Hot News World Endurance Championship

Le Mans Hour 23: Ferrari cruising to victory now

Posted by AR1 staff

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The #51 Ferrari now has a comfortably 1m51s lead over the #8 Toyota Hypercar after Japanese Toyota Ryo Hirakawa driver choked at Arnage, and now Italian ace Pier Guidi is in the leading Ferrari for the final hour.

Their lead is actually 3 minutes as the Toyota has yet to stop.

The Ferrari is the faster car and the Toyota has no chance of victory because the FIA hit them with an unfair 83 pound Balance of Power adjustment (added weight) and ensured Ferrari the win, barring and trouble

Race engineer Ryan Dingle had been in constant communication with all three of his drivers in the #8 car to manage the brake balance.

Then Hirakawa, on used Michelin rubber, locked up the rear wheels in the braking zone at Arnage Corner, spun off to the left and bounced off the guardrail sustaining cosmetic damage to the front and rear. Hirakawa pitted again for damage repairs.

The Ganassi Cadillacs still run in 3rd and 4th to no chance for victory unless they get a miracle.

The #5 Penske Porsche rounds out the top-5, 5 laps behind and out of contention.

LMP2: No change since Hour 21 – 10th and 11th overall, the #34 still leads the #41 but the #41 is only 31 seconds behind

GTE-Am: Nicky Catsburg in the  #33 Corvette has stretched the Corvette’s lead to 3m03s and appear headed to victory.

Garage 56: Jimmie Johnson has replaced Mike Rockenfeller in the car and will drive the remainder of the race.

Hour 23 Standings

POS NO. STATUS CLASS TEAM CURRENT DRIVER CAR LAPS BEHIND
1 51 RUN Hypercar H Ferrari AF Corse Pier Guidi Alessandro Ferrari 499P 326 0.000
2 8 RUN Hypercar H Toyota Gazoo Racing Hirakawa Ryo Toyota GR010 HYBRID 325 1:51.568
3 2 RUN Hypercar H Cadillac Racing Bamber Earl Cadillac V-Series.R 324 2 laps
4 3 RUN Hypercar H Cadillac Racing Bourdais Sébastien Cadillac V-Series.R 323 3 laps
5 5 RUN Hypercar H Porsche Penske Motorsport Christensen Michael Porsche 963 320 6 laps
6 50 RUN Hypercar H Ferrari AF Corse Fuoco Antonio Ferrari 499P 320 3:10.678
7 708 RUN Hypercar Glickenhaus Racing Pla Olivier Glickenhaus 007 318 8 laps
8 709 RUN Hypercar Glickenhaus Racing Mailleux Franck Glickenhaus 007 317 9 laps
9 93 RUN Hypercar H Peugeot Totalenergies Jensen Mikkel Peugeot 9X8 314 12 laps
10 34 RUN LM P2 Inter Europol Competition Scherer Fabio Oreca 07 – Gibson 311 15 laps
11 41 RUN LM P2 Team WRT Delétraz Louis Oreca 07 – Gibson 311 35.072
12 31 RUN LM P2 Team WRT Frijns Robin Oreca 07 – Gibson 311 8.539
13 30 RUN LM P2 Duqueine Team Binder René Oreca 07 – Gibson 310 16 laps
14 36 RUN LM P2 Alpine Elf Team Milesi Charles Oreca 07 – Gibson 310 1:03.407
15 48 RUN LM P2 Idec Sport Hörr Laurents Oreca 07 – Gibson 310 2:25.617
16 10 RUN LM P2 Vector Sport Aubry Gabriel Oreca 07 – Gibson 308 18 laps
17 94 RUN Hypercar H Peugeot Totalenergies Müller Nico Peugeot 9X8 307 19 laps
18 311 RUN Hypercar H Action Express Racing Sims Alexander Cadillac V-Series.R 307 6.243
19 23 RUN LM P2 United Autosports Jarvis Oliver Oreca 07 – Gibson 306 20 laps
20 65 RUN LM P2 Panis Racing Van Uitert Job Oreca 07 – Gibson 306 3:00.158
21 35 RUN LM P2 Alpine Elf Team Negrão André Oreca 07 – Gibson 306 2:47.445
22 45 RUN LM P2 P/A Algarve Pro Racing Braun Colin Oreca 07 – Gibson 305 21 laps
23 22 RUN LM P2 United Autosports Albuquerque Filipe Oreca 07 – Gibson 304 22 laps
24 6 RUN Hypercar H Porsche Penske Motorsport Vanthoor Laurens Porsche 963 303 23 laps
25 37 RUN LM P2 P/A Cool Racing Jakobsen Malthe Oreca 07 – Gibson 301 25 laps
26 28 RUN LM P2 Jota Heinemeier-Hansson David Oreca 07 – Gibson 299 27 laps
27 33 RUN LM GTE Am Corvette Racing Catsburg Nicky Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 297 29 laps
28 25 RUN LM GTE Am Ort By TF Eastwood Charlie Aston Martin Vantage AMR 297 3:12.039
29 85 RUN LM GTE Am Iron Dames Frey Rahel Porsche 911 RSR – 19 297 3:24.743
30 56 RUN LM GTE Am Project 1 – Ao Cairoli Matteo Porsche 911 RSR – 19 296 30 laps
31 86 RUN LM GTE Am Gr Racing Pera Riccardo Porsche 911 RSR – 19 296 48.216
32 54 RUN LM GTE Am AF Corse Rigon Davide Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 296 2:00.177
33 98 RUN LM GTE Am Northwest Amr Riberas Alex Aston Martin Vantage AMR 295 31 laps
34 43 RUN LM P2 P/A Dkr Engineering Martin Maxime Oreca 07 – Gibson 295 3:12.297
35 9 RUN LM P2 Prema Racing Correa Juan Manuel Oreca 07 – Gibson 293 33 laps
36 100 RUN LM GTE Am Walkenhorst Motorsport Segal Jeffrey Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 292 34 laps
37 74 RUN LM GTE Am Kessel Racing Tsujiko Yorikatsu Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 288 38 laps
38 39 RUN LM P2 P/A Graff Racing Pilet Patrick Oreca 07 – Gibson 287 39 laps
39 24 RUN CDNT Hendrick Motorsports Johnson Jimmie Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 269 57 laps
40 38 RUN Hypercar H Hertz Team Jota Stevens William Porsche 963 242 84 laps
41 57 Ret LM GTE Am Kessel Racing Serra Daniel Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 254 72 laps
42 911 Ret LM GTE Am Proton Competition Fassbender Michael Porsche 911 RSR – 19 246 80 laps
43 80 Ret LM P2 P/A AF Corse Barnicoat Ben Oreca 07 – Gibson 183 143 laps
44 88 Ret LM GTE Am Proton Competition Ried Jonas Porsche 911 RSR – 19 170 156 laps
45 4 Ret Hypercar Floyd Vanwall Racing Team Vautier Tristan Vanwall Vandervell 680 165 161 laps
46 777 STOP LM GTE Am D’station Racing Fujii Tomonobu Aston Martin Vantage AMR 163 163 laps
47 47 Ret LM P2 Cool Racing De Gérus Reshad Oreca 07 – Gibson 158 168 laps
48 77 Ret LM GTE Am Dempsey – Proton Racing Pedersen Mikkel Porsche 911 RSR – 19 118 208 laps
49 32 RUN LM P2 Inter Europol Competition Magnussen Jan Oreca 07 – Gibson 117 209 laps
50 63 STOP LM P2 Prema Racing Kvyat Daniil Oreca 07 – Gibson 113 213 laps
51 7 STOP Hypercar H Toyota Gazoo Racing Kobayashi Kamui Toyota GR010 HYBRID 103 223 laps
52 66 STOP LM GTE Am Jmw Motorsport Prette Louis Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 89 237 laps
53 923 Ret LM P2 P/A Racing Team Turkey Vanthoor Dries Oreca 07 – Gibson 87 239 laps
54 75 STOP Hypercar H Porsche Penske Motorsport Jaminet Mathieu Porsche 963 84 242 laps
55 72 STOP LM GTE Am TF Sport Robin Arnold Aston Martin Vantage AMR 58 268 laps
56 83 STOP LM GTE Am Richard Mille AF Corse Wadoux Lilou Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 33 293 laps
57 16 STOP LM GTE Am Proton Competition Hardwick Ryan Porsche 911 RSR – 19 28 298 laps
58 60 STOP LM GTE Am Iron Lynx Schiavoni Claudio Porsche 911 RSR – 19 28 0.000
59 55 STOP LM GTE Am Gmb Motorsport Birch Gustav Aston Martin Vantage AMR 21 305 laps
60 21 STOP LM GTE Am AF Corse De Pauw Ulysse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 21 0.000
61 13 STOP LM P2 P/A Tower Motorsports Taylor Ricky Oreca 07 – Gibson 19 307 laps
62 14 STOP LM P2 P/A Nielsen Racing Sales Rodrigo Oreca 07 – Gibson 18 308 laps