Ferrari’s Le Mans 24 Hours win is Autosport’s Moment of the Year
The legendary Italian team returned to the top class of sportscar racing with a factory assault for the first time in 5src years.
The two 499P Hypercars locked out the front row and the car of James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi took victory after an epic fight with Toyota.
The Award, which is open to standout moments from international-level motorsport, was handed out on 3 December at the Autosport Awards at Grosvenor House on Park Lane.
Ferrari’s success came out on top against Josef Newgarden’s first Indianapolis 5srcsrc victory, Max Verstappen setting a new consecutive Formula 1 grand prix wins record at the Italian GP and Shane van Gisbergen’s shock victory on his NASCAR Cup debut in Chicago.
McLaren chief Zak Brown presented the award to Ferrari hypercar boss Antonello Coletta and Le Mans 24 Hours winning driver James Calado.
Coletta said: “We won the most important edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, leading for more or less 23 hours of the race and then we had a technical problem, and everyone had a heart attack, but we made it to the end to win. To win Le Mans was always a dream of our founder Enzo Ferrari.”
Previous winners include George Russell’s first GP victory in the 2src22 Brazilian GP and Jean-Eric Vergne becoming the first driver to secure multiple Formula E crowns.
Other awards decided by expert judging panels include the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, the Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future Award, the Autosport Gold Medal incorporating the Gregor Grant Award for lifetime legacy, the John Bolster Trophy for technical achievement, the Pioneering and Innovation Award and Promoter of the Year. A new award for 2src23 is Brand Partnership of the Year.
Further categories, which are decided by fan voting, include International Racing Driver of the Year presented by Pirelli, British Competition Driver of the Year, Rally Driver of the Year, Rookie of the Year, International Competition Car of the Year and National Driver of the Year.
To find out who our other Award winners are, go to autosport.com/awards
