2023 Le Mans 24 Hours – Who's in it, how to watch, race schedule
Sports Car News
Anticipation is building for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, running on its 100th anniversary – here's all the crucial details of who's in it and how to watch
Toyota is going head-to-head against Porsche, Ferrari et al this year at Le Mans
100 years: when the winner of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans sails over the finish line, having run roughly 5000km (3500 miles), they’ll be emulating legends first forged a century ago.
The No9 Chenard-Walcker of André Lagache and René Léonard that sailed over the line in 1923 began a racing lineage that can only be matched by the Indianapolis 500 and the Isle of Man TT – nothing else comes close and, in endurance racing, there is no equal.
It’s appropriate then that in this 2023’s centenary running, sports car racing is entering a new golden age, the Hypercar/LMDh era heralding a top class which is the largest in years, and set to keep growing for next season too.
2023 will see nine-time overall winner Ferrari, back in elite-level endurance racing after an absence of 50 years, start on the front row of the grid ahead of current Le Mans kings Toyota, with Porsche, Peugeot and Cadillac further back.
But qualifying pace means little in a race that runs twice around the clock, where reliability, efficiency and unrelenting focus are essential for victory. In any year, teams know to expect the unexpected, but with rain forecast in 2023 and a huge grid of top-class contenders vying to win the centennial race, this year’s La Sarthe showdown is not to be missed.
Ferrari is the most high-profile new entrant in the Hypercar class
Ferrari
Anticipation is reaching fever pitch for Le Mans 2023, after an exciting Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – often seen as a rough form guide for La Sarthe – saw action throughout the top class.
Two parallel rule sets, offering differing technological routes but – in theory – the same level of performance, means manufacturers have a choice on how it wants to approach the fight for the overall win.
The Le Mans Hypercar class offers greater technological freedom, but at a higher cost, while the LMDh category is vice versa – but both come under the umbrella of ‘Hypercar’.
Le Mans Hypercar
Peugeot will hope to build on its Hypercar progress
DPPI
Fighting it out in the Le Mans Hypercar section of sports cars’ top table is a mixture of heavyweight manufacturers and plucky independents.
Toyota got the head start when the Hypercar rules first came in for 2021, seamlessly transitioning from the old LMP1 ruleset and appropriately winning from the off.
Here is the full entry list for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, complete with every driver from the Hypercar, LMP2, LMGTE-AM and Garage 56
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This season though is when the competition becomes somewhat tougher. A commendable challenge has come previously from the independent Glickenhaus with its 007 Hypercar and Alpine using the ‘grandfathered’ Rebellion LMP1 machine, but now, with the force of Ferrari, Toyota has serious challenge on its hands.
In the mist of the Ardennes in Belgium, the Scuderia at times had the pace to match the Japanese marque and it proved to be faster on the Mulsanne and following twists and turns to take pole for this weekend’s race. The big question is whether that can be sustained in the race, and whether the team can match the experience of Toyota.
Peugeot is another big money entrant, but its ground effect 9X8 has suffered both poor reliability and a lack of performance. However, it at least managed to get both cars to the finish in Spa relatively unscathed, and has shown competitive times at Le Mans. It would be a shock winner, but opular with the French crowd.
Also in Hypercar are two independent entries: the above-mentioned Glickenhaus, running two cars entered by B-movie mogul Jim Glickenhaus, and the Vanwall team, a single-car entrant headed by Colin Kolles and his ByKolles operation.
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The technical regulations state that entrants must use a spec hybrid system, battery and gearbox, as well as choice of LMP2 derived chassis from either Dallara, Oreca, Ligier and Multimatic.
Porsche, the most successful manufacturer ever at Le Mans, is entered with a Multimatic chassis, while Cadillac – back in the top tier of Le Mans after an absence 20 years – is making use of Dallara’s offering.
The Stuttgart marque is running a third car in addition to its usual two-pronged WEC attack, sourced from its parallel IMSA campaign, and has been close to the Ferrari and Toyota Hypercars all week. Striong race pace could see the 963s take the fight to the front-running Hypercars.
Cadillac is bolstering its ranks with both an extra Ganassi machine (adding to the usual single-car WEC effort) and one from the Action Express team. Both of these cars usually compete in IMSA also. With lap times not far short of the Porsche, the team could find itself in the mix.
There will also be a fourth car for Porsche 963 from the British JOTA squad, which impressed by finishing sixth in Spa on debut.
LMP2 typically provides thrilling battles at Le Mans
Getty Images
LMP2 has been seen as Le Mans’ most fertile ground for competition in recent years, and in spite of the increased Hypercar class this year, the second-tier category should still provide excitement throughout the 24 hours.
Also competing will be endurance legend Jan Magnussen, driving for Inter Europol Competition, his No32 machine being completed by Mark Kvamme and Anders Fjordbach.
GTE-Am
GTE-Am is an exciting category in its own right as well as providing drama as faster competitors thread their way through the field
Getty Images
The GT discipline at Le Mans was previously split into the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am categories, but now with the increase of the Hypercar class and decrease in manufacturer interest in GTE racing, only the former exists.
Next year the category will switch to the cheaper, less technologically advanced GT3 ruleset, opening up the class to a wide number of manufacturer cars.
This year still promises to provide some thrilling racing though. Aston Martin, with five Vantages present, will have its largest representation since 2017, while Hollywood film star Patrick Dempsey’s Proton squad is again fielding cinematic colleague Michael Fassbender in the No911 Porsche 911 RSR.
Lilou Wadoux made history by becoming the first ever woman to win a WEC race at Spa, and will look to build on that progress with Luis Perez Companc and Alessio Rovera in AF Corse Ferrari 488.
Also looking to make further Le Mans history is the competitive all-female team of Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey in the No85 Iron Dames car.
2023 24 Hours of Le Mans schedule (BST)
Date
Session
Location
June 2/June 3 (Friday/Saturday)
Scrutineering – cars on display
Place de la République (Le Mans city centre)
June 7 (Wednesday – 2pm-5pm)
Free Practice 1
La Sarthe Circuit
June 7 (Wednesday – 7pm-8pm)
Qualifying practice
La Sarthe Circuit
June 7 (Wednesday – 10pm-12pm)
Free Practice 2
La Sarthe Circuit
June 8 (Thursday – 3pm-6pm)
Free Practice 3
La Sarthe Circuit
June 8 (Thursday – 8pm-8.30pm)
Hyperpole
La Sarthe Circuit
June 8 (Thursday – 10pm-11pm)
Free Practice 4
La Sarthe Circuit
June 9 (Friday – 2pm-4.30pm)
Drivers parade
Le Mans city centre
June 10 (Saturday – 12pm-12.15pm)
Warm-up
La Sarthe Circuit
June 10-11 (Saturday-Sunday – 4pm-4pm)
Race – 24 Hours of Le Mans
La Sarthe Circuit
How to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans
All sessions will be available to stream live on Discovery+, with all broadcasts beginning 15 minutes before each session time listed above, apart from the race itself which will have a one-hour build-up.
Eurosport will also show qualifying practice, Hyperpole and the race, with the first two sessions to be broadcast similarly to Discovery+. Race coverage such as build-up and post-race etc is yet to be released.
Download the World Endurance Championship app (renamed to 24H Le Mans TV for this weekend) and yo can subscribe to the race package for £9.99 within the app.
Guide to the Le Mans circuit (La Sarthe)
The La Sarthe circuit on which the Le Mans 24 Hours is held is one of the great motor sport challenges. At 13.6km (8.4 miles) the track is longer than most modern circuits, the official lap record being held by Toyota’s Mike Conway, who in 2019 clocked a 3min 17.297sec driving a TS050 LMP1 prototype.
With the famous Mulsanne Straight inducing some of the highest speeds seen in racing, huge concentration is needed as drivers negotiate public roads turned international race track for one week only – ruts, bumps, undulations and all.
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The lap opens with a right-hand sweep into the Dunlop curb before heading through the Dunlop Bridge and chicane section. A number of technical corners present themselves before drivers round Tertre Rouge, the right-hand turn which proceeds drivers going full-throttle down the Mulsanne.
After negotiating the straight’s two chicanes, cars slam on the brakes for the Mulsanne corner, before taking on the left-right switch of Indianapolis and Arnage.
Competitors then slalom through the sweeping Porsche curves before the chicanes of Maison-Blanche, Ford and Raccordement finish the lap.
Run over 24 gruelling hours, Le Mans is one of racing’s greatest challenges, and this year’s hundredth anniversary looks set to be one of the greatest events held yet.
