Le Mans 24 Hours Preview: Part 1, Hypercar

Aug 14, 2023

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5 June 2023, 2:57 PM

Hypercar has truly arrived, just in time for what could very well be the biggest motorsport event of all time, the centenary of the first running of the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 91st running of the world's greatest endurance race.

It's a superb 16-car grid formed from the 12 full-season WEC regulars plus four additions from Cadillac, Porsche and Glickenhaus – and they all look set to put on quite a show.

Toyota's experienced and well-developed effort is going to be a tough nut to crack. But look out for Ferrari, which has shown real pace already. The new LMDh cars from Cadillac and Porsche are also finding pace in their first year and they too could be in contention, particularly if the pre-race favourites have anything other than a trouble-free run.

Peugeot will be looking to take steps forward with their radical, but beleaguered hypercar concept. And there are sure to be followers for the minnows: Glickenhaus who finished on the podium last year, ByKolles’ team racing under the Vanwall name, favouring simplicity over complexity, and the first of what promises to be an influx of hypercar privateers, HERTZ Team JOTA's gorgeously-liveried 963.

Before we go any further, the pre-event BoP change must be noted. Despite the original plan for the BoP for individual cars to be frozen from Portimao to Monza, the organisers decided to make some changes before Le Mans after all,

"The ultimate target of the Balance of Performance is always to ensure a level playing field," the FIA and ACO said in a statement.

"The first few races of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season have shown differences between different LMH-spec cars competing in the Hypercar class to be greater than initially anticipated.

"Considering these factors, and following an in-depth analysis of available data, the WEC Committee has decided that the goal of ensuring a level playing field within the Hypercar class will be best achieved by implementing correction between, but also within, the LMH and the LMDh platforms."

What are the changes? Toyota, Ferrari and Cadillac and seen their minimum weight increase by 37, 24 and 11 kilos respectively.

How big of a difference will this make in the race? The jury is still out, but paddock sources have suggested to DSC that for Toyota it may cost its GR010s between a second and 1.6 seconds per lap, Ferrari around half a second and a few tenths for Cadillac. But ultimately, until we see these cars on Saturday truly driven in anger, we won't know the effect this has had on the hierarchy and how close the field will be.

Either way, race week is upon us, and what we have is a star-studded grid of competitors that Hypercar has promised for years. Now let's see what action it delivers!

Cadillac Racing – Cadillac V-Series.R

#2 Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn & Richard Westbrook#3 Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande & Scott Dixon

Cadillac, the premier luxury badge of American automotive giant General Motors, is back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in 21 years. The Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, powered by a 5.5 litre naturally-aspirated V8 engine, has already won twice in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship in its first season – building on the successful pedigree of the DPi-V.R and carrying that forward into the LMDh era.

Chip Ganassi Racing, one of America's premier racing organisations across multiple categories, operates the flagship Cadillac Racing team. Ganassi has won the Daytona 24 Hours overall and at Le Mans, they won the LMGTE Pro class in 2016 with the controversial yet striking Ford GTE.

With operations in America and now in Germany, Cadillac Racing brings two V-Series.Rs to Le Mans including its full-season IMSA example, which took part in the 6 Hours of Spa. Unfortunately, it wasn't the weekend the team hoped for, as a big off for van der Zande at Eau Rouge heavily damaged the car.

Team sources have told DSC that while that #3 chassis, which was brand new and built up specifically for Spa and Le Mans, is repairable, it doesn't make sense to use the time and resources required to rebuild it ahead of Le Mans. As a result, the team air freighted its IMSA car – fresh off a win at Laguna Seca – across the Atlantic, converted it to WEC spec, and will use the original #3 as a spare.

What can we expect from the team in its first Le Mans with the V-Series.R? In IMSA the car has won two races via Action Express (Sebring) and Cadillac Racing (Laguna Seca) – and has proven to be both reliable and fast. In the FIA WEC though, while the #2 has been encouraging in each outing, it hasn't had the outright pace to challenge the Toyotas and Ferraris. As such, battling for a podium rather than the outright win would appear to be the more realistic target in year one of this programme.

Where the V-Series.R shines is in reliability and its ability to extend tyre life. At Le Mans this could play into the team's hands. A weight adjustment and small boost in maximum stint energy for the Cadillacs came as part of a sweeping change of BoP adjustments. Is it enough to give the Cadillacs the boost that some feel they’d need to keep up in a 24-hour sprint?

Fastest Test Day time: 3:30.673 (8th overall, set by the #2 during the afternoon session)

Floyd Vanwall Racing Team – Vanwall Vandervell 680

#4 Tom Dillmann, Esteban Guerrieri & Tristan Vautier

What would a successful Le Mans look like for Vanwall? It's not an easy question to answer. The Austrian-flagged team, with its new Vandervell 680 has had a difficult start to life in Hypercar, with two DNFs in three races and a best result of 30th overall at Sebring.

The car looks a handful to drive, hasn't been reliable or fast and each of its three races this season have included a significant on-track incident, the biggest being the collision on the run to Blanchimont last time out at Spa for Jacques Villeneuve – who was the team's star attraction, recruited for one more shot at completing his personal Triple Crown of Motorsport.

But in the weeks leading up to the race, Villeneuve was replaced at the last minute by Tristan Vautier. Even if Villeneuve was having trouble getting up to pace, it was a messy bust-up littered with bad optics.

And even with the new trio of drivers they have, in order for this team to have any hope of finishing ahead of the LMP2 runners and mixing in with the back of the Hypercar field, it will need a perfect run.

It's hard to envision a world where Le Mans represents more than an extended test session for the team, where its principal target is making the finish and beating fellow non-hybrid Hypercar team Glickenhaus.

Variety is always welcome in sportscar racing though, and fans trackside will almost certainly fall in love with the sound of the car's 4.5 litre Gibson V8 engine.

Fastest Test Day time: 3:31.453 (12th overall, set during the afternoon session)

Porsche Penske Motorsport – Porsche 963

#5 Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki#6 Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer & Laurens Vanthoor#75 Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy & Mathieu Jaminet

While the Porsche 963 has already found pole-setting and race-winning success in IMSA's GTP class, it has been a somewhat underwhelming start to life in the FIA WEC for this car, and the Porsche factory outfit operated by Penske.

At Le Mans, it brings three cars to the party, with an additional example for a trio of its IMSA drivers – and a new colour scheme for the centenary race which pays tribute to Porsche's lineage of colourful, successful Le Mans winners. But, even with strength in numbers, and the additional punch of a fourth car from JOTA, the level of expectation for Porsche here is hard to gauge.

Ask Porsche and it will tell you anything can happen at Le Mans. Ask Le Mans historians and they will tell you that Porsche will always be a force when it competes as a factory. Look at the form book though, and it will tell you that overall win number 20 looks far from odds-on.

Thus far this season, Porsche has struggled for outright pace, and at times, suffered reliability issues. Look no further than the ‘blackout’ the #6 faced at the Bus Stop at Spa, or the power-steering issue that forced the #5 into the garage at Portimao. The car also appears to struggle with tyre life – the drivers have been forced to deal with a significant loss of grip at the rear towards the end of long stints.

Operationally the team appears to be a step behind too. This isn't the same group that ran the Porsche 919 Hybrid programme to a level matched only by the top F1 teams. Toyota has set the bar sky-high in terms of strategy, situational management and pit-stop efficiency. It's therefore no surprise that the team Porsche has assembled for its WEC programme looks like it needs more time to get settled in.

There are positives though. The WEC arm of this team has taken big steps each time it has raced, and at Portimao, it did earn a podium finish. The IMSA arm has given the 963 its first win on the streets of Long Beach and also leads the championship standings heading into Le Mans. The nine-driver line-up is as good as any in this field, packed with drivers that have Le Mans and World Championship-winning pedigree.

Would it surprise anybody to see Porsche pull something out of the bag in the biggest race of the year? No. But the evidence we have to go with so far suggests it's too early to expect the 963 to join Porsche's lengthy list of Le Mans-winning cars – not unlike many other legendary Porsche racers that didn't become immortal legends in year one.

Even if the 963s stay reliable, like Cadillac, the feeling is that a platform BoP adjustment will be needed if it is to truly take the fight to the top end of the LMH-spec cars.

Fastest Test Day time: 3:29.648 (2nd overall, set by the #6 during the afternoon session)

Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota GR010 HYBRID

#7 Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi & Jose Maria Lopez#8 Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley & Ryo Hirakawa

Toyota Gazoo Racing needs no introduction ahead of Le Mans in 2023. The task is simple, win Le Mans for a sixth time in a row, against the most substantial competition it has faced since the burst of the LMP1 Hybrid bubble – and score what will surely be the most significant result in the brand's proud history in motorsport.

Toyota has plenty of trophies in its cabinet, but a winner's trophy from the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours is a once-in-a-lifetime prize.

The GR010 HYBRID, in its third year of competition, is much improved for 2023. At a glance, with its new aero package that features new dive planes, a smaller rear wing end plate and a new set of lights that improve visibility at night, it simply looks more aggressive. But the Toyota team's aim when launching the 2023 Evo package wasn't simply to improve the car's looks.

It also benefits from improved brake cooling and allows quick changes to cooling options during a race, achieved through new vents at the front and rear. It's lighter too, down to the minimum 1040kg allowed by technical regulations – but after a well-publicised Balance of Performance adjustment, it's back up to 1080kg, offset by 4mJ of usable energy per stint.

So far it's been a near-perfect start to life in the new-look FIA WEC Hypercar field for Toyota. Three wins in three races and 1-2 finishes at Sebring and Spa have sent a clear message to its competitors: Toyota is the benchmark for which all their competitors must reach, and they’ve set the bar to the heavens above. The GR010 HYBRID is reliable and fast. Operationally the team in its garage is best in class.

All six drivers across both cars know what it takes to win this race. Hartley wants to join the rarefied air of four-time winners, and Buemi wants to join an even more exclusive club with his fifth. The new kid on the block, Hirakawa, wants to go two-for-two. And the trio of Conway, Lopez, and driver/manager Kobayashi all want a second win of their own.

This is a much different Toyota to the team that last faced significant opposition from other factories in the top class at Le Mans, seemingly cursed to never win the biggest prize in endurance racing. To topple this well-drilled powerhouse at Le Mans will almost certainly take a perfect run.

Is anyone up to the challenge? Will the 37-kilogram increase in weight make a significant difference? We’re all eager to find out.

Fastest Test Day time: 3:29.827 (3rd overall, set by the #7 during the afternoon session)

HERTZ Team JOTA – Porsche 963

#38 Yifei Ye, Antonio Felix da Costa & Will Stevens

HERTZ Team JOTA heads into Le Mans as the only true privateer outfit in the Hypercar field. The British team has already raced its Porsche 963, but this will still feel like a brand new effort when the track action begins at Le Mans.

Despite the team having only one race weekend under its belt with this sophisticated piece of kit, there are reasons for optimism. The 963 itself is not a brand new platform, and while it isn't quite a known quantity yet, it has proven itself as a capable car in longer races over in IMSA. Lest we forget how close Penske came to winning Sebring outright before the multi-car pileup at the end of the race…

JOTA as a team too, is more than capable of getting to the finish and scoring a strong result. It has a proven winning record at Le Mans in LMP2 and has signed three rapid and reliable drivers for its Hypercar campaign. Ye, Felix da Costa and Stevens showed that they could mix in with the factory Porsche and other OEMs at Spa, in what was an extremely encouraging race debut, which came just days after the team took delivery of its chariot from Weissach.

While it would be a stretch to consider JOTA a contender for a podium or win at this early stage, it is not on the grid to make up the numbers and look pretty. That said, the ‘Mighty 38’ does look stunning in its HERTZ Racing Gold livery and will generate a lot of buzz with the 300,000-plus fans trackside as a result.

Fastest Test Day time: 3:31.290 (11th overall, set during the afternoon session)

Ferrari AF Corse – Ferrari 499P

#50 Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina & Nicklas Nielsen#51 Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado & Antonio Giovinazzi

Going into the Le Mans 24 Hours, Ferrari AF Corse and its 499Ps have done everything right out of the box – except score a win.

From the word ‘go’ this programme has been the most impressive of the newcomers to the class. The 499P as a car is lightning fast over a single lap, setting pole ahead of its debut race at Sebring and crucially has looked quick enough during races to match or better Toyota's GR010 HYBRIDs at each event, something that no other team in the Hypercar class can say.

Will Le Mans turn into a Toyota vs Ferrari battle, with the remaining teams fighting for the scraps? It looks like the safest bet. But, the gap between Toyota and the rest of the field has been closing with each race weekend, and both Cadillac and Porsche have shown flashes of promise.

Where Ferrari's strengths lie is in the performance potential of the 499P. It has all the makings of a Le Mans winner. The set of drivers Ferrari has assembled too, is world-class. Ferrari, like Porsche, has entrusted its best GT drivers with Hypercar seats, and all of them have taken to the challenge like ducks to water. It's not been perfect, as there have been a handful of notable uncharacteristic errors from this group, but overall the level of focus, preparation and pace from this sextet is among the best in the field.

There are two areas where Ferrari needs to improve if it is to take the final step and start winning races. The first is on the operational side, as its tactical nouse and situational awareness are not yet there yet – even for an organisation like AF Corse. The second is in its cold tyre performance, as at Spa in particular, the 499P suffered the most and looked borderline undrivable at the start of each stint. Look no further than Antonio Fuoco's incident on the run down to Eau Rouge.

The first area simply needs time and experience, as the group Ferrari has put together, with expertise from the road car, GT and F1 operations, is more than capable of delivering the goods. Whether or not Le Mans has come too soon remains to be seen.

The second has been all but solved by the reintroduction of tyre warmers for Le Mans. Opinions on the decision aside, this change will likely help Ferrari more than anyone else at Le Mans. Instead of tip-toeing around at the start of each stint, being passed by cars from the other classes, the 499Ps will be on the pace quickly, which will gain them precious seconds after every pit stop and safety car period. This could play a role in keeping Ferrari at the head of the field.

Clearly, the target for everyone in Hypercar is to win Le Mans, but not everyone in this field looks capable. Beyond Toyota, if it can get a car to the end without any issues, then you would have to say that Ferrari's challenger looks most up to the task. It's been 58 years since Ferrari last won the Grand Prix d’Endurance. If either 499P can end that drought – oh, what a famous victory it will be!

Fastest Test Day time: 3:29.504 (1st overall, set by the #51 during the afternoon session)

Peugeot TotalEnergies – Peugeot 9X8

#93 Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen & Jean-Eric Vergne#94 Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes & Nico Muller

Of the major manufacturers, Peugeot is the greatest unknown. At Sebring its 9X8s had a torrid time, let down by reliability woes and a lack of pace. At Portimao, the team benefitted from better reliability from both cars, but the pace still wasn't there. At Spa the team got lost in the melee on a changing surface at the start and failed to feature at the head of the field. It has been a messy sophomore campaign so far, an extension of a tough partial first season.

All in all, the 9X8 is a car that hasn't yet found its way. Its potential, the team feels, hasn't been unlocked. The French constructor is taking strides each time it hits the track, but the competition has increased in size and quality this year, and with each race, it continues to lag behind.

Le Mans is a huge moment for this programme. It's the home race for Peugeot, it's the centenary edition, and the pressure will be on this effort from every angle. The wingless 9X8 has clearly been designed to be most effective at Le Mans, a circuit which it hasn't yet run on. And while it appears unlikely, there is a chance that everything clicks at La Sarthe and Peugeot becomes a contender.

However, it does feel like an enormous turnaround is required for this car to be competitive. Not only does the car lack reliability, but it also lacks speed and stability.

And it's not just the media, or the fans that feel Le Mans is beyond this team, the drivers also feel pessimistic about their chances of victory. Here is an assessment from one of them, given to DSC ahead of the programme's biggest test yet:

"We are just trying to put kilometres on the car. Due to regulations, we are sitting in the same ballpark as the others. We just have to maximise our car in the operating window, and we believe the 9X8 should be very close on straight-line speed with the other cars at Le Mans.

"We have to be humble. Toyota didn't show up and win in their first year. Peugeot didn't in LMP1 with the 908 either, and they finished on top in the end.

"There's a lot of confidence, and good people in this programme. These guys would bleed for progress. They’re putting so many hours in. But it's been a slow burn, a constant evolution.

"When results come it will feel so much sweeter. We’re not there yet, but it will feel so much better when we win. And it is ‘when’, not ‘if’, for us. I do genuinely feel like Jean-Marc Finot, Olivier Jansonnie, and Carlos Tavares have a lot of faith in the project.

"We know where we are right now, it's not to fight to win Le Mans this year. We have to do the best we can, keep the car intact and grow from it, come back stronger. Le Mans for us is just another race in the WEC calendar."

Fastest Test Day time: 3:30.428 (7th overall, set by the #93 during the afternoon session)

Action Express Racing – Cadillac V-Series.R

#311 Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims & Jack Aitken

Cadillac's return to Le Mans has given perennial IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship powerhouse, Action Express Racing, its first-ever opportunity to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Under the management of Gary Nelson and Bob Johnson, AXR has won five IMSA premier class championships, three Daytona 24 Hours, and four Sebring 12 Hours – including a wild win this spring, the first competition win for the new V-Series.R, led by the same three drivers that will represent AXR at Le Mans.

Action Express won on its racing debut at the 2010 Daytona 24 Hours. Even if it isn't running under the Cadillac Racing banner the way that the Ganassi-run team is, it has the resources to match its Cadillac stablemates operationally and strategically. And it makes sense: This is a full-fledged factory team which should be treated as equals to the two cars from Ganassi.

Of course, Derani has the most expansive prototype racing CV, but Sims and Aitken are more than capable of taking control of this race in their own right.

Again, success or failure for the red and grey Cadillac hinges on those same factors that the blue and yellow cars do – maintaining reliability, and we’ll see yet if the BoP changes are enough.

Fastest Test Day time: 3:33.795 (16th overall, set during the afternoon session)

Glickenhaus Racing – Glickenhaus 007 LMH

#708 Romain Dumas, Ryan Briscoe & Olivier Pla#709 Nathanaël Berthon, Esteban Gutiérrez & Franck Mailleux

Glickenhaus Racing, the intrepid American-flagged privateer hypercar team, has struggled this year.

In this brave new world, where the field is healthier than its ever been and there isn't the need to ensure the Glickenhaus 007 can keep tabs with the Toyota GR010 HYBRID, it's been a reality check for Jim Glickenhaus and his team. The reality is that a small boutique brand with no resources for testing and development, up against some of the biggest OEMs on the planet, would have to move heaven and earth itself to put up a close fight – regardless of where the BoP sits.

None of this should take away from the enormous achievement at last year's race from the team when its #709 car finished third overall. What Glickenhaus has done, with what they have to play with, is up there with the most impressive privateer efforts this event and certainly, the best that the WEC has seen in its short history.

However, expectations should be lowered considerably this year. Unless it becomes a total race of attrition – which it could – Glickenhaus’ focus will be on beating Vanwall and all the LMP2 teams.

For the race, the team's second car rejoins the field, with Nathanaël Berthon, Esteban Gutiérrez and Franck Mailleux due to team up. Both sets of drivers here are capable of getting the most out of the car, but with no testing outside of race weekends completed, there is a limit to what can be achieved during the Test Day and in the pre-race sessions.

Fastest Test Day time: 3:11.711 (13th overall, set by the #708 during the afternoon session)

Tagged with: Graham Goodwin, RJ O'Connell, Stephen Kilbey

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