2023 LM24, Hours 17-18: The Fourth Quarter Drive Begins

Eighteen hours are in the books in the Centenary Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and six are left to run. With the sun now shining brightly over Circuit de la Sarthe and many of the fans waking from their overnight slumber, to borrow an analogy from American football, this is the moment for a “fourth quarter drive!”

Ferrari AF Corse leads at the end of 18 hours and 247 laps of racing. The #51 Ferrari 499P has a lead of a full minute over the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID in second.

James Calado began this block with the lead and Antonio Giovinazzi has taken the baton and run with it in the leading Ferrari which has just completed a pit stop. Ryo Hirakawa, likewise, has handed back the controls of the #8 Toyota to Sebastien Buemi who is determined to get back up front after being set back by a flat spotted tyre.

Ferrari is within reach of its first overall win at Le Mans since 1965 but of course, the job is absolutely not finished – and through all the attrition and adversity in this race, Toyota has proven they can take the fight to real competition in the Hypercar class.

At the tail end of the lead lap is the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, which has also had a change of drivers within the last two hours – Alex Lynn yielding to Richard Westbrook.

The #3 Cadillac currently piloted by Scott Dixon is one lap down in fourth place. The #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 is running fifth, two laps down, Mikkel Jensen trying to make up for the time lost after Jean-Eric Vergne spun off in the gravel on slicks in the wet.

Just after sixteen hours were completed, Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 clipped too much of the inside kerb in the Porsche Curves and spun off, making contact with the barrier which did significant damage to the floor. The #6 Porsche was battling for fourth place at the time. A 43-minute trip to the garage has relegated it out of the overall top ten.

Instead the #5 Penske Porsche is sixth after the cooling system issue from overnight, and the #50 Ferrari, hampered by its leak in the brake system, is seventh.

Glickenhaus Racing’s two cars still run inside the top ten even after both cars spun off exiting Indianapolis Corner and hit the barrier – first, Olivier Pla hit right-side first in the #708, and just minutes ago, Franck Mailleux did the same in the #709. Neither of the sky blue cars can afford any more incidents with spare bodywork running a bit low.

The #94 Peugeot which led to the surprise of many before it crashed overnight, is now tenth overall, despite having to go back to the garage quickly to check the oil temperature.

There are three retirements in the top class: The #7 Toyota after being collected in a multi-car crash, the #4 Floyd Vanwall Vandervell 680 with a mechanical failure, and the #75 Porsche with a fuel pressure problem.

After 236 laps in the LMP2 class, Inter Europol Competition leads the way. The green and yellow #34 Oreca 07-Gibson has been in control for a lot of the race for the past 12 hours.

Albert Costa is now driving the #34 and has a 41-second lead to the second-placed Team WRT #41 Oreca, with the Angolan Rui Andrade driving.

Two minutes off the lead is the Team Duqueine #30 in third, being driven by Neel Jani. At the tail end of the LMP2 lead lap, Tijmen van der Helm runs fourth in the Panis Racing #65, around seven seconds ahead of the Alpine Elf Team #36 of Charles Milesi.

After Ferdinand Habsburg’s scary slide in the Saturday afternoon monsoon, Team WRT now has the #31 car back in the top six and just a lap down with Sean Gelael currently driving.

They’re five seconds ahead of the IDEC Sport #48, with another lap difference to the Vector Sport #10 and the JOTA #28 which was once fancied for the win but is now two laps adrift of the lead.

LMP2 Pro-Am’s leader is the Algarve Pro Racing #45, tenth in the class overall, with gentleman driver George Kurtz aboard.

Seven official retirements are in LMP2, all related to accidents in some manner: Nielsen Racing’s #14, Tower Motorsports’ #13, the #923 from Racing Team Turkey, Prema Racing’s #9, Inter Europol’s #32 (which had a suspension failure to cause Jan Magnussen’s wreck), the COOL Racing #47, and the AF Corse #80.

On the strike of the hour, Rahel Frey pitted her #85 Iron Dames Porsche from the lead of GTE-AM.

Iron Dames are forging ahead, a lead of just over a minute built up before the pit call. The track is starting to come to the drivers as morning temperatures climb.

With Nicky Catsburg looking likely to see out most of the rest of the race, his Corvette C8.R had to take an emergency splash of fuel under the last full course yellow, then more recently needing a full service stop.

Ben Keating climbed aboard for what will likely be his final stint. The car regained second place, Keating passing P.J. Hyett’s #56 Project 1 AO Porsche on the drag down to Indianapolis.

The Iron Dames vs Corvette battle that has raged on all season in the WEC seemed to be reigniting, but Charlie Eastwood in the #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin had other ideas. He’s back on a charge with TF Sport’s pit strategy looking to be coming good.

The #25 car had fought through to lead its class at the 18 hour mark, but had the Corvette breathing down its neck. PJ Hyett still held third place, 24 seconds adrift of the flying Corvette and Aston Martin battle.

The #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is still going strong in its own race, Mike Rockenfeller is now back aboard the #24 car, running 28th overall on the road and 43 seconds in front of the GTE-Am field and a lap behind the COOL Racing LMP2 prototype, almost matching its lap times.