Global Information2023 24 Hours of Le Mans information
Index: Races | Winners | |||
The 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 91e 24 Heures du Mans), also known as the Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: Centenaire des 24 Heures du Mans), was an automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each racing Prototype and Grand Touring cars held from 10 to 11 June 2023 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, in front of 325,000 spectators. It was the 91st edition of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's 24-hour race, its centenary anniversary edition and the fourth round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The week before the event, on 4 June, there was a test day.
A Ferrari 499P shared by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen of Ferrari AF Corse started from pole position after Fuoco set the overall fastest lap in the Le Mans Hypercar class in the Hyperpole session. Their teammates James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi won overall after leading the final 55 laps. It was Calado, Giovinazzi and Pier Guidi's first overall Le Mans victory, as well as Ferrari's tenth and its first since 1965. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa finished second in a Toyota GR010 Hybrid after battling Calado, Giovinazzi and Pier Guidi in the second half of the race. Cadillac Racing's Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh car, driven by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook, finished third overall.
Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer and Jakub Śmiechowski of Inter Europol Competition led the last 112 laps of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class in an Oreca 07-Gibson car to claim their maiden WEC class victory. Team WRT's Rui Andrade, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica finished second 21.015 seconds behind, while René Binder, Neel Jani and Nico Pino of Duqueine Team took third. 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 at Le Mans, 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 FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers leaders as category winners Costa, Scherer and Śmiechowski moved from sixth to second. Catsburg, Keating and Varrone extended their Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams lead over Al Harthy, Dinan and Eastwood. Toyota, the No. 41 Team WRT and No. 33 Corvette Racing teams left Le Mans as the respective Hypercar World Endurance Championship, Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams and Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams leaders with three races left in the season.