Ferrari Win at Le Mans at their return to the top class after 50 years.
For the Italian manufacturer, it was their first time competing in the premier class at Le Mans since 1973 and their first overall triumph since 1965. With 50 points in the FIA WEC championship thanks to the efforts of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, Ferrari is closing in on Toyota with three races to go.
It wasn't all smooth sailing for Ferrari, though; the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar gave them a run for their money until Ryo Hirakawa spun under braking at Arnage, damaging the front and back of his car. The Japanese driver pitted for new bodywork and came back into the race a lap down to the Ferrari.
The already tense situation was exacerbated when Pier Guidi lost precious time in the pits when he was unable to restart the No. 51 Hypercar following a normal stop. The crew was relieved when Pier Guidi restarted the engine after 30 seconds and went on to finish the race 1 minute and 27 seconds ahead of Hirakawa, Brendon Hartley, and Sebastien Buemi.
To their 2019 and 2021 LMGTE Pro victories, Calado and Pier Guidi now add the overall and Hypercar victories, while Giovinazzi becomes the first driver since Fernando Alonso in 2018 to win Le Mans in his first try.
The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series R, piloted by Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber, and Richard Westbrook, brought the No. 2 vehicle, driven by Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, and Scott Dixon, to a third- and fourth-place finish, respectively, for Cadillac Racing. Today's podium has three distinct brands for the first time in the premier class of Le Mans since 2016: Ferrari, Toyota, and Cadillac. Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco, and Miguel Molina finished fifth in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P Hypercar.
Meanwhile, Glickenhaus Racing's Nos. 708 and 709 Glickenhaus 007 Hypercars finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, to keep their perfect finish record at Le Mans intact. Both vehicles experienced mechanical failures at Indianapolis and had to make pit stops throughout the race.
In eighth place was the No. 93 Peugeot driven by Paul di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne, and Mikkel Jensen. The French manufacturer lost any chance of a podium finish after Gustavo Menezes wrecked during the night at the first Mulsanne chicane in the sibling No. 94 vehicle. The No. 94 vehicle finished 12th while both were in the garage due to hydraulic problems.
The No. 75 Porsche 963 had to be retired from the race due to a fuel pressure issue, and this was just one of several unfortunate events that plagued an otherwise promising weekend for Porsche Penske Motorsport. Kevin Estre, driving the No. 6 Porsche 963 in the World Endurance Championship, had a mishap at Porsche Curves and then lost further time due to a battery issue. The No. 5 car's driveshaft snapped in the last hour of the race, knocking it out of the top five and into ninth position.
The Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963, which spent the most of the race's last hours in the pits, finished a distant 13th in the Hypercar class.
The No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar was forced to retire early because Kamui Kobayashi was involved in a collision on the approach to Tertre Rouge involving two LMP2 cars and an LMGTE Am car. The No. 4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team pulled out of the race after 165 laps. The Vanwall Vandervell, with Tristan Vautier at the helm, came to a stop on the course with smoke billowing out of the back.
First-time WEC winners Inter Europol Competition take the checkered flag at Le Mans.
The team, riding high after finishing on the podium for the first time in WEC history at Spa last month, had an outstanding race in which they made few mistakes, advanced quickly through the field, and eventually won by a comfortable margin.
The No. 41 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson of Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz put significant pressure on both Costa and Scherer in the final hours of the race.
Scherer dug hard in the last hour and held off Deletraz's charge until the checkered flag dropped.
Even when the No. 33 Corvette Racing vehicle drove over his left foot during a series of pitstops in the first hour, the Swiss ace Scherer continued to race.
Scherer thought his Le Mans run was finished at that point, but he persevered and ensured that his and his teammates' drives became immediate cult classics.
The squad had to maintain composure amid numerous inquiries into pit stops in order to finish 21 seconds ahead of the Kubica, Deletraz, and Rui Andrade-driven WRT entry.
The victory vaulted Inter Europol Competition into title contention for the remainder of the 2023 season and made them the first Polish team to win in the WEC.
Duqueine Racing's Neel Jani, Rene Binder, and Nicolas Pino finished third, the best-ever finish for a French team in LMP2 at Le Mans and the first of the forthcoming ELMs.
When the second No. 31 Team WRT car piloted by Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Sean Gelael had to pit for a new front bodywork component in the last hour of the race, Jani took advantage of the situation.
As a result, Frijns had to settle for fifth place at the finish line, behind the three of Charles Milesi, Julien Canal, and Matthieu Vaxiviere from the No. 36 Alpine ELF Team.
Paul Loup Chatin, Laurents Horr, and Paul Lafargue drove the IDEC Sport 'Delage' homage that finished sixth since it was the class pole sitter on Saturday.
Both United Autosports LMP2 cars struggled throughout the race, but the No. 22 machine was severely damaged early on when Frederick Lubin collided with the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19.
Tom Blomqvist crashed in the Porsche Curves late on Saturday night, just after taking the lead in his class. Both vehicles battled back to secure positions 8th (No. 23) and 11th (No.
The Inter Europol Competition trio of Deletraz, Kubica, and Andrade now lead the standings by four points after the outcome at Le Mans.
By dominating the LMGTE Am Le Mans race, Corvette has increased its points advantage.
With a hard-fought victory in the fourth LMGTE Am category race of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the No. 33 Corvette Racing team of Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone, and Nicky Catsburg secured their third WEC victory of the season. After falling to the back of the pack early on due to having to adjust a damper, the three worked hard to claw their way back to the front. The yellow Corvette was able to become a force in the early morning session due to good stints from all three drivers and some luck with the new safety car protocol. By late morning, Varrone and Catsburg had established a sizable lead over their rivals thanks to their heroic triple stints. The win was Corvette's ninth in the WEC and their first in the LMGTE PRO class at Le Mans since 2015. As a bonus, they made history by being the first team to ever start on pole position in GTE Am and finish on the podium in LM GTE Am. Corvette's 11th-class win in the 2000s brought them level with Ferrari and prompted Keating to enjoy his seventh consecutive victory in the World Endurance Championship at Le Mans. The ORT by TF Sport team of Charlie Eastwood, Ahmed Al Harthy, and Michael Dinan overtook the Iron Dames team of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Sarah Bovy in their Porsche 911 RSR-19 to finish in second place. Ahead of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, and Davide Rigon in the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, "The Dames" finished in fourth place. Mike Wainwright, Riccardo Pera, and Ben Barker, driving for GR Racing, improve on their fourth-place finish from 2022 to take third place in a Porsche 911 RSR-19. Ian James, Alex Riberas, and Daniel Mancinelli of the revamped Northwest AMR Aston Martin team rounded out the top six.
The full classification can be found below.
