With the race returning to green in the ninth hour, the 92nd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours has come alive, with the cars on the lead lap in each class bunched up and another bout of rain throwing a wrench in the works. The No. 83 Ferrari led at …
With the race returning to green in the ninth hour, the 92nd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours has come alive, with the cars on the lead lap in each class bunched up and another bout of rain throwing a wrench in the works.
The No. 83 Ferrari led at the restart, but Robert Kubica and every car bar the No. 5 Porsche and No. 311 Whelen Cadillac dived straight in for wets.
Staying out on slicks proved to be a mistake. The No. 5 Porsche, after inheriting the lead, dropped down to 11th, while the No. 311 ended up falling to 12th and last of the cars on the lead lap with Pipo Derani struggling to keep the pace.
Kubica retook the lead off Fred Makowiecki for the No. 83 crew with ease on wets, but moments later was handed a 30s stop-go penalty for causing the collision that led to the No. 15 WRT BMW crashing out of the race. The infraction dropped the car to sixth.
After all this, the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID suddenly leads the race, with Ryo Hirakawa holding station with a 17s gap back to Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 6 Penske Porsche.
The No. 7 Toyota completes the top three, and for this trio, the comeback is complete after they all lost time to tire gambles early in the race.
Cadillac occupies fourth with the No. 2, with the No. 50 Ferrari completing the top five.
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LMP2, meanwhile, saw drama for Duqueine Team’s ORECA punctuate the hour. Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer stopped the car with the rear end smoking, the car’s engine seemingly overheating under the safety car — an on-the-spot retirement.
Out front, the No. 37 COOL Racing ORECA finds itself back in the lead, rapid Dane Malthe Jakobsen installed for what is easily the toughest sequence of the race yet, with the night hours underway and parts of the track drying.
The No. 24 Nielsen Racing example, since the Safety Car, has climbed to second with 2023 class winner Fabio Scherer now lapping the circuit. The No. 183 Pro/Am leading entry with Ben Barnicoat at the wheel is third.
LMGT3 saw one of the key contenders hit potentially terminal trouble.
The No. 46 Team WRT BMW, with Bronze-rated Ahmad Al Harthy at the wheel, ended up sliding off the circuit on the run down the hill after the Dunlop Bridge, hitting the tires nose first. The impact caused a water leak and the car plummeted down the order.
Al Harthy, who seemed a total passenger once the back end stepped out on him, was understandably mortified on the team radio: “It just slipped on me. Not again, oh my God, guys,” he said.
The car was retired just into the tenth hour, ending the charge for Valentino Rossi in his first Le Mans start — a crying shame after he led a portion of the opening hours. It also adds to BMW’s woes. The German marque’s only chance of success rests with the No. 31 M4 LMGT3 in 10th, as both its Hypercars have been knocked out of contention.
This leaves the Manthey Pure Rxcing Porsche out front in the lead, with the No. 88 Proton Mustang now back into the fray with Dennis Olsen trying to reel in Klaus Bachler.
Manthey EMA’s Porsche is third.
With conditions treacherous, tire choice is set to be crucial going forward as the field gradually switches back to slicks.
At its annual winter party in Spa, Belgium Friday, Team WRT revealed the remaining names in its driver roster for its upcoming FIA WEC campaign with BMW, which will see it run cars in both Hypercar and LMGT3. Longstanding BMW factory driver Augusto …
At its annual winter party in Spa, Belgium Friday, Team WRT revealed the remaining names in its driver roster for its upcoming FIA WEC campaign with BMW, which will see it run cars in both Hypercar and LMGT3.
Longstanding BMW factory driver Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael (who drove with WRT in LMP2 the past two seasons) and reigning British GT3 champion Darren Leung will drive the No. 31 M4 GT3.
“It’s my third year with Team WRT and it is an honor to be part of this great family and also the BMW M family,” Gelael said.
“I am super-excited. I have been LMP2 vice-champion twice in the WEC. I hope I can get over the hump, and there is one clear goal this year — to get the championship and Le Mans. There are no better team and teammates to go for it.”
Meanwhile, MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi headlines the No. 46, with experienced GT racer Ahmad Al Harthy and works driver Maxime Martin.
“I am extremely delighted to be part of an amazing team such as WRT, at such an exciting time for the WEC,” said Al Harthy, who made his FIA WEC debut last season with TF Sport, who he will now compete against in LMGT3 this season.
“I look forward to working closely with my teammates and achieving great results with them. I have worked with Maxime in the past and he’ll definitely help me improve my driving. Sharing the seat with a legend such as Vale…who would have said that a kid from Oman watching MotoGP on TV would end up racing with such an iconic sportsman? I’m pleased to be working with the entire WRT family.”
It will be Rossi’s first WEC campaign and follows his successful 2023 campaign with WRT in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, World Challenge Europe and Road To Le Mans, which saw him win his first races in a GT3 car.
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“The WEC will be new for me. I’ll be with Maxime and Ahmad, and I’m eager to race in the main event at Le Mans, and at places like Austin and Sao Paulo,” said Rossi, who was confirmed for the full WEC season last November. “A brand-new experience for me and hopefully we will be competitive.”
This adds to the previous confirmation of its full Hypercar driver lineup for the M Hybrid V8’s first season in the FIA WEC. The No. 15 will see newly minted BMW factory driver Raffaele Marciello share driving duties with Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann. The No. 20 will be driven by Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde.
Vincent Vosse, WRT co-CEO, says the upcoming season in the FIA WEC marks a significant milestone for the Belgian team, which is doubling the size of its WEC effort to four cars in the championship after winning the LMP2 title last season.
“As we embark on this exciting journey, many thoughts are coming to my mind,” he said. “Contesting the WEC and Le Mans for overall honors has always been our objective, as a team and mine, personally. Now the dream comes true.
“To be participating with a Hypercar, in what is probably the most competitive era of endurance racing, to defend the colors of a mythical brand [like] BMW, is already an achievement in itself, but of course we want to be successful in this new challenge.
“The entire team has prepared for months for that and we all will give everything to succeed. It won’t be easy, we know, but we have an extraordinary team, incredible driver lineups, a great car and the support of BMW M Motorsport, where we have found many old friends and made new ones.”
Adding to its 2024 commitments with BMW, WRT revealed its plans to contest the World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cups with the M4 GT3. It will campaign multiple cars in both series.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 7 GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway emerged victorious in a thrilling FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza Sunday afternoon in front of a huge crowd. The trio ran a clean race from pole position, beating …
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 7 GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway emerged victorious in a thrilling FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza Sunday afternoon in front of a huge crowd.
The trio ran a clean race from pole position, beating the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P to victory after a final-hour showdown, successfully bouncing back from their retirement at Le Mans last month.
In the second half of the race, following a second safety car called for an incident involving the No. 9 Prema and No. 10 Vector Sport LMP2 ORECAs, Lopez took control up front, building a healthy lead of over 40s.
The third and final safety car of the race in the fifth hour (called due to mechanical woes at the first chicane for the No. 99 Proton Porsche) didn’t cost the No. 7 crew the lead, but it did reduce the gap and created a fight between them and the No. 50.
In the final two stints, Antonio Fuoco, with fresher tires, was tasked with reeling in the Toyota, which was double stinting its set before the final stops. Fuoco closed in and got to within 10s of Kobayashi, much to the delight of the hordes of Tifosi in the stands, before Toyota brought the No. 7 in for a final full-service stop to get it to the flag.
After both contending cars had pitted for a final time, the No. 7 was still leading, but the gap was down to 8.5s. Kobayashi, however, delivered the goods under immense pressure, setting his fastest lap of the race and pulling away, crossing the line 16.5s ahead of Fuoco.
Completing the top three was the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8. Paul Di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen, a year on from the 9X8’s race debut at the same circuit, fought hard and were rewarded with the program’s first podium.
The 9X8s, building on their surprise showing at Le Mans, were quick all weekend. Despite losing time at an early pit stop and suffering gear selection issues, the No. 93 came home as the third and final car on the lead lap. The result will mean the world for the Peugeot team, which appears to be turning a corner.
The victory, the third of the season for the No. 7 crew, has tightened the title race, as the sister No. 8 GR010 and Le Mans-winning No. 51 499P that sat first and second in the points before the race both had tough afternoons in the sweltering conditions trackside.
Toyota’s No. 8 crew still leads the title race (by 23 points) with a sixth-place finish after a late-race recovery that ended with Brendon Hartley battling past the No. 51 and No. 5 Porsche Penske 963. The tussling included a brave move from Hartley on Antonio Giovanazzi around the outside at Curva Grande to put the No. 8 ahead of the No. 51.
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) July 9, 2023
It was a hard-fought result for the No. 8 crew, which was penalized twice early in the race for separate collisions involving Sebastien Buemi — first at the start when Buemi locked up and turned the No. 51 into a spin at Turn 1, then for wiping out the No. 777 D’Station Aston Martin later in the first hour.
There was a further 50 second penalty post-race for the No. 8 for excessive energy usage in the late stages of the race, the penalty dropping the car from fourth at the flag to sixth behind the No. 51 Ferrari.
The No. 51 ended up finishing fifth thanks to the Toyota penalty, behind the No. 5 Porsche that inherited fourth.
With the top two in the points finishing off the podium, No. 7 and No. 50 are now in the game. Both are within 34 points with two races remaining.
“After a tough Le Mans, it was important to bounce back,” Lopez said. “Unfortunately, car No. 8 had a tough race but recovered well. I am very proud of these guys, it feels nice.”
“With the split strategy, it was tense, but with a mega pit stop and a solid last stint from Kamui, it was nice to beat Ferrari on home ground,” added Conway.
Elsewhere in the top class, it was a messy race, with multiple teams in contention for podium honors hitting trouble.
The two privateer Porsches were on track for strong finishes, but both had dramas. The Hertz Team JOTA 963 mirrored its performance at Le Mans, fighting for the lead of the race before an issue for the electronics on the steering wheel saw Antonio Felix da Costa end up speeding in the pit lane under an emergency service.
The crew was unable to fix the issue as nothing more than five seconds of fuel was allowed. The car then stopped at pit out, requiring a power recycle. It came home ninth.
Proton Competition, meanwhile, also briefly led with its new 963, but late in the race stopped at the first chicane shortly after Harry Tincknell got in for his first race stint in the car. A throttle sensor issue was the root cause of the loss of power, which resulted in the car being retired by the Briton after briefly getting going again.
It wasn’t a much better race for the factory 963s either, as neither Penske prototype had the outright pace. The No. 5 ended up fifth, while the No. 6 ended up seventh after having to take an emergency service stop under the second safety car, forcing the team to pit twice in quick succession.
The fifth and final LMDh runner in the field, the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, finished a disappointing 10th. Richard Westbrook, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn were in the mix for a strong finish after the field was split in half at the first safety car due to varying strategies, but later faded.
“We were fighting at the front and on a different strategy to half the cars, so it was good, classic sports car racing with different strategies playing out. And it was working for us,” said Westbrook. “Unfortunately, the timing of the safety car was bad for us — we had to pit for emergency fuel and once that happens you’re pretty much out of the game. It’s a real shame. When stuff like the timing of the safety car happens, you’re in the lap of the gods and it didn’t quite work out for us today. But in the future it will.”
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In LMP2, it was heartbreak for the No. 31 WRT ORECA, which retired from the lead with an engine issue with under 20 minutes remaining. This promoted the No. 28 JOTA ORECA, which had been fast all day, to the lead in the run to the line. For Oliver Rasmussen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Pietro Fittipaldi, it was their first win and first podium of the season.
“It was amazing, we had an incredible start, then it was up in the air. I thought a podium would have been great, but to be number one, incredible,” said Heinemeier Hansson.
“We fought back, kept it clean, we were so close at Spa, to get the win was amazing,” added Fittipaldi.
While it wasn’t the best of days for JOTA’s Porsche Hypercar, things could hardly have gone better for its LMP2 ORECA-Gibson. Motorsport Images
Behind, the No. 36 Alpine also secured its best finish of the season with second, coming home ahead of the LMP2 pole-sitting No. 41 WRT ORECA.
The No. 41 snatched the final podium spot off the No. 23 United ORECA on the final lap of the race, completing a recovery drive after losing time in the pits in the first half of the race.
For Josh Pierson, Giedo van der Garde and Oliver Jarvis in the No. 23 United Autosports car, fourth will come as a disappointment, especially after van der Garde put in a trademark opening stint, fighting to third from 11th on the grid. The sister No. 22 ended up sixth behind the Le Mans-winning Inter Europol example that crossed the line fifth.
Motorsport Images
GTE Am, meanwhile, was won by the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Julien Andlauer, Christian Ried and Mikkel Pedersen. All three were faultless and played their strategy cards right on a day in which the category delivered an enthralling, unpredictable contest.
“We had no idea where we would finish, it was so close, but we made the right calls and were out front in the closing hours. We had to manage a gap and maintain it at the end,” Andlauer said.
The No. 60 Iron Lynx and No. 86 GR Racing Porsche made it a 1-2-3 for the German brand.
The main headline here was Corvette Racing’s No. 33 C8.R of Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg claiming the class title with a fourth-place finish.
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) July 9, 2023
It wasn’t an easy race for the trio, who were carrying 40kg of success ballast, as they had to serve a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane and were forced to take an extra emergency stop for fuel. However, by finishing ahead of the Iron Dames Porsche and ORT by TF Aston Martin, they sealed the championship.
This was the first time all year the Corvette had finished off the podium, in what has been a fairy tale season which had seen the team score three wins and a second place prior to this weekend.
“I’ve said it over and over, but in this championship and in each one of the five races we’ve had, it has been a true team performance overall,” said Keating. “You win as a team and you lose as a team, but we’ve also been lucky in quite a lot of places.
“It’s just been a magical season. I’m really proud of everyone on the Corvette Racing team.”
Iron Dames and ORT by TF had hugely disappointing races with the titles on the line. The all-female-crewed No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche finished fifth, while the TF Aston could only muster seventh.
