24 HOURS OF LE MANS 2023. Only a few hours left before the arrival of the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race has been very lively so far and the suspense before the final sprint. On which TV channel to watch the finish? Here is all the practical information.
[Mis à jour le 11 juin 2023 à 7h01] What an edition! The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans keep all their promises and whoever could tell at daybreak who would be the winner of this centenary edition at the checkered flag this Sunday, June 11th. While the finish is scheduled for 4 p.m., all the big favorites can still believe in victory, but the night has left terrible scars on each side.
The ranking (top 5) at 7:00 a.m. after 15 hours of racing
- Toyota n°8 with 199 laps covered
- Ferrari n°51 at 10 seconds
- Cadillac #2 two minutes away
- Porsche #6 one lap away
- Cadillac No. 3 at a lap
- Peugeot n°93 with two towers
- Glickenhaus No. 708 with three towers
- Glickenhaus No. 709 with four towers
- Five-lap Porsche No. 5
- Ferrari No. 50 at five laps
The classification of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is established from the number of laps covered between Saturday 4 p.m. and Sunday 4 p.m. There is a general classification but also a classification by categories. Three categories coexist: the Hypercars bring together the favorites (Toyota, Glickenhaus, Porsche…), the LMP2 prototypes which are a little less powerful and the LMGTE am, now the only GT category. Note that a Nascar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be the only competitor in the Innovative Cars category.
What a spectacle since the start given at 4 p.m. on Saturday! On a still wet track, Toyota quickly took the lead by placing Sebastien Buemi’s n°8 in the lead ahead of the leading Ferraris. If the head of the race passed the first corners without incident, an outsider has already lost big, Cadillac with the crash of the n°311 which returned painfully to the pits after only five minutes of racing. The race was then neutralized under safety car to repair the damaged safety rails before the race resumed at 4:40 p.m.
The Cadillac n°3 soon after also had its share of problems, returning to the pits with Sébastien Bourdais at the wheel. Cadillac therefore had only one Hypercar left in the leading group, the n°2 in the hands of Earl Bamber who even took the lead at 6 p.m. taking advantage of slow zones following accidents and shifting strategies. With the arrival of the rain, accidents, off-tracks and interruptions followed one another resulting in a waltz of the leaders. Among the losers at the start of the race were the No. 3 Cadillacs and No. 93 Peugeots after Jean-Eric Vergne went off the track. The No. 6 Porsche also lost time shortly after 8 p.m. following a puncture.
The second major race event occurred at midnight with a crash involving several competitors including Toyota n°7, forced to retire, the Hypercar then driven by Kamui Kobayashi being the victim of a chain collision at midnight with two LMP2 and a Ferrari GT. The crash, affecting the GR010 Hybrid at the rear, caused its retirement. Toyota already had only one car left in the race even before the halfway mark, but Ferrari and then Porsche were also going to suffer mechanical problems. The Porsche n°5 also let go following a cooling problem, like the Ferrari n°50 betrayed by its mechanics and which lost nearly 30 minutes in repair. At Peugeot, it was the No. 94 of Gustavo Menezes, then third, which made a mistake in the Mulsanne chicane, losing more than 20 minutes in repairs and was about to see its dreams go up in smoke.
Toyota, with the n°8, then regained the lead after the exit in the Hunaudières of the n°51 Ferrari, but the night did not allow any significant gap to be created. At 6 o’clock in the morning, the Toyota n°8 only had a thirty-second lead over the Ferrari n°51 and one lap over the Cadillac n°2 in ambush. The n°6 Porsche, the n°3 Cadillac and the n°93 Peugeot have also not given up yet, being within two laps of the lead car.
This year, two TV channels are broadcasting the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Eurosport, broadcaster for many years, ensures full retransmission via Eurosport channels 1 and 2 (as well as on the paying app Eurosport Player). The broadcast took place at 3 p.m. on Saturday June 10, one hour before the start, for broadcast until Sunday, with a part reserved for the post-race. Eurosport is accessible by subscription.
The Channel The Team ensures a free broadcast of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023. Available on TNT (channel 21) or via the internet (connected TV or internet box), La Chaîne L’Equipe will broadcast the pre-race, the start at 4 p.m. and then many hours of racing.
- Broadcast of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 on La Chaîne L’Equipe: from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday June 10.
- From 10:55 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on the night of Saturday to Sunday June 11.
- From 5 a.m. until the arrival at 4 p.m. this Sunday, June 11.
You can also follow the race live on the net via the on-board cameras offered by Peugeot Sport on board 9X8 n°93 and n°94.