2023 LM24, Hour 11: Toyota Back Out In Front!

With 11 hours complete in the Centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s sole-surviving GR010 HYBRID leads the race.

Sebastien Buemi took the lead aboard the #8 Toyota after a brief Full Course Yellow and restart. Buemi powered past Nico Muller in the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8, down the run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis Corner. The high-strung Buemi isn’t satisfied, but he is starting to pull out a margin of three seconds.

Ferrari AF Corse runs second via the #51 Ferrari 499P. Alessandro Pier Guidi was relieved by James Calado, who took second place with a move around the outside of the Indianapolis straight.

But the #94 Peugeot in third continues to exceed its modest expectations. Muller’s marathon stint has ended and Gustavo Menezes, who originally led in this car, is now running third.

Alex Lynn makes it four manufacturers in the overall and Hypercar top four, driving the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R “blue deuce” in a marathon stint.

At the tail end of the lead lap is the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, whose earlier punctures have been the least of Porsche’s woes this race. Kevin Estre is now aboard having taken the position from the #3 Cadillac after Sebastien Bourdais spun off at the Ford Chicane.

The #50 Ferrari is back in the race after a 30-minute service in the garage, but is now six laps down and out of the overall top ten.

We leave LMP2 with the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Jakub Smiechowski still leading as he and his team have done for much of the past few hours.

Neel Jani is rediscovering his vintage form as he pursues the leader aboard the Team Duquiene #30 Oreca in second.

Then there’s a 25-second gap to the third-ranked #65 Panis Racing Oreca driven by Job van Uitert, on the comeback trail. Reshad de Gerus runs fourth in LMP2 in the #47 COOL Racing Oreca.

COOL Racing’s #37 car was leading LMP2 Pro-Am until the start of the hour when it went to the garage. The 30-minute garage stay knocked Malthe Jakobsen six laps off the new sub-class leader.

Which is now…the #80 AF Corse Oreca, which had its gearbox issue earlier, but now Norman Nato has found himself back in front from the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Colin Braun!

Jan Magnussen has stopped in the #32 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, the car’s second significant incident of the race.

Project 1-AO Porsche continues to lead GTE-Am with a 20+ second lead over the field as the race approaches the halfway point. Gunnar Jeanette was installed just on the turn of the hour, and has continued to extend the lead of the #56 Porsche 911 RSR-19, now out to 34 seconds.

Francesco Castellacci holds down second place in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, coming to the end of a triple stint, with Daniel Serra in the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari sitting in third.

Serra was the fastest during the night hours, catching and overcoming initially Castellacci after the #54 made a pit stop, then the Iron Dames and Proton Competition Porsches, lapping at times 5 seconds a lap faster than the competition.

The Iron Dames #85 Porsche sits in fourth, taking the position back from the #911 Proton Competition Porsche in the last round of stops – a full service in the #911 to install Fassbender dropping them back after Rump passed Frey in the previous stint.

ORT by TF Racing rounds out the top six and the runners on the lead lap; Charlie Eastwood just having taken over that car.

GR Racing is close to getting their lap back, with Ben Barker piloting the #86 Porsche at a rapid pace, ahead of the #88 Proton Porsche, #33 Corvette Racing, and #98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin completing the top ten in class.

The #77 Proton Porsche has run into trouble, being wheeled into the garage and retired from the race. At this stage, there has been no indication as to the reason of their retirement.

The #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is sitting just off the lead GTE-Am lap, but has been making gains on the GTE-Am field as the conditions cool out overnight. Rocky has continued his stint in the car, now sitting in 37^th overall.