The 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship was the eleventh season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series was open to prototype and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into three categories. World Championship titles were awarded to the leading drivers in the prototype division and to the leading manufacturer in prototype division.
It was the first season in which LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) entries were allowed to compete in the Hypercar category for championship points alongside LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) entries, after being permitted on a race-by-race basis in 2022. Upon the discontinuation of LMGTE Pro, LMGTE Am remained as the sole GT class, although it would be replaced by LMGT3 the following season. After being introduced for the 2021 season the LMP2 Pro-Am Cup was also dropped. This as well would also be the last season in the FIA WEC for the LMP2 Class with LMP2 to be removed for the next year's season in the year 2024 due to demand in grid numbers for the Hypercar and the incoming GT3-Spec based LMGT3 class replacing LMGTE Am reaching the maximum number of full season entries.
Calendar On 29 September 2022, the 2023 calendar was announced on the website and YouTube channel of the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the six races of the 2022 season and the return to Portimão, this time with a 6-hour format. The season played host to the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. + 2023 calendar Rnd Race Circuit Location Date Prologue Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida 11/12 March 1 1000 Miles of Sebring 17 March 2 6 Hours of Portimão Algarve International Circuit Portimão 16 April 3 TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot 29 April 4 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 10–11 June 5 6 Hours of Monza Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza 9 July 6 6 Hours of Fuji Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 10 September 7 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir 4 November
Entries Hypercar Racing in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams
Entrant Car Engine Hybrid Tyre Drivers Rounds Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 Hybrid 2 Earl Bamber All Alex Lynn All Richard Westbrook All Floyd Vanwall Racing Team Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 4 Esteban Guerrieri All Tom Dillmann 1–4 Jacques Villeneuve 1–3 Tristan Vautier 4–7 João Paulo de Oliveira 5–6 Ryan Briscoe 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 Hybrid 5 Dane Cameron All Michael Christensen All Frédéric Makowiecki All Hybrid 6 Kévin Estre All André Lotterer All Laurens Vanthoor All Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6 Hybrid 7 Mike Conway All Kamui Kobayashi All José María López All Hybrid 8 Sébastien Buemi All Brendon Hartley All Ryō Hirakawa All Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 Hybrid 38 António Félix da Costa 3–7 Will Stevens 3–7 Yifei Ye 3–7 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Ferrari F163CG 3.0 L Turbo V6 Hybrid 50 Antonio Fuoco All Miguel Molina All Nicklas Nielsen All Hybrid 51 James Calado All Antonio Giovinazzi All Alessandro Pier Guidi All Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 Peugeot X6H 2.6 L Turbo V6 Hybrid 93 Paul di Resta All Mikkel Jensen All Jean-Éric Vergne All Hybrid 94 Loïc Duval All Gustavo Menezes All Nico Müller 1–5, 7 Stoffel Vandoorne 6 Proton Competition Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 Hybrid 99 Gianmaria Bruni 5–7 Neel Jani 5–7 Harry Tincknell 5–7 Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH Glickenhaus P21 3.5 L Turbo V8 708 Romain Dumas 1–5 Olivier Pla 1–5 Ryan Briscoe 1–2, 4 Franck Mailleux 3 Nathanaël Berthon 5
LMP2 In accordance with the 2017 LMP2 regulations, all cars in the LMP2 class used the Gibson GK428 V8 engine. Entrant Car Tyre Drivers Rounds Prema Racing Oreca 07 9 Filip Ugran All Bent Viscaal All Andrea Caldarelli 1, 3, 5 Juan Manuel Correa 2, 4, 6–7 63 Daniil Kvyat All Doriane Pin All Mirko Bortolotti 1–4, 7 Mathias Beche 5 Andrea Caldarelli 6 Vector Sport Oreca 07 10 Gabriel Aubry All Ryan Cullen All Matthias Kaiser All United Autosports Oreca 07 22 Phil Hanson All Frederick Lubin All Filipe Albuquerque 1, 3–4, 6–7 Ben Hanley 2, 5 23 Oliver Jarvis All Josh Pierson All Tom Blomqvist 1, 3–4, 7 Giedo van der Garde 2, 5 Ben Hanley 6 Jota Oreca 07 28 Pietro Fittipaldi All David Heinemeier Hansson All Oliver Rasmussen All Team WRT Oreca 07 31 Robin Frijns All Sean Gelael All Ferdinand Habsburg All 41 Rui Andrade All Louis Delétraz All Robert Kubica All Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 34 Albert Costa All Fabio Scherer All Jakub Śmiechowski All Alpine Elf Team Oreca 07 35 Olli Caldwell All André Negrão All Memo Rojas All 36 Julien Canal All Charles Milesi All Matthieu Vaxivière All
LMGTE Am EntrantCarEngineTyreDriversRounds AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 21 Simon Mann All Ulysse de Pauw 1–5 Kei Cozzolino 6–7 Stefano Costantini 1 Diego Alessi 2–3 Julien Piguet 4–5 Hiroshi Koizumi 6 Franck Dezoteux 7 54 Francesco Castellacci All Thomas Flohr All Davide Rigon All Richard Mille AF Corse 83 Luis Pérez Companc All Alessio Rovera All Lilou Wadoux All ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin M177 4.0 L Turbo V8 25 Ahmad Al Harthy All Michael Dinan All Charlie Eastwood All D'station Racing 777 Tomonobu Fujii All Casper Stevenson All Satoshi Hoshino 1–6 Liam Talbot 7 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R Chevrolet LT6.R 5.5 L V8 33 Nicky Catsburg All Ben Keating All Nicolás Varrone All Project 1 – AO Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 56 Matteo Cairoli All P. J. Hyett 1, 3–4, 6–7 Gunnar Jeannette 1, 3–4, 6–7 Guilherme Oliveira 2, 5 Miguel Ramos 2 Efrin Castro 5 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 57 Takeshi Kimura All Scott Huffaker 1–6 Daniel Serra 1–4, 7 Kei Cozzolino 5 Ritomo Miyata 6 Esteban Masson 7 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 60 Matteo Cressoni All Alessio Picariello All Claudio Schiavoni All Iron Dames 85 Sarah Bovy All Rahel Frey All Michelle Gatting All Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 77 Julien Andlauer All Christian Ried All Mikkel O. Pedersen All Proton Competition 88 Harry Tincknell 1–4 Ryan Hardwick 1–3 Zacharie Robichon 1–3 Jonas Ried 4 Don Yount 4 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 86 Ben Barker All Riccardo Pera All Michael Wainwright All NorthWest AMR Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin M177 4.0 L Turbo V8 98 Paul Dalla Lana 1–2 Axcil Jefferies 1–2 Nicki Thiim 1–2 Ian James 3–4, 6–7 Daniel Mancinelli 3–4, 6–7 Alex Riberas 3–4, 6–7
Season report
1000 Miles of Sebring
Ferrari's Antonio Fuoco drove the 499P to pole position in the season opener in Sebring, in what was Ferrari's first appearance in endurance racing in 50 years. Fuoco lead the field off the line, however was soon surpassed by both the Toyota entries. The #7 Toyota, driven by Kamui Kobayashi, took the lead at the 4 hour mark and was never headed. The #7 Toyota of Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José María López lead home the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa by six seconds. The #50 Ferrari of Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen finished 3rd, a lap down on the Toyota.
In LMP2, the Prema Racing #63 of Doriane Pin, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat lead with 5 minutes to go however had to pit for a splash of fuel. This handed the LMP2 victory to the #48 Jota of David Beckmann, Will Stevens and Yifei Ye, with the Prema finishing in 3rd. The #23 United Autosports lead for the first half of the race, but was forced to pit with technical issues. The #22 United Autosports of Filipe Alburquerque, Phil Hanson and Frederick Lubin snatched 2nd place with just minutes left.
The LMGTE AM saw drama in the races early stages. The #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari cartwheeled after colliding with the tyre wall. The sole Corvette entry of Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nicolas Varrone dominated the 2nd half of the race, taking victory. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche capitalized on a late fuel stop by the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari to take second position. The pole-sitting #85 Iron Dames Porsche led the first half of the race, before running off the road, dislodging bodywork.
6 Hours of Portimao
The Hypercar class saw Toyota #7, in the hands of Conway, blast into the lead at the start, passing its pole-sitting sister machine. The #8 Toyota, driven by Buemi, lost a place to James Calado (Ferrari #50), however regained this position a lap later. Toyota management ordered the two cars to swap, however the #7 began suffering technical issues and pulled into the pits. This left the #8 Toyota to canter to victory. The #50 Ferrari finished 2nd, after holding off the #6 Porsche of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer. The Vanwall entry had a brake calliper explode with Jacques Villeneuve at the wheel, which led to retirement.
The LMP2 qualifying session saw the Prema Racing #63 (Mirko Bortolotti) beat the Vector Racing #10 of Gabriel Aubry to pole by 0.001 seconds. Neither team had a role to play in the fight for victory, however. United Autosport #23 of Giedo van der Garde, Josh Pierson and Oliver Jarvis had their revenge after retiring from the lead at Sebring. They won the class ahead of the sister machine #22, despite having no radio for the final two hours.
The GTE AM Class saw the Corvette #33 grab pole position, but couldn't hold the lead in the race. The AF Corse #21 blasted into the lead at the start, but faded into the latter stages. This left the Corvette entry to battle for victory with the #83 Richard Mille Ferrari. The two cars were side-by-side in places on the final lap, but Catsburg narrowly edged Alessio Rovera to the flag, taking Corvette Racing's 2nd victory in succession. The #85 Iron Dames Porsche came through to finish 3rd.
6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps
Qualifying saw drama in the Hypercar class, with the No. 8 Toyota of Hartley crashing out on cold tyres. Antonio Giovinazzi put the No. 51 Ferrari on pole, however saw his time stripped for a track limits violation. This promoted Kobayashi in the No. 7 Toyota to pole position, meaning Toyota had a car at the front and back of the field.
The race began in tricky conditions, and drivers had to decide which tyres to start the race on. Both Toyotas started on slicks, leaving Conway floundering at the start. Both Ferraris and a Cadillac passed Conway going into turn 1. The No. 3 Cadillac, driven by Renger van der Zande, crashed heavily at Eau Rouge after 2 hours. It was surmised that the car had a steering issue. Not long after, the No. 6 Porsche ground to a halt and into retirement after a strong showing. For the second race running, Jacques Villeneuve was driving the No. 4 Vanwall when forced to retire from the event. Villeneuve, chasing the No. 708 Glickenhaus, was clipped by the GTE Am No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari (Francesco Castellacci) at Blanchimont. The move pitched them both into the wall with about 2 hour 30 min remaining. An hour later, Fuoco crashed the No. 50 Ferrari just after its pit stop going down the hill to Eau Rouge. The car was running third after having to battle past the No. 2 Cadillac and No. 5 Porsche earlier. The No. 7 Toyota cantered to victory ahead of the sister car. It was the No. 7 car's 2nd victory of the season. The battle for 3rd place was settled on the final lap when the No. 51 Ferrari of Calado caught and passed the No. 5 Porsche of Frederic Makowiecki.