2023 LM24, Hour 7: Rain, Pavement & Tarmac Become Black Terror

The skies have opened once again after sunset in the 24 Hours of Le Mans – creating terrible conditions for the drivers to negotiate.

Within minutes of the rain falling hard, the Hypercar class front runners dove to the pits to change to wet-weather tyres. Even then, with the minimal visibility of night driving already made worse with the rain and spray, these drivers are trying to be as careful as possible not to throw it away now.

What that has done is brought all of the Hypercar and LMP2 front runners back on the same pit sequence.

And it means that Alessandro Pier Guidi now has a commanding lead in the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. At the top of the hour he has a lead of over one minute and is running a brilliant stint in these tough conditions.

The Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 is thriving in the wet conditions, and Loic Duval is running a commendable second overall in the #94 Peugeot, with a 30-second buffer to the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID – which has “Coach Kamui” Kobayashi aboard for his first stint.

However, the #50 Ferrari has had its first real strife of the race. When it came into the pits near the top of the hour, it lost 30 seconds in the pits when it wouldn’t fire up. That bruise only spread when Nicklas Nielsen ran wide at Karting Corner, avoiding the barriers but losing even more valuable track position. Nielsen is now fourth overall.

Richard Westbrook also had a spin in the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R but was able to continue right away and is now fifth. Ryo Hirakawa is aboard the #8 Toyota, now sixth, last of the lead-lap runners.

The #75 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 had been having a relatively trouble-free race compared to its peers from the Penske camp, until it shut down in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet at the inside of Tertre Rouge. Jaminet has spent several minutes trying to get the car back online and back to the pits.

Fabio Scherer leads the LMP2 class aboard the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07-Gibson. The Polish Bakers’ ace car is well and truly in the fight for the biggest win of their lives.

Tom Blomqvist is catching him rapidly, the United Autosports #23 Oreca has cut the deficit down to under ten seconds and may be poised to make a move as of publication.

Robert Kubica is back aboard the Team WRT #41 in a comfortable third.

And with Pro driver Ben Barnicoat now driving, the #80 AF Corse Oreca from the LMP2 Pro-Am sub-category is running fourth in its class, just ahead of Olli Caldwell in the Alpine Elf Team #35.

Once the rain started, the trouble began immediately for several LMP2 runners. Oliver Rasmussen had to come back to the garage after spinning and hitting the barrier, with damage on the right front of the #28 JOTA Oreca – not as bad as what the “Mighty ’38” Porsche suffered earlier, but enough to take them out of immediate reach of the lead – he’s now sixth in class.

Filip Ugran went off in the Prema Racing #9 Oreca, and was then hit by an out-of-control Salih Yoluc in the #923 Racing Team Turkey car. Both cars continued but the Prema #9 only got far enough to go back to the garage for repairs.

Independently, Frederick Lubin also slid off course in the United Autosports #22, but continued.

‘Rexy’ leads GTE-Am at Le Mans! Matteo Cairoli’s experience with the #56 Project 1 – AO Porsche 911 RSR-19 came to the fore as the Italian pro driver overhauled a big gap to the #85 Iron Dames Porsche, his lap times several seconds better, a gap of 12 seconds drawing out now to the second placed Iron Dames Porsche.

AF Corse are hanging on for third in the wet conditions, Davide Rigon’s Le Mans experience clearly making the difference as slippery conditions prevail.

The rain that introduced the hour claimed the GTE-Am leader. Rookie Giacomo Petrobelli lost the #66 JMW Ferrari at Indianapolis, hard into the gravel with rear bodywork damage. The car was recovered, but significant suspension and body repairs were obviously required – another victim of this year’s race, the like of which this writer has not seen in this class.

That put the #85 Iron Dames in front, the all-female Porsche crew using the car’s handling they had enthused about to best effect.
Matteo Cairolli had climbed back into the #56 Porsche, ‘Rexy’s’ handlers putting in a very solid drive so far.

A 21-lap stint for Gunnar Jeanette had pegged the car onto the pace, but a 19 seconds gap to the leading #85 car seemed better suited to Cairolli, who immediately began to carve chunks out of the pink Porsche’s lead in worsening night-time conditions.

Similarly, Richard Lietz took the #911 Proton Competition Porsche back from Michael Fassbender, the actor-turned-racer following suit to limit the risk of a hard-earned fourth place.

Hendrick Motorsports were slowly progressing through the GTE-Am runners, the #24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 a second behind the eight-in-class D’Station Racing Aston Martin. Jimmie Johnson had taken over from Jenson Button, the American legend’s laps eight seconds a lap shy of the more nimble GTEs around them.

But so far so good, the car has avoided any real drama and sounds and looks fabulous in the darkness.