The 2023 major 24 Hours races Top three

Jan 10

One’ll remember the winners of the 2023 four major 24 Hours races, by chronological order, #60 Acura at Daytona in January, #30 Ferrari at Nürburgring in May, #51 Ferrari at Le Mans in June and #98 BMW at Spa-Francorchamps in July. BUT, did you remember that the top two ended, each race, within less than 1.22 minutes.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona, Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps 2023

Actually, Daytona’s top two were within 4.190 seconds, at Nürburgring, the second crossed checkered flag 26.911 seconds after the winner, at Le Mans 1:21.193 minutes separated the top two and at Spa-Francorchamps the second ended 11.129 seconds behind the winner.

Acura wins the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona (IMSA)

Starting from the pole, the Meyer Shank Racing Acura driver lineup of Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud led the opening hour, and dominated early portions of the twice-around-the-clock contest; until a series of caution flags closed up the field for the final eight hours of the race.

The Acura boys were the fastest on track and could also benefit from a better energy utilisation as they could run 31 laps stints versus 30 for the Cadillacs who finished 3rd, 4th and 5th.

It was Acura and Meyer Shank Racing second consecutive Rolex 24 victory at Daytona International Speedway. Nevertheless, Honda Performance Development (HPD) discovered a tire pressure data manipulation which they reported to IMSA after the official results were released. Considering the performance advantage by running tire pressures slightly lower than the minimum pressure decreed by Michelin, the IMSA GTP class results have been retained, but the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has levied six penalties against the team. Among them, the loss of 200 team and driver IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship points and the loss of all team and driver IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona. Left: #10 Acura; right: the three cadillac V-Series.R in their very last laps.

The Wayne Taylor Racing lineup of Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi scored a 1-2 finish for Acura despite encountering a mechanical issue that resulted in the blue and black entry falling three laps down. Taylor and Deletraz piloted the #10 Acura to close the deficit. Albuquerque returned to the driver’s seat and through some luck with cautions, the #10 crew was back on the lead lap with just over an hour remaining. Albuquerque made some characteristic rapid starts (upon post safety cars releases), making passes on-track on the way to the podium 4.190 seconds behind sister #60.

Chip Ganassi Racing's #01 Cadillac V-LMDh earned a podium finish (P3, 9.630 seconds behind the winners) for Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande who combined to lead 198 laps. Both Cadillac Racing Cadillacs V-LMDh completed the full 24-hour endurance race on the lead lap, with Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook in the #02 registering a P4.

Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken with the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh led 87 laps finishing fifth.

Frikadelli Racing Team wins the 24 Hours of Nürburgring

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #30 Ferrari 296 GT3 by Frikadelli Racing Team

With 136 cars on the entry list, the May 18th-21st ADAC TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Nürburgring was raced on the Norsdschleife, the original F1 track which so many drivers do like so much to race on. The top class featured 33 GT3 representing the best GT3 manufacturers: Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche.

#30 Ferrari 296 GT3 by Frikadelli Racing Team driven by Earl Bamber, Nick Catsburg, David Pittard and Felipe Fernandez Laser won the 51st 24 Hours of Nürburgring after leading the race almost non-stop (except when pitting) since their first pit stop after 5 laps. That early stop strategy was the right one as, from then on, the #30 Frikadelli lead with 2 minutes + the rest of GT3s. Even a slow puncture at the end of Nicky Catsburg stint just before night didn’t put the Bamber, Catsburg, Pittard, Fernandez Laser quartet in difficulty.

Earl Bamber to Car Racing Reporter: “We all worked very well together as a team. We each brought our own individual knowledge from our past to ultimately build a great package. Our first race was not that strong in NLS but we knew we had the right ingredients. It sort of came together. The most difficult part of the program was winning the 6-hour race because this gave the mechanics, the team, and the drivers, the confidence that we can fight the big manufacturers at the Nürburgring. Being from different manufacturers made us stronger because we had so many different ideas and opinions to bring it all together. Nicky has driven everything, David has driven different things, Felipe and myself with the Porsche, we each knew the different angles of what was good and we could discuss and sort of mix it together in something very good for the Ferrari”.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #98 BMW M4 GT3 by Rowe Racing left, #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein right.

#98 BMW M4 GT3 by Rowe Racing driven by Maxime Martin, Dries Vanthoor, Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde end second 26.911 sec. behind the winning Ferrari after starting the race from P 33.

#4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein driven by Philipp Elis, Luca Stolz and Raffaele Marciello have been in the battle for victory until they had a 32 sec. penalty for pit infringement. They end third 1:17.400 minutes behind the BMW #98.

Remarquable that the top three were within 2 minutes after a 24 hours race without any safety car that generally regroup the top 10 cars (if not more) in other 24 hours races!

Ferrari wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans (WEC)

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le mans 2023. #51 Ferrari 499P.

Ferrari won the Centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 499P driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, who shared the # 51 car with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, covering 342 laps of the French track. The Maranello manufacturer claimed an historic result on its return to the top class after half a century, with the Ferrari – AF Corse team triumphing in the world’s most famous endurance race.

The Ferrari 499Ps started from the top two positions on the grid with Hypercar numbers 50 and 51, respectively, thanks to the times posted during the Hyperpole when Fuoco took pole.

During Sunday morning, the battle was intent between the Ferrari #51 and the Toyota #8 with gap between the two leaders as little as 1.4 seconds after Pier Guidi couldn’t restart his #51 Ferrari, forcing him to perform a full power cycle before rejoining, costing the leading Ferrari around a minute.

ALESSANDRO PIER GUIDI: “It takes time to grasp what we did. Probably now, we are part of the history of Ferrari, the biggest brand in the world. As an Italian, I have dreamed of driving for this brand since childhood. Now it's real. We won Le Mans with a red car. It isn't easy to describe what you feel. It’s a mix of emotions. If you think about how much work there is behind this victory. We worked 24/7. We tried to give our best, but everyone worked non-stop, the engineers and the mechanics, for one year, and the work finally paid off. We knew from the start that reliability would be a key factor. The car was new and the race crazy: the weather was mad, with many slow zones and safety cars. But in the end, Le Mans is always like this. You have to try to stay out of trouble or at least to minimise the mistakes. I think we did quite well” Source: Ferrari.

2022 winners Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID crossed the line in second place, 1min 21.793secs behind the winning #51 Ferrari.

The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, co-driven by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook, boosted by reliability, the ability to run a relatively clean race and consistent pit stops earned third place in the iconic endurance race.

Rowe Racing wins the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (SRO)

With a 70-strong field, the endurance classic in the Belgian Ardennes is considered the biggest event for GT3 cars worldwide. This race counts towards the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC).

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 2023. #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3

Marco Wittmann, Nick Yelloly and Phillip Eng with the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 won the 2023 Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa ahead of #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes-AMG GT3.

It was Eng’s third win of the Spa race: “Winning a 24-hour race is every racing driver's dream, and this is the most difficult GT race to win. Therefore, it means a lot to me to experience this for the third time in my career. It's a great honour for me. The race was anything but easy for us. At one point, we were one lap behind, and there was no indication that we could still win, but the team did a fantastic job to bring us back into the race. The last two hours felt like an eternity.” Source: BMW Group

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 2023. #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 left, #17 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II right.

Raffaele Marciello, Timur Boguslavskiy, Jules Gounon with #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 ended second after fighting close with the #98 BMW, ending 11.129 seconds behind the winners.

Luca Engstler, Kelvin van der Linde, Nicki Thiim with #17 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II ended third, 12.296 seconds behind the winners.