Everything you need to know about the 100th edition of the most famous endurance race in the world. The track, the crews, the WEC calendar, the constructors’ standings and much more
@
TeoSic58
The centenary of the 24h of Le Mans, Ferrari’s return to the top class after half a century, the hybrid challenge in which several manufacturers have joined: there are many themes at stake in the 2023 edition of the most famous endurance race in the world. The fourth round of the Fia World Endurance Championship – after Sebring, Portimao and Spa-Francochamps – is the greatest opportunity for teams and car manufacturers to show off by winning a major edition of the 24h of Le Mans, the whose media resonance can generate undefined but certainly of great importance enthusiasm and income.
24h of Le Mans: the track
—
A full day of racing on the French circuit of La Sarthe: 13.626 km of track with 38 bends for each lap. The initial part coincides with the track used by the World Championship for the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP races, then everything is different: the WEC riders take the tangent to the La Chapelle curve and enter the fastest part of the circuit, where speeds are reached higher peaks. The very long straight is interrupted only by the Daytona Chicane and then by the violent braking of the Virage de Mulsanne. La Virage d’Arnage marks the return heading north towards the finish, not before a section with high speed and highly spectacular corners. You rejoin the MotoGP track between the penultimate and the last corner, in the middle of those two “right 90s” whose curbs make every motorcycling enthusiast who observes one of them lose half a heartbeat. Problems that do not exist for the 24h cars and therefore, at the Virage du rcordement Motul, they can face by jumping on the curbs themselves and completing the lap. Top speed, slipstreaming and strategy are key elements in the central part of the track; aerodynamics, downforce and handling are instead crucial in the more driven sections.
24h of Le Mans: entry list and Hypercar favourites
—
There are 16 cars in the Hypercar category: going in increasing order of number (here the complete entry list) we find the two Cadillac V-Series R of the Cadillac Racing team. The French Sebastien Bourdais (who plays at home), Renger Van Der Zande and Scott Dixon, fresh from 6th place in the Indianapolis 500, will be the protagonists on hybrid car number 3. The French Tristan Vautier replaces Jacques Villeneuve on the Vanwall Vandervell 680 of the Floyd Vanwall Racing Team. Large presence of Porsche 963s, starting with the Penske Motorsport numbers 5, 6 and 75. On the second, in particular, there are drivers of the caliber of Kevin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor. In any case, the favorites remain the Japanese Toyota Gazoo Racing, with years of experience gained in the WEC and with a truly complete product, the GR010 Hybrid. On number 7 Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez; on number 8 Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirawaka. Antonio Felix Da Costa is the star of the Hertz Team Jota on a Porsche 963 just as Jack Aitken is of the Action Express Racing team on the Cadillac V-Series R. More than a few spotlights are on the Ferrari 499P numbers 50 and 51. Fifty years after the last time, the Prancing Horse is officially presented at the start of the 24h of Le Mans in the top category. Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen are the drivers of car number 50, while Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi will be at the wheel of number 51. The Peugeot project starts from afar and, for the first time since the debut of the 9X8 at Monza in 2022, the Lion lines up its two cars at Le Mans. On number 93 there will be Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne, on number 94 Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Muller. The two Glickenhaus 007s complete the package in top class.
24h of Le Mans: the other classes
—
In Lmp2, the second category in order of importance and performance, the Italian teams Prema Racing and AF Corse stand out. Equal battle for the 24 crews present, all on Oreca 07 – Gibson. Spotlights on Robert Kubica (Team Wrt) as well as Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvjat (Prema Racing). Going down the category, in Lmgte Am we still find the AF Corse team protagonist, here with two Ferrari 488 Gte Evo. Italian presence also with Iron Lynx, Iron Dames (crew made up of women only) and Richard Mille AF Corse. The Prancing Horse cars will have to face the offensive from the Porsche 911 Rsr, the Aston Martin Vantage Amr and the only Chevrolet Corvette C8 R in the race. A separate category (Innovative Car) for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of the Hendrick Motorsort team: one of the three drivers is Jenson Button.
24h of Le Mans: TV times and program
—
TO this link the complete program of the 24h of Le Mans 2023, while a this other all the info you need for tickets. Below are the highlights of the program with the TV programming indicated.
- Test day – Free practice 1
- Test day – Free practice 2
- 14.00 Free practice 1 – live Eurosport Player and fiawec.tv
- 19.00 Qualifying – live Eurosport 2, ES Player and fiawec.tv
- 22.00 Free practice 2 – live Eurosport 2, ES Player and fiawec.tv
- 15.00 Free practice 3 – live Eurosport Player and fiawec.tv
- 20.00 Hyperpole for the 8 fastest cars – live Eurosport 2, ES Player and fiawec.tv
- 10.00 pm Free practice 4 – live broadcast by ES Player and fiawec.tv
- 16.00 Le Mans 24h race – live from 15.00 on Eurosport 2, ES Player and fiawec.tv. From 17.30 to 03.00 on Eurosport 1
- 16.00 Le Mans 24h checkered flag – from 14.30 to 17.00 on Eurosport 2.
Wec: the calendar
—
Below are the remaining races of the World Endurance Championship.
- 24h of Le Mans – 10-11 June
- 6 Hours of Monza – 9 July
- 6 Hours of Fuji – 10 September
- 8 Hours of Bahrain – 4 November.
Wec: constructors classification
—
Below are the manufacturers’ standings for the Endurance World Championship after three of the eight scheduled rounds.
- Toyota 90 points
- Ferrari 57
- Porsche 42
- Cadillac 40
- Peugeot 19
- Glickenhaus 12
- vanwall 6.
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED