The 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours continues to deliver constant drama. After 19 hours of racing, the race for the win is still very much on.
The Hypercar lead battle reignited again during Hour 19, when the No. 51 Ferrari lost its lead to an issue in the pits.
When Antonio Giovanazzi came in for stop number 23 to hand over to Alessandro Pier Guidi, who climbed in and couldn’t get the car fired. He had to endure an agonising wait for a full power cycle to be completed before leaving his pit box.
By the time he left, the No. 8 Toyota had gone past to retake the lead on pit lane. To make matters worse, the team appears to have a radio issue. Pier Guidi can hear the pit wall, but they can’t hear him.
Sebastien Buemi held a 4.4-second lead when the pair rejoined, the Swiss on older tyres but pushing hard. The lead didn’t last though, as Pier Guidi reeled in Buemi and made a bold move around the outside at the second Mulsanne Chicane to put Ferrari back on top. The move caused the Ferrari garage to erupt. The Toyota pit meanwhile, is far more subdued, the team struggling to find the ultimate pace to match and better the No. 51 at this stage of the race.
From there it was a chase through traffic and a lengthy slow zone until the end of the hour. It is game on once again!
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In the other classes, Inter Europol’s lead has extended to 1 minute 37 seconds over the No. 41 WRT ORECA in LMP2.
GTE Am is still too close to call. Iron Dames’ Porsche (with Rahel Frey driving) now leads by 20 seconds over the ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin. Charlie Eastwood has been mercurial throughout the morning and ensured the Omani-flagged crew are in with a chance. Corvette remains third a further 27 seconds back. This battle changes at each pit cycle. It looks set to go down to the wire.
The team that has lost the most time in the most recent hour is the ‘Rexy’ Porsche. The Project 1 crew has been so strong all race, but late on, with PJ Hyett trying to burn his remaining drive time, he has struggled to keep up and dropped the car 1 minute 41 seconds off the class lead.#