Le Mans Hour 22: Lead battle tightens with 2 Hours left

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota Hybrid has clawed back 4 seconds from the #51 Ferrari’s lead and now runs 9.8s behind Antonio Giovinazzi with just 2 hours left to run.

We could be in for a battle royale to the finish.

The #2 Cadillac with Richard Westbrook aboard sits 3rd, 2 minutes behind, praying for a miracle that issues will strike the Ferrari and Toyota.

The #3 Ganassi Cadillac sits 4th and the #5 Porsche now rounds out the Top-5 after the #93 Peugeot ran into trouble and dropped to 9th overall.

LMP2: No change since Hour 20 – 10th and 11th overall, the #34 still leads the #41 but the #41 is now back on the same lap

GTE-Am: Nicky Catsburg in the #33 Corvette is schooling Michelle Gatting in the 2nd place #85 Porsche, pulling away each and every lap to a lead of 1m41s and growing.

Garage 56: Repairs are complete on the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and Mike Rockenfeller has climbed into the car and is up to 39th from 40th overall.

#33 CORVETTE RACRUNG / Corvette C8.R – 24 Hours of Le Mans – Centenary Edition – Circuit de la Sarthe – Le Mans – France – Photo Courtesy of 2023 FIA WEC / FocusPackMedia – Gabi Tomescu

Hour 22 Standings

POS	NO.	STATUS	CLASS	TEAM	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	BEHRUND
1	51	RUN	Hypercar H	Ferrari AF Corse	Giovinazzi Antonio	Ferrari 499P	309	0.000
2	8	RUN	Hypercar H	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Hartley Brendon	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	309	9.804
3	2	RUN	Hypercar H	Cadillac Racing	Westbrook Richard	Cadillac V-Series.R	308	2:08.221
4	3	RUN	Hypercar H	Cadillac Racing	Van Der Zande Renger	Cadillac V-Series.R	307	2 laps
5	5	RUN	Hypercar H	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Makowiecki Frédéric	Porsche 963	303	6 laps
6	50	RUN	Hypercar H	Ferrari AF Corse	Fuoco Antonio	Ferrari 499P	303	1:38.044
7	708	RUN	Hypercar	Glickenhaus Racing	Dumas Romain	Glickenhaus 007	302	7 laps
8	709	RUN	Hypercar	Glickenhaus Racing	Berthon Nathanaël	Glickenhaus 007	301	8 laps
9	93	RUN	Hypercar H	Peugeot Totalenergies	Jensen Mikkel	Peugeot 9X8	297	12 laps
10	34	RUN	LM P2	Inter Europol Competition	Costa Albert	Oreca 07 – Gibson	296	13 laps
11	41	RUN	LM P2	Team Wrt	Kubica Robert	Oreca 07 – Gibson	296	1:46.882
12	48	RUN	LM P2	Idec Sport	Chatin Paul Loup	Oreca 07 – Gibson	295	14 laps
13	30	RUN	LM P2	Duqueine Team	Jani Neel	Oreca 07 – Gibson	295	57.357
14	65	RUN	LM P2	Panis Racing	Van Uitert Job	Oreca 07 – Gibson	295	2:10.550
15	31	RUN	LM P2	Team Wrt	Frijns Robin	Oreca 07 – Gibson	295	2:41.539
16	36	RUN	LM P2	Alpine Elf Team	Vaxiviere Matthieu	Oreca 07 – Gibson	294	15 laps
17	10	RUN	LM P2	Vector Sport	Aubry Gabriel	Oreca 07 – Gibson	293	16 laps
18	94	RUN	Hypercar H	Peugeot Totalenergies	Duval Loïc	Peugeot 9X8	291	18 laps
19	23	RUN	LM P2	United Autosports	Blomqvist Tom	Oreca 07 – Gibson	291	1:29.343
20	311	RUN	Hypercar H	Action Express Racing	Aitken Jack	Cadillac V-Series.R	290	19 laps
21	35	RUN	LM P2	Alpine Elf Team	Rojas Memo	Oreca 07 – Gibson	290	3:24.859
22	45	RUN	LM P2 P/A	Algarve Pro Racing	Braun Colin	Oreca 07 – Gibson	290	2:21.741
23	22	RUN	LM P2	United Autosports	Albuquerque Filipe	Oreca 07 – Gibson	288	21 laps
24	6	RUN	Hypercar H	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Vanthoor Laurens	Porsche 963	287	22 laps
25	37	RUN	LM P2 P/A	Cool Racing	Jakobsen Malthe	Oreca 07 – Gibson	285	24 laps
26	28	RUN	LM P2	Jota	Heinemeier-Hansson David	Oreca 07 – Gibson	285	3:28.406
27	33	RUN	LM GTE Am	Corvette Racing	Catsburg Nicky	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	282	27 laps
28	85	RUN	LM GTE Am	Iron Dames	Gatting Michelle	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	282	1:41.188
29	25	RUN	LM GTE Am	Ort By Tf	Eastwood Charlie	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	282	1:51.929
30	56	RUN	LM GTE Am	Project 1 – Ao	Cairoli Matteo	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	282	2:48.207
31	86	RUN	LM GTE Am	Gr Racing	Barker Benjamin	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	281	28 laps
32	54	RUN	LM GTE Am	AF Corse	Rigon Davide	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	281	49.819
33	98	RUN	LM GTE Am	Northwest Amr	Mancinelli Daniel	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	280	29 laps
34	43	RUN	LM P2 P/A	Dkr Engineering	De Wilde Ugo	Oreca 07 – Gibson	279	30 laps
35	9	RUN	LM P2	Prema Racing	Ugran Filip	Oreca 07 – Gibson	278	31 laps
36	100	RUN	LM GTE Am	Walkenhorst Motorsport	Hull Chandler	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	277	32 laps
37	39	RUN	LM P2 P/A	Graff Racing	Pilet Patrick	Oreca 07 – Gibson	275	34 laps
38	74	RUN	LM GTE Am	Kessel Racing	Yokomizo Naoki	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	274	35 laps
39	24	RUN	CDNT	Hendrick Motorsports	Rockenfeller Mike	Chevrolet Camaro ZL1	257	52 laps
40	57	STOP	LM GTE Am	Kessel Racing	Serra Daniel	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	254	55 laps
41	38	RUN	Hypercar H	Hertz Team Jota	Stevens William	Porsche 963	242	67 laps
42	911	Ret	LM GTE Am	Proton Competition	Fassbender Michael	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	246	63 laps
43	80	Ret	LM P2 P/A	AF Corse	Barnicoat Ben	Oreca 07 – Gibson	183	126 laps
44	88	Ret	LM GTE Am	Proton Competition	Ried Jonas	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	170	139 laps
45	4	Ret	Hypercar	Floyd Vanwall Racing Team	Vautier Tristan	Vanwall Vandervell 680	165	144 laps
46	777	STOP	LM GTE Am	D’station Racing	Fujii Tomonobu	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	163	146 laps
47	47	Ret	LM P2	Cool Racing	De Gérus Reshad	Oreca 07 – Gibson	158	151 laps
48	77	Ret	LM GTE Am	Dempsey – Proton Racing	Pedersen Mikkel	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	118	191 laps
49	32	RUN	LM P2	Inter Europol Competition	Magnussen Jan	Oreca 07 – Gibson	117	192 laps
50	63	STOP	LM P2	Prema Racing	Kvyat Daniil	Oreca 07 – Gibson	113	196 laps
51	7	STOP	Hypercar H	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Kobayashi Kamui	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	103	206 laps
52	66	STOP	LM GTE Am	Jmw Motorsport	Prette Louis	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	89	220 laps
53	923	Ret	LM P2 P/A	Racing Team Turkey	Vanthoor Dries	Oreca 07 – Gibson	87	222 laps
54	75	STOP	Hypercar H	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Jaminet Mathieu	Porsche 963	84	225 laps
55	72	STOP	LM GTE Am	TF Sport	Robin Arnold	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	58	251 laps
56	83	STOP	LM GTE Am	Richard Mille AF Corse	Wadoux Lilou	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	33	276 laps
57	16	STOP	LM GTE Am	Proton Competition	Hardwick Ryan	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	28	281 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	288 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	290 laps
62	14	STOP	LM P2 P/A	Nielsen Racing	Sales Rodrigo	Oreca 07 – Gibson	18	291 laps