg, Keating and Varrone retained the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Drivers points lead over Al Harthy, Eastwood and Michael Dinan.
