Le Mans, France, June 14th 2023 - Round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans – which celebrated its centenary this year – was an undeniably special race for the competing teams.
Having suffered misfortune and some technical issues at the start of the season, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ Peugeot 9x8s made a very promising start to this year’s contest, particularly the no. 94, which negotiated the showers in the early part of the race, holding the overall lead for more than four hours on Saturday evening. Despite a few technical problems, both 9x8s made it to the end of the world’s most famous endurance race, the no. 93 car finishing eighth overall and the no. 94 car finishing twelfth in the Hypercar class. Promising results for a team that has opted for such unprecedented technical solutions.
Meanwhile, Cool Racing’s no.37 car was involved in an absorbing, incredibly close battle in the LMP2, its drivers managing to keep out of trouble on the famous Le Mans track to finish 12th in class, a performance that also saw them finish as runners-up in the Pro/Am standings. Cool Racing’s no. 47, which was very much in the fight for victory, had to retire just after the half-way stage. Competing for the eighth time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Panis Racing kept focus, concentrating on its race. Despite suffering some electrical issues that forced the French team to lower its ambitions for the race, Panis Racing’s no. 65 Oreca 07 crossed the finishing line in fourteenth place in the LMP2 class.
With double points awarded at this one-off event on the FIA World Endurance Championship calendar, TotalEnergies-backed teams used all their experience to collect vital points, which may just prove decisive at the end of the season.
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