2023 24 Hours of Le Mans

, where the race was held The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, held at the Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France between 10 and 11 June, was the 91st running of the race, the 100th anniversary of its first edition in and the fourth round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. Before the event, Toyota drivers Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa led the Hypercar Drivers' Championship with 71 points, five ahead of their teammates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López. Ferrari AF Corse's Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen were third, with Cadillac Racing's Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook fourth. In the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers, Phil Hanson and Frederick Lubin of United Autosports led Team WRT's Rui Andrade, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica by an eight-point advantage while Corvette Racing's Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nicolás Varrone led the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams from Richard Mille AF Corse's Luis Pérez Companc, Alessio Rovera and Lilou Wadoux by 39 points. Toyota led Ferrari by 33 points in the Hypercar World Endurance Championship, while the 22 United Autosports squad led the No. 41 Team WRT team in the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams by eight points and the No. 33 Corvette Racing team led the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse squad in the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams with an 39-point advantage. ==Regulation changes==

Following a lengthy analysis of the safety car's use by the race organiser, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), dating back to the event, in which Porsche won the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional class (LMGTE Pro) by a large margin, a new procedure was implemented, with the goal of reducing the safety car's impact on the race. Three safety cars would be deployed, but two of them would be removed, allowing every car to circulate behind the remaining safety car. This would allow any lapped vehicles to pass the sole remaining safety car and go around the circuit until they reached the end of the queue. The field would then be sorted from fastest to slowest car categories, and racing would resume. This procedure would not be used in the race's final hour. Cars could still make pit stops during safety car periods until the pit lane exit was closed by the single safety car system. The system was tested during test day a week before the race. LMGTE Pro was dropped from the race in 2023, leaving only the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) class as the only category for GT cars. ==Entries==

Entry to the race was open from 8 December 2022 to 21 February 2023. The ACO Selection Committee granted 62 invitations and entries were divided between the Le Mans Hypercar (Hypercar), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and LMGTE Am categories. Automatic entries Teams that won championships in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) and Michelin Le Mans Cup (MLMC) earned automatic entry invitations. Second-place finishers in the 2022 ELMS LMP2 and LMGTE championships also received an automatic invitation. Teams that earned automatic LMP2 entries were permitted to change their cars from the previous year. ELMS LMGTE and ALMS GT teams which earned automatic entries could only enter in LMGTE Am. The 2022 European and 2023 Asian LMP3 (Le Mans Prototype 3) champions had to enter a LMP2 car, while the 2022 MLMC Group GT3 (GT3) champion was restricted to LMGTE Am. Prema Racing chose to forego their automatic invitation as winners of the 2022 ELMS LMP2 category as it wanted to field their two full-time WEC cars in the race. In addition to the 37 guaranteed WEC entries, there were 15 ELMS entries, four WTSC entries, four ALMS entries, and two one-off Le Mans entries. There were 40 cars in the two Prototype classes, 21 in the LMGTE Am class, and one innovative entry. In addition to the 62 entries invited, ten (three from LMGTE Am and seven from LMP2) were placed on a reserve list to replace withdrawn or unaccepted invitations. Reserve entries were ordered, with the first one replacing the first withdrawal from the race, regardless of class. Entries were selected for their sporting quality, technical, fan, media and public interest and commitment, loyalty to other ACO-administered series and entrant's performance. The ACO published a revised entry list on 5 May 2023. It confirmed the withdrawal of Heart of Racing's entry as well as Risi Competizione's No. 82 LMGTE Am Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, reducing the reserve list to eight entries with no other changes to the teams' list. Garage 56 stock car during the race The Garage 56 concept to test new automotive technologies at Le Mans returned after a two-year absence. Mike Rockenfeller, the 2010 overall Le Mans co-winner, joined 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson as its drivers. Former crew chief Chad Knaus was project manager, ==Pre-race balance of performance changes==

The ACO and FIA changed the balance of performance four days before the test day to try to achieve parity in all categories since the Le Mans Hypercar performance was "greater than initially anticipated" and they did not have the manufacturers' consent prior to implement the changes. Four Hypercars received weight increases. The Toyota GR010 Hybrid, Ferrari 499P, Porsche 963 and the Cadillac V-Series.R were made , , and heavier, respectively. The Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH, Peugeot 9X8 and Vanwall Vandervell 680-Gibson cars received no performance changes. Toyota, Ferrari, and Cadillac had their energy per stints increased to compensate for the additional ballast on their vehicles. In LMGTE Am, every car model in the Porsche 911 RSR-19, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, and Aston Martin Vantage AMR received more ballast to affect their handling. Similarly, Corvette's performance was improved by permitting a wider air intake on its engine, while Ferrari and Aston Martin's boost pressures were increased for improved performance. ==Testing==

One week before the race, on 4 June, all entrants were obliged to participate in eight hours of driving divided into two sessions. The morning session was held in clear weather. Ferrari led the session with a 3:30.686 lap from Fuoco's No. 50 car, which was 0.660 seconds faster than Gustavo Menezes' No. 94 Peugeot. Yifei Ye's No. 38 Team Jota Porsche was third, ahead of James Calado's No. 51 Ferrari, Conway's No. 7 Toyota and Renger van der Zande's No. 3 Cadillac. Paul di Resta's No. 93 Peugeot halted testing at the exit of the first Mulsanne Straight chicane due to a probable electrical hybrid problem triggered by a red light illuminated to compel a high-voltage safety protocol. Toyota's No. 7 car required new front and rear bodywork. Early in the session, Antonio Giovinazzi's No. 51 Ferrari was fastest overall at 3:29.504. Laurens Vanthoor's No. 6 Penske Porsche was second, 0.144 seconds slower. Third to fifth were Kobayashi's No. 7 Toyota, Fuoco's No. 50 Ferrari, and Felipe Nasr's No. 75 Penske Porsche (affected by a brake-by-wire issue that kept the car in the garage for much of the session). With a time of 3:35.472, Pietro Fittipaldi's No. 28 Jota entry led LMP2 ahead of Habsburg's No. 31 Team WRT and André Negrão's No. 35 Alpine. ==Practice==

The first three-hour practice session occurred in warm and sunny weather on the afternoon of 7 June. Toyota led from the start with López's No. 7 car leading early on before his teammate Hartley in the No. 8 entry lapped quickest overall at 3:27.742 in the closing 23 minutes. The only other car in the 3:28 range was Bamber's No. 2 Cadillac, while the Porsches of Nasr's No. 75 and Kévin Estre's No. 6 cars were within half a second of Toyota's pace. Fittipaldi's No. 28 Jota car led LMP2 with a lap of 3:34.579, followed by Malthe Jakobsen's No. 37 Cool Pro/Am car. Mirko Bortolotti's No. 63 Prema entry was another 1.8 seconds back in third. D'station and Tower Motorsports had to start from the back of the outright grid after their chassis, damaged beyond repair, were replaced during qualifying. The stewards deemed Thomas to have not slowed enough before hitting Stevenson and imposed a four-minute stop-and-hold penalty on Tower Motorsports to be served within four laps of its announcement after the race began. The second session, which lasted two hours, took place later that evening. Alexander Sims' Action Express Racing (AXR) car suffered front-right bodywork and minor cluster damage during the session and was driven into the pit lane for repairs. Bortolotti led LMP2 with a lap of 3:36.863 set before the session ended in Prema's No. 63 car. Filipe Albuquerque in United Autosport's No. 22 car was two-tenths of a second behind in second and Fittipaldi's No. 28 Jota entry was third. The third session, three hours long, took place in warm weather on the afternoon of 8 June. Toyota set the early pace with Kobayashi and Buemi leading early on before Fuoco's lap of 3:26.579 led overall late in the session. Pier Guidi was second-fastest in the final eight minutes after spending 90 minutes in the garage due to a faulty transmission. The final session, held for an hour, occurred later that evening. Jean-Éric Vergne's No. 93 Peugeot stopped on the right-hand side of the Mulsanne Straight with an electrical fault, and race director Eduardo Freitas red-flagged practice for 19 minutes after becoming annoyed with drivers driving on the right rather than the left. Ferraris had the two fastest times in LMGTE Am with the top lap being a 3:52.965 set by Neubauer's No. 66 JMW car ahead of Scott Huffaker's No. 57 Kessel entry and Picariello's No. 60 Iron Lynx Porsche. ==Qualifying==

Divided into two sessions, an initial one-hour qualifying session decided the race's starting order, except for the fastest eight vehicles in each class, who qualified for a half-hour shootout, "Le Mans Hyperpole," which determined pole position in all three classes. Every Hypercar started upfront, regardless of lap time, followed by LMP2 and LMGTE Am. The eight qualifying Hyperpole cars were ordered by fastest Hyperpole-session lap time first, followed by the other non-qualifying class vehicles by fastest lap time set during the first qualifying session. Pier Guidi's sister No. 51 Ferrari was demoted to second by Fuoco and was hampered by a slower GTE Am Aston Martin in the track's final sector during his fastest lap. Kobayashi's No. 7 Toyota took third after leading the session early on with teammate Hartley in fourth. The final four Hyperpole qualifiers were Frédéric Makowiecki's No. 5 Penske Porsche, Sébastien Bourdais' No. 3 and Bamber's No. 2 Cadillacs as well as Nasr's No. 75 Penske Porsche (whose best lap was invalidated for using more than the maximum released powertrain power). Fittipaldi's No. 28 Jota along with Deletraz's No. 41 WRT, Bortolotti's No. 61 Prema cars, Vector Sport's Gabriel Aubry, IDEC's Chatin, Cool's de Gerus, Prema's other entry of Bent Viscaal and Nielsen's Ben Hanley (after Dries Vanthoor's fastest lap was deleted for insufficient slowing under red flag conditions) advanced to Hyperpole in LMP2. In LMGTE Am, Rovera's No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari and Davide Rigon's No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari along with Catsburg's Corvette, Eastwood's ORT by TF car, Serra's No. 57 Kessel car, Sørensen's GMB Aston Martin, De Pauw's No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari and Cozzolino's No. 74 Kessel car qualified for Hyperpole. Separate incidents for Matthieu Vaxivière's No. 36 Alpine and Albuquerque's No. 22 United Autosport car colliding into the Ford Chicane that saw Vaxivière get beached in the gravel and Jakobsen's No. 37 Cool car hitting the barrier at Indianapolis turn led to stoppages during qualifying. (pictured in 2018) qualified fastest overall for Ferrari AF Corse in the marque's first Le Mans pole position for half a century. Ferrari installed new tyres in Hyperpole, expecting Toyota to lap faster, and Fuoco and Pier Guidi drafted off each other as well as a Toyota. Fuoco's No. 50 Ferrari reset the Hypercar class record at 3:22.982 with eight minutes left for pole position despite Yorikatsu Tsujiko's LMGTE Am Kessel Ferrari slowing him into the left-hand Indianapolis corner and Arnage turn. It was Ferrari's first Le Mans pole since , ending Toyota's streak of six consecutive poles extending back to . It was also Ferrari's second pole of 2023 after the 1000 Miles of Sebring. he stopped at the first Mulsanne chicane for marshals and him to extinguish the fire, stopping Hyperpole with five minutes and 15 seconds left. The fire did not structurally damage the car but its engine was changed as a precaution. Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are denoted in bold. ==Warm-up==

The ACO scheduled a 15-minute warm-up session for teams to check their cars on 10 June at midday, in varied conditions with teams running slick tyres and recording slower lap times. Calado lapped fastest at 3:30.113, 2.846 seconds ahead of teammate Nielsen. The rest of the top five consisted of Bourdais, Nico Müller's No. 94 Peugeot and Conway. Tom Blomqvist's No. 23 United Autosports car led LMP2 with a lap of 3:39.818 from Fabio Scherer's No. 34 Inter Europol and Beche's No. 14 Nielsen cars. Kessel paced LMGTE Am with Serra's 3:55.038 lap leading teammate Cozzolino. Although there were no major incidents, Nicolas Lapierre stopped the No. 37 Cool entry at the side of the track at the exit of Arnage corner before restarting. ==Race==

Start and early hours Rainfall between the warm-up session and race start created mixed conditions around the circuit. The air temperature was between , while the track temperature ranged from ; rain was forecast for the afternoon of 10 June. Basketball player LeBron James waved the French tricolor to start the race before 325,000 spectators at 16:00 CEST, which was led by the pole-sitter Nicklas Nielsen's No. 50 Ferrari. A total of 62 cars were scheduled to start the race, The larger Hypercar field and driver behaviour meant greater risks were made while lapping slower vehicles. Mark Kvamme spun the No. 32 Inter Europol car into the gravel trap. Under the safety car, repairs to the barrier and debris cleanup took 35 minutes as Aitken returned to the garage for repairs and Kvamme was extricated from the gravel. Following Aitken's incident, Daniil Kvyat's second-placed No. 63 LMP2 Prema car entered the pit lane for a lengthy stop to remove debris in the air intake. Catsburg drove the No. 33 Corvette into the garage during the second hour to repair a faulty front-right damper and Keating rejoined the race two laps down in LMGTE Am. Accidents for Sales' No. 14 Nielsen car into the outside tyre barrier approaching Dunlop corner, which removed the car's front-right, and Ricky Taylor's No. 13 Tower vehicle against the inside barrier at high speed in Arnage turn prompted the retirement of both cars and the implementation of a slow zone. Midway through the second hour, De Pauw's No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari was caught out by Bourdais' No. 3 Cadillac slowing for the slow zone and rammed into Bourdais' rear under the Dunlop Bridge. Gustav Birch's No. 55 GMB Aston Martin was also involved in the incident, and both his and De Pauw's cars were retired. While Bourdais drove the No. 3 Cadillac to the garage for rear-end repairs, Birch and De Pauw were unhurt. Heavy rain fell from Indianapolis corner to the start/finish straight before the end of the third hour, and several vehicles were caught off guard by the sudden drop in grip while braking and leaving turns on slick tyres. Pera's LMGTE Am-class leading No. 86 GR Porsche spun rear-first into the inside barrier. After the safety car period ended, Ye's No. 38 Jota Porsche moved from sixth to the race lead into Indianapolis corner. Cameron moved the No. 5 Penske Porsche to second overall before being passed by the Ferrari 499Ps. He was imposed a drive-through penalty for passing the No. 100 Walkenhorst GTE Ferrari during the safety car period. Ye lost the overall lead when he lost control of the No. 38 Jota Porsche, removing its rear end assembly and engine cover in a high-speed sideways impact against the tyre barrier leaving the Porsche Curves. The car was repaired in the garage by mechanics for 20 minutes and four laps and Giovinazzi's No. 51 Ferrari took the lead. The debris on the circuit caused a Full Course Yellow. Heavy rain again fell on parts of the circuit and reduced visibility in the seventh hour and more vehicles were caught out by the changing conditions as they made pit stops for wet-weather tyres. Petrobelli got the JMW Ferrari beached in the gravel at Karting turn, causing heavy rear-end damage and requiring extrication. The car lost the LMGTE Am lead to Iron Dames' Gatting before being passed by Cairoli's No. 56 Project 1 car. Rasmussen's No. 28 Jota car had a frontal crash in the Porsche Curves but drove slowly to the pit lane for repairs and Scherer's No. 34 Inter Europol car took the LMP2 lead in the seventh hour. Pier Guidi then lost control of the race-leading No. 51 Ferrari while attempting to avoid colliding with the No. 911 Proton Porsche that had hit a Glickenhaus ahead of him in the Daytona Chicane. He recovered with vehicular assistance and lost the race lead to Müller's No. 94 Peugeot. (pictured in 2019) was involved in a ninth hour four-car collision that prompted the race's third and final safety car period. Kobayashi slowed at Tertre Rouge corner in the ninth hour to avoid passing Giedo van der Garde's No. 39 Graff car into a slow zone enforced for Pier Guidi's accident. Prette's JMW Ferrari was caught off guard by Van der Garde and hit the No. 7 Toyota's left rear, while Memo Rojas' No. 35 Alpine struck the Toyota's right rear. Prette collided with the rear of Van der Garde's car, causing race-ending damage to the JMW Ferrari and the No. 7 Toyota. Although no driver was hurt, Prette was taken to the medical centre for evaluation. A third safety car period was used to allow marshals to clear debris at Tertre Rouge corner and to recover the damaged cars. The accidents promoted Bamber's No. 2 Cadillac to third and Pier Guidi's No. 51 Ferrari to fourth. Because a large piece of Kevlar became caught in the suspension and blocked the cooler's flow, the No. 8 Toyota's engine began overheating at the same time as the No. 7 car's collision. Fuoco entered the garage to repair a front leak caused by a stone damaging the front-right brake radiator. Calado used the No. 51 Ferrari's better straightline pace on the straight into the Indianapolis turn to pass Müller's No. 94 Peugeot on the inside and take second place. De Gerus damaged the No. 37 Cool entry's front-left and rear-left suspension against the barrier at the exit to the first opening of the Porsche Curves during the 13th hour. He brought the car into the garage to be retired with tub damage. Early in the morning, the race lead was shared by Hirakawa's No. 8 Toyota and Pier Guidi's No. 51 Ferrari, and both cars were on the same pit stop strategy. Jonas Ried's No. 88 Proton Porsche collided with the outside barrier entering the Indianapolis corner, forcing the car to withdraw and the wall to be repaired. Ben Barnicoat's No. 80 AF Corse LMP2 Pro/Am car attempted to overtake slower vehicles through the Porsche Curves not long after. Kessel's No. 57 Ferrari had become the LMGTE Am leader by this stage thanks to steady pace from drivers Serra and Huffaker, as well as pit stop strategy. While lapping the No. 31 WRT LMP2 entry in the 17th hour, Estre's No. 6 Porsche hit the inside kerb in the Porsche Curves, severely damaging the car's floor against the tyre barrier. The car dropped out of a duel for fourth with Bourdais' No. 3 Cadillac after 43 minutes of bodywork and floor repairs in the garage. LMP2 remained a battle between Kubica's No. 41 Jota and Smiechowski's No. 34 Inter Europol cars, while LMGTE Am was a duel between Iron Dames' Frey and Project 1's Cairoli, and Catsburg and Keating's No. 33 Corvette moved to third in class after returning to the lead lap through pace and a safety car wave-by as the circuit dried. Pier Guidi's No. 51 Ferrari lost the lead to Buemi's No. 8 Toyota because he needed to power cycle the No. 51 Ferrari, which had difficulty restarting from his pit box due to a cockpit communications system failure, but reclaimed it by passing Buemi on the outside through slower LMP2 traffic into the second Mulsanne chicane. The gap between both drivers was small until Molina's No. 50 Ferrari attempted to regain a lap from Hartley's No. 8 Toyota, allowing Calado's No. 51 Ferrari to pull away. Actor Michael Fassbender lost control of the No. 911 Proton Porsche's rear exiting Karting corner, crashing into the tyre barrier hard enough to force the car to retire with rear-right damage after 20 hours. Afternoon to finish Oreca 07-Gibson car led the final 112 laps of the LMP2 category to secure their first World Endurance Championship victory. In the 21st hour, Inter Europol's No. 34 car received a drive-through penalty for overtaking two vehicles under safety car conditions, although it did not lose the LMP2 lead to Kubica. Varrone's 33 Corvette set a series of quick laps to take the LMGTE Am lead from Bovy's No. 85 Iron Dames Ferrari and the No. 25 ORT by TF car of Al Harthy. He and Catsburg extended the Corvette's lead to more than 70 seconds over Gatting's Iron Dames Porsche who was being caught by Eastwood's No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin. Hartley closed to less than ten seconds of overall leader Giovinazzi's No. 51 Ferrari by the 22nd hour while Nielsen's sister No. 50 Ferrari returned to fifth overall after Mikkel Jensen's No. 93 Peugeot entered the garage with a hydraulics issue. Hirakawa, who replaced Hartley, spun into the left-hand side guardrail barriers entering the right-hand Arnage corner after locking the rear brakes in the braking zone due to a rearward brake balance setting that he was unaware of with 1 hour and 45 minutes remaining. He entered the pit lane to have mechanics replace the damaged front and rear bodywork before rejoining the track nearly a lap behind Giovinazzi's No. 51 Ferrari. In the 23rd hour, Iron Dames lost second in LMGTE Am to Eastwood's No. 25 ORT by TF car who passed Frey's No. 85 Iron Dames Ferrari on the inside into the first Mulsanne chicane after a short battle and began pulling away. Although the No. 51 Ferrari underwent a system reset at its final pit stop in the final hour, They finished 1 minute, 21.793 seconds ahead of the No. 8 Toyota, with the No. 2 Cadillac finishing one lap behind in third place, despite losing time due to frequent oil replenishing during pit stops arising from an engine oil issue from the third hour. earning their first WEC LMP2 victory and second since the ALMS 4 Hours of Dubai. Algarve Pro's No. 45 team of James Allen, Colin Braun and George Kurtz despite a puncture and functioning accident data recorder needing replacing won the LMP2 Pro/Am subclass by five laps over the No. 37 Cool trio of Alexandre Coigny, Jakobsen and Lapierre. It was Allen's second subclass win, as well as Braun's and Kurtz's first. It was Keating's second category win and Catsburg's and Varrone's first. ==Post-race==

exit after winning the race. The top three teams in each of the four classes appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at individual press conferences. Calado called it "a great achievement after so long, this will go down in history." Pier Guidi said "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." Ferrari chairman John Elkann described the win as an "unforgettable day" and that winning a competitive, wet-weather affected 24-hour race "serves as an example for us all." Hartley was disappointed but proud to finish second, and disclosed that Toyota instructed Hirakawa to push hard in order to win the race. Hirakawa felt a lot of pressure relieving Hartley for his final stint and did not expect abnormal car behaviour into the Indianapolis corner. Bamber felt Cadillac "had a nearly perfect race" through wet-weather strategy and Westbrook felt his team deserved to finish third after being told they were lucky. Lynn said that the presence of spectators distinguished his third-place overall finish from his 2020 LMGTE Pro victory when no fans could watch at Le Mans. Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle believed the three Penske cars could have competed on pace with the No. 2 Cadillac if not for technical issues, adding: "It was not our race, definitely not. But next year, we'll come back strong." Ye said visibility issues caused his accident and Jota owner Sam Hignett added that the Hypercar's windscreen becomes more dirty than an LMP2 car's. Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon said Toyota did not blame Hirakawa for his crash. Catsburg stated that he did not observe Scherer as he entered his pit box and blamed the crash on a miscommunication. WRT owner Vincent Vosse voiced his dissatisfaction at finishing second in LMP2, which was heightened as the team had lost the class victory on the final lap of the race due to a throttle sensor issue. Kubica said Inter Europol's competitiveness made WRT keep trying to pressure them to no avail but added that he was proud of his achievements at Le Mans. Catsburg stated he did not think a comeback from two laps down to win the race was possible, calling it "insane" that Corvette's pace allowed his team to re-enter LMGTE Am contention. Keating described Corvette's comeback from pole position as a "emotional rollercoaster," but was enraged by the then-class leader being released from the pit lane too soon under safety car conditions in wet weather in the third hour and race control failing to correct the error, preventing Corvette from receiving a wave-by. Iron Dames' regret at not finishing on the LMGTE Am podium after duelling for the class lead was voiced by Bovy, while co-driver Gatting said that they were hindered by a brake replacement. Bourdais argued that De Pauw had collided with him because "there was no next slow to say that slow zone 2 was still active. And the GT guys were nose-to-tail. I don't know what he was doing, but he basically forgot that the next one was yellow again. He just plowed into us." Kobayashi said of his accident: "It's so painful to end the race like this because we did the race pretty well and were running P3, catching up. It's very tough." Bourdais thought the Le Mans slow zone system was overly long and dangerous and advised that some slow zones be deactivated rather than having them along a long stretch of track. Kobayashi suggested that FCY to instruct every car to immediately slow to regardless of their location on the circuit be used more often for safety reasons. The result kept Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa atop the Hypercar Drivers' Championship with 102 points; race winners Calado, Giovinazzi and Pier Guidi moved from fifth to second, 25 points behind. Deletraz, Kubica and Andrade took the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers lead ahead of class victors Costa, Scherer and Śmiechowski. Catsburg, Keating and Varrone retained the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Drivers points lead over Al Harthy, Eastwood and Michael Dinan. Toyota, the No. 41 Team WRT and No. 33 Corvette teams left Le Mans as the Hypercar World Endurance Championship, LMP2 Endurance Trophy for Teams and LMGTE Am Endurance Trophy for Teams leaders, respectively, with three races remaining in the season. ==Official results==

The minimum number of laps for classification at the finish (70 per cent of the overall race winner's distance) was 239 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold and with . ==Championship standings after the race==

• Only the top five positions are included for all championship standings. ==Notes==