Hypercar-class & Overall Champions
1st Place
№ 51 Ferrari A.F. Corse (Ferrari 499P)
James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi, & Alessandro Pier Guidi
2nd Place
№ 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing (Toyota GR010 Hybrid)
Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, & Ryō Hirakawa
3rd Place
№ 2 Cadillac Racing (Cadillac V-Series.R)
Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, & Richard Westbrook
L.M.P.2-class Champions
1st Place
№ 34 Inter Europol Competition (Oreca 07-Gibson)
Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer, & Jakub Śmiechowski
2nd Place
№ 41 Team W.R.T. (Oreca 07-Gibson)
Rui Andrade, Louis Delétraz, & Robert Kubica
3rd Place
№ 30 Duqueine Team (Oreca 07-Gibson)
René Binder, Neel Jani, & Nico Pino
G.T.E.-Am.-class Champions
1st Place
№ 33 Corvette Racing (Corvette C8.R)
Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating, & Nicolás Varrone
2nd Place
№ 25 O.R.T. by T.F. Sport (Aston Martin Vantage A.M.R.)
Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan, & Charlie Eastwood
3rd Place
№ 86 G.R. Racing (Porsche 911 R.S.R.-19)
Ben Barker, Riccardo Pera, & Michael Wainwright
I wanted Toyota to win their sixth consecutive Le Mans, but not because of any ill will toward any of the other Hypercar competitors. In short, Toyota have paid their dues, & I wanted to see them prevail in this first year of the full flowering of Hypercar.
Toyota returned to Le Mans in 2012 & entered that inaugural season of the World Endurance Championship (W.E.C.) a year earlier than intended. Toyota had been working toward a 2013 debut of their TS030 Hybrid, but rushed to enter in 2012, at the behest of the A.C.O. & F.I.A., to give Audi a Le Mans Prototype 1 (L.M.P.1) peer competitor after the sudden exit of Peugeot. Toyota came within five minutes of victory in 2016, only for the № 5 TS050 Hybrid to suffer a mechanical failure on the last lap, handing victory to a Porsche 919 Hybrid. Both Audi & Porsche withdrew from L.M.P.1 at the end of 2017, amidst the massive fines resulting from the Volkswagen emissions scandal, but Toyota soldiered on. In 2018, Toyota became the second Japanese manufacturer to win Le Mans overall, & claimed additional victories in 2019, 2020, 2021, & 2022, against admittedly depleted fields first in the L.M.P.1 class (2018-2020) & then in the new Hypercar class (2021-2022).
When the A.C.O. & F.I.A. replaced the incredibly cool but also astronomically expensive Le Mans Prototype 1 (L.M.P.1) specification with the cost-capped Le Mans Hypercar (L.M.H.) specification, Toyota was the first major automobile manufacturer to commit to building a Hypercar competitor. (Boutique automaker Glickenhaus was the very first to commit to Hypercar, & I respect them tremendously for that.) Toyota ran their L.M.H.-spec GR010 Hybrid in 2021 against the non-hybrid L.M.H. Glickenhaus 007 & a grandfathered L.M.P.1 Alpine (an Ocreca 07 L.M.P.2 car upgraded to L.M.P.1-spec), & in 2022 against the very unreliable L.M.H. hybrid Peugeot 9X8, waiting for Hypercar competitors from Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Vanwall, B.M.W., Alpine, & Lamborghini to arrive.
Toyota GR010 Hybrid won the first three races of the 2023 W.E.C. The Ferrari 499P showed tremendous single-lap pace, but not the reliability to beat the Toyota. Twice around the clock at Le Mans, the Ferrari came good. The № 7 Toyota looked stronger than the № 8, but was crashed out in the middle of the night; the № 50 Ferrari looked faster than the № 51, but lost time in the pits fixing a brake-fluid leak. The № 94 Peugeot showed blistering pace during the mixed dry-wet conditions of the early hours, but lost pace as the track dried & suffered a crash the damage from which was repaired, but which cost invaluable time in the pits. All four Porsche 963s came to grief one way or another; two of the three Cadillac V-Series.Rs struggled, but the № 2 ran a clean, consistent race, not having quite the pace to match the Ferraris & Toyotas.
Congratulations, Ferrari, on a well-fought victory! This was the Prancing Horse's first overall victory at Le Mans since 1965, though Ferrari had not competed in the top class since 1973; in those fifty years Ferraris have won numerous Le Mans class victories in G.T., most recently in 2021 (G.T.E.-Pro. by 2023 Hypercar winners James Calado & Alessandro Pier Guidi with Côme Ledogar).
The № 33, the lone Corvette in the field, prevailed in G.T.E.-Am., having started from the pole (meaning it was the fasted car in qualifying) but having gone down two laps due to some repairs & a potential screw up in the reshuffling during the terrible safety-car procedure, & having clawed their way back onto the lead lap & eventually into the class lead & class victory, one lightning-quick lap at a time. This victory is bittersweet: sweet because of the vindication of the Corvette C8.R, which was in contention to win G.T.E.-Pro. in 2022 before being crashed out by a buffoonish L.M.P.2 gentleman driver; bitter because this was the last time to factory Corvette Racing team will compete at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
At the end of this year's W.E.C. season, the Grand Touring Endurance (G.T.E.) specification is to be retired, to be replaced by the slower, easier to drive, much more road car-like Cup Grand Touring Car specification, commonly known as G.T.3. (G.T.E. is the evolution of the older G.T.2 specification.) In the W.E.C.'s new-for-2024 L.M.G.T.3 class, no factory teams will be permitted. The N.A.S.C.A.R.-owned I.M.S.A. dropped the G.T.E. spec in 2022; for the past two years, Corvetter Racing has been competing in I.M.S.A.'s G.T.D. Pro. class with a G.T.E.-spec Corvette C8.R detuned to G.T.3-spec (called Grand Touring Daytona [G.T.D.], but it's a pure G.T.3 specification; they are just pretentious jackasses.) For 2024, General Motors is producing a ground-up G.T.3-spec competitor, the Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
While factory teams won't be permitted in the W.E.C.'s L.M.G.T.3 class, they will be permitted in I.M.S.A.'s G.T.D. Pro class, yet General Motors has announced their intention to close down the factory team, Corvette Racing. Instead, they are going to provide unspecified factory support to privateer teams, intending to race eight of the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R: four in I.M.S.A. (two in G.T.D. Pro & two in G.T.D.), two in the W.E.C., & two in the G.T.3-only S.R.O. America series.
G.T.3 cars are slower & less capable than G.T.E. cars. I've watched many G.T.3-only races & they are incredibly, incredibly boring. I.M.S.A. races, featuring the G.T.3-spec G.T.D. Pro & G.T.D. classes, are unwatchable. I am sadly convinced L.M.G.T.3 will be similarly underwhelming. Except for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 2024 W.E.C. will consist of only two classes: Hypercar & L.M.G.T.3. L.M.P.2 will continue as the top class in the European Le Mans Series & the Asian Le Mans Series, & as the second-tier class in I.M.S.A. & at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Doom. Doom. Doom.
No comments:
Post a Comment