The 2023 endurance racing season in 23 stats
A list of 23 stats, facts, and figures that tell the story of an incredible endurance racing season, OE Founder Tim Fullbrook crunches the numbers and reflects on the year.
The 2023 season has, without doubt, been the sportscar season of the century. From the booming new era in the top classes, to history being made amongst the GT ranks, it's felt like a whole new chapter at every race weekend.
With too many headlines to remember, there’s a strange catharsis in condensing some of those down to a simple number – so that’s what you’re in for.
2023 in 23 stats, figures and facts. Ready? Let’s go.
0 – wins for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti
For the first time in their long and successful tenure in North American sportscar racing, the Wayne Taylor Racing outfit tallied a winless season in either IMSA’s SportsCar Championship or Grand-Am. Their last victory was at Road America in 2022, 10 races ago, and the longest they have gone without a win was 14 races between Belle Isle 2017 and Petit Le Mans 2018.
0.017s – the closest WEC top class qualifying
The battle for pole position at this year’s 6H Monza saw the closest ever top class (Hypercar or LMP1) qualifying in World Endurance Championship history. Kamui Kobayashi would come out on top in the #7 Toyota GR010, pipping qualifying star Antonio Fuoco’s #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P by a mere 0.017s.
1 – IMSA race saw 100% laps led by a class winner
Only once in the IMSA season was every lap led by an eventual class winner. The feat was achieved by the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus as drivers Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth topped the GTD PRO class for the entire Long Beach race.
2 – races left when Corvette took the GTE AM title
Victories at Sebring, Portimao and Le Mans, and a second place at Portimao, meant that fourth place at Monza was enough for the #33 Corvette Racing crew of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone to claim the GTE AM title with two races (Fuji and Bahrain) left in the WEC season.
2.2 – Jules Gounon’s average finishing position in the IGTC
Jules Gounon finished every race of the 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge on the podium, en route to the Drivers’ Championship. His only win came at the season-opening Bathurst 12h, and becomes only the third driver in the series’ history to finish every round of the season on the rostrum.
3 – 24 hour race wins for Nicky Catsburg
Nicky Catsburg had arguably the best season in his career. Not only did he win the WEC GTE AM title, but the Dutchman won three 24 hour races for three different manufacturers.
First, he was part of the Frikadelli Racing lineup that won the Nurburgring 24h in a Ferrari, secondly won the GTE AM class at the 24h Le Mans in a Corvette, and finally raced with SunEnergy1 Racing as they claimed PRO-AM honours at the Spa 24h with a Mercedes-AMG.
5 – race wins in GTD for Paul Miller Racing
Paul Miller Racing notched up a record season in IMSA’s GTD class, with the BMW team claiming five victories. The #1 M4 GT3 bagged back-to-back wins at the Sebring 12h and Long Beach, a win at CTMP, before consecutive wins at Road America and VIR to complete the quintet.
6 – podiums in a row for the #41 WRT LMP2
The #41 Team WRT trio of Rui Andrade, Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica were deserving winners of the final WEC LMP2 title, claiming the crown with a six-race podium streak that started with third place at Portimao, saw three wins at Spa, Fuji and Bahrain, a runners-up finish at Le Mans, and another third place at Monza.
10 – seasons before Jack Hawksworth’s first IMSA title
Jack Hawksworth’s GTD PRO title with Vasser Sullivan was his first in the North American championship, and fell in his tenth season in the series – his seventh at the wheel of a Lexus RC F GT3.
11 hours 3 minutes 29 seconds – Matteo Cairoli’s driver time at the 24h Le Mans
The longest driver time at any of this year’s 24 hour races goes the way of Matteo Cairoli, who clocked a mammoth 11 hours, 3 minutes and 29 seconds at the wheel of the #56 Project 1 AO Porsche 911 RSR-19.
‘Rexy’ would ultimately finish seventh in GTE AM despite leading 78 laps, the most of any car in the class.
16 – entries in the top class at Le Mans
The centenary 24h Le Mans would see the top class welcome 16 Hypercar entries, the most since the 2011 race which had the same number in the LMP1 class.
19 – races before Iron Dames won in WEC
After three seasons and multiple close calls, the ever-popular Iron Dames claimed their first WEC win at the 8h Bahrain. Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting become the first all-female team to win in the series, pushing them to the runners-up spot in the GTE AM standings thanks to the victory, and giving them the honour of winning the last ever race for GTE cars.
21 – years between non-German brand victories at the Nurburgring 24 Hours
Frikadelli Racing took an emotional maiden overall win at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, but in doing so claimed the first win in over two decades for a non-German brand. The team’s beloved Ferrari 296 GT3, nicknamed Bella, became the first since Zakspeed’s Chrysler Viper GTS-R won in 2002.
25 – wins for BMW at the Spa 24 Hours
ROWE Racing’s victory at the Spa 24 Hours extended BMW’s incredible record at the Belgian enduro. The Munnich marque now have a quarter-century of wins at the event, the brand with the second most wins is Porsche with eight.
58 – years since Ferrari last won Le Mans overall
One of the stories of 2023 was Ferrari’s enthralling overall win at the 24h Le Mans, where the #51 Ferrari 499P ended Toyota’s win streak after a race-long battle with the #8 GR010.
It bookended a 58 year period between Maranello’s victories at La Sarthe, last winning in 1965 as Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt won in a NART-run 250 LM.
62 – Ironically the garage hosting the Garage 56 Chevrolet at Le Mans
This year’s 24h Le Mans had one prominent soundtrack, that of the Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – a modified NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen car.
The Garage 56 name comes from what used to be the final garage on the Circuit de la Sarthe’s pitlane, and since 2012 has welcomed experimental cars to run the iconic event. This has included Nissan’s DeltaWing, or SRT41’s modified LMP2 cars that allowed quadriplegic driver Frederic Sausset to race.
Due to expansion of the pitlane, the Garage 56 entry this year actually occupied the 62nd and final garage, not a serious stat but just one of those quirks…
100% – Glickenhaus at Le Mans finishing record
Whilst Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus’ time in the Hypercar class may have come to an end this year, the American privateer leaves with a 100% finishing record at the 24h Le Mans.
The team have entered two SCG007 LMHs in three editions of the event since 2021, scoring a podium in the 2022 race and never finishing lower than seventh.
162 – laps of the Nurburgring Nordschleife
The #30 Frikadelli Racing Ferrari completed a record-breaking 162 laps of the daunting Nurburgring Nordschleife en route to victory at the 24 hour race.
The top five finished on the lead lap, separated by five minutes, but the winning car clocked a scarcely believable average speed of 170.456 kph / 105.916 mph.
200 – points lost by MSR for Daytona scandal
Meyer Shank Racing may have taken victory at the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona, but their win would be undermined weeks later in major controversy.
It was found that the team had deliberately manipulated tyre data so that their #60 Acura ARX-06 could run illegal tyre pressures. The team were stripped of their race-winning points which, had they held onto, would’ve seen them easily claim the GTP title by 178 points.
210 – laps it took for Corvette to reclaim the lead at Le Mans
The #33 Corvette Racing C8.R may have taken the GTE AM win at this year’s 24h Le Mans having completed 313 laps, but 210 of those would comprise a legendary comeback drive.
Leading the race from pole, a pitstop for a broken front-right damper after 18 laps would put the #33 two laps down, and it would take some of the finest GT driving the race has seen, through the rain, night, and into Sunday morning, to haul the car back into the class lead on lap 228. By lap 259 the car returned to a lead it would not relinquish owing to having to make one less stop for fuel.
249 – laps at Bahrain, all led by Toyota
Toyota’s Hypercar title streak would continue in 2023, the cherry on the cake being the #8 GR010 of champions Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa leading all 249 laps of the season-ending racing in Bahrain – the only race led from start to finish this season and the first time all laps have been led in any class since the #7 Toyota TS050 won at the same event in 2020.
347.8 – kph, the fastest Hypercar speed recorded
Miguel Molina can walk away from the 2023 season knowing he was the ‘fastest’ Hypercar driver. The Spaniard achieved a top speed for 347.8 kph / 216.1 mph on lap 279 of this year’s 24h Le Mans in the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P.
3760 – points scored by GTD PRO champions
Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth’s GTD PRO title run saw them collect more points than any other title-winners in the series’ history.
The British duo score 3760 points across the 11-race season, only once finishing outside the top five at the season-ending Petit Le Mans where they claimed the Drivers’ crown by taking the green flag.
There we have it, ‘23 in 23. A season that has been quite difficult to narrow down to only a handful of stats, but I found that these numbers only confirmed the sheer quality of the year we’ve had.
Over to you, 2024.
Tim Fullbrook
OE Founder