Le Mans 24 Hours: Ferrari secures win after 24-hour battle with Toyota
11th June 2023Ferrari AF Corse wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the Prancing Horse outfit endured a tough 24-hour battle with their closest rivals, Toyota who finished second.
Ferrari has secured their first Le Mans win, after being absent from the event for half a century, ruining Toyota’s chances of securing their sixth consecutive victory at the famous event.
This marks the first Le Mans victory for the iconic Italian outfit since 1965 which brings their overall total to 10 victories at the sporting event.
Ferrari locked out the front row of the Centenary of the Le Mans, which has run since 1923, after Antonio Fuoco secured hyperpole in the #50 Ferrari 499P. At the race start, the Ferrari duo were immediately put under pressure and lost positions to the two trailing Toyota.
This ignited a 24-hour-long battle with their Japanese rivals as the Italian team looked to fight back towards the front. While Ferrari regained the race lead heading into the second quarter of the race, nine hours in, their on-track position was helped by one Toyota being forced to retire after being hit in a multi-car incident.
Late drama slapped Ferrari with only 25 minutes to go, as a pit stop left the winning #51 Ferrari in a struggle to get back out on track. However, the #51 Ferrari 499P was soon back out onto the Circuit de La Sarthe and Alessandro Pier Guidi put in a smashing drive to maintain his race lead – and eventual victory.
Across the gruelling 24-hour race, Pier Guidi will share the top spot with fellow teammates James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi who shared the #51 Ferrari.
Ferrari’s victory will keep the Prancing Horse in second place, in the World Endurance Championship’s manufacturer standings, but it will narrow the gap to Toyota by 19 points.
By the time the chequered flag fell, Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi – collectively – racked up a total of 342 laps.
In the categories below, Inter Europol Competition and Corvette racing secured victories in their LMP2 and GTE Am classes respectively.
That’s all for the article: Le Mans 24 Hours: Ferrari secures win after 24-hour battle with Toyota!
Read more World Endurance Championship content here:
- Le Mans 24 Hours: Ferrari leads at halfway point as one Toyota retires
- Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche Penske leads as nightfall – and rain – descends
- Le Mans 24 Hours: Bamber leads as a number of cars crash out
- Le Mans 24 Hours: Buemi leads first hour as Aitken crashes
- WEC: Ferrari dominate Hyperpole to finish 1-2 ahead of Le Mans 24 Hours
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
