Fifty years after its last participation in the mythical La Sarthe and 58 years after its last victory, Ferrari regained the throne of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the centenary edition, one of the best in history, the trio of the number 51 Ferrari 499P made up of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi prevailed with 342 laps, against the number 8 Toyota, winner of the 2022, which stayed at 1m21s.
The hybrid Japanese prototype had dominated the last five years in the mythical resistance test; in the 2018 and 2019 editions with Fernando Alonso in the trio of pilots with Buemi and Nakajima.
The Prancing Horse brand brings his victories at Le Mans to 10. The previous one was in 1965, with the historic Jochen Rindt (although not part of the Maranello structure, but as a private team, the 250 LM of North American Racing).
The second Ferrari 499P, number 50, with the Catalan Miquel Molina (who started from pole position), was fifth due to a stone in the radiator. He was stopped for 25 minutes to repair the cooling system of the hybrid system and lost all chance of a podium finish.
The Le Mans centenary race lived up to expectations, with 16 prototypes in the premier class, the Hypercar, and 300,000 spectators on the Circuit de La Sarthe. The favourites, Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac and Peugeot, took turns in the lead, in an endurance race seasoned by rain, which caused numerous accidents and run off the track.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 left behind a Spanish winner: the Barcelona driver Albert Costa, who made his debut in the legendary endurance test with Inter Europol and won the LMP2 category. The number 32 car of which the Catalan driver was a part, along with Fabio Scherer and Jakub Smiechowski, overtook Robert Kubica’s WRT 41 in an intense fight during the last third of the race.
1. Alessandro Pier Guidi – James Calado – Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA-GBR-ITA/Ferrari N.51/Hypercar), 342 vueltas
2. S̩bastien Buemi РRyo Hirakawa РBrendon Hartley (SUI-JAP-NZL/Toyota N.8/Hypercar), a 1m20s
3. Earl Bamber – Alex Lynn – Richard Westbrook (NZL-GBR-GBR/Cadillac N.2/Hypercar), a 1 vuelta
4. S̩bastien Bourdais РRenger Van Der Zande РScott Dixon (FRA-NED-NZL/Cadillac N.3/Hypercar), 2 laps
5. Antonio Fuoco – Miquel Molina – Nicklas Nielsen (ITA-ESP-DEN/Ferrari N.50/Hypercar), 5 laps
