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As someone who appreciates endurance as much as pure skill, I look forward to watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans starting Saturday, June 15th 2024. Racing at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France, I’ll witness teams attempting to complete as many laps as possible during the competition period. The event rewards not only the overall winning team but also the victors in each racing class.
In a hurry? 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race will air in its entirety on MotorTend, which comes with the following live TV streaming services:
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The 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans will start Saturday, June 15th 2024. There will, of course, be many events before this.
Qualifying at Le Mans is unique compared to other sessions of the season, with a one-hour session on Wednesday and a Hyperpole session on Thursday featuring the top eight from each class competing for pole position. Unlike other races, where Hyperpole sessions are separate for different classes, all 24 qualifiers at Le Mans will compete in one session for the best starting positions.
Wednesday June 12
Thursday June 13
Saturday June 15
All of the live TV streaming services offer MotorTrend:
24 Hours of Le Mans will also stream live on Discovery+. It is primarily an on-demand service that allows you to stream on up to 4 devices at once for $4.99/mo or add-free for $6.99/mo. It does not include a cloud DVR but this should be unnecessary because of the nature of the service.
All the streaming systems discussed above support most devices including these:
Android TV devices and Samsung smart TVs are also widely supported. Fubo, Sling, Hulu, YouTube, and Discorvery+ also support LG and VIZIO smart TVs and Xbox gaming systems. Hulu and YouTube also support PlayStation units.
Get complete details in our streaming reviews.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is designed to test a team’s ability to balance speed and functionality over long periods of time. In a competition such as this one, it’s generally best to design a car that doesn’t need to spend a lot of time making pit stops. It’s also important to design something that is less likely to incur damage that might take a significant amount of time to repair.
Race cars are classified as either a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) or a Grand Tour Endurance (GTE) vehicle. The LMP vehicles tend to be faster and sturdier while the GT vehicles tend to be more reliable. Therefore, LMP vehicles are generally expected to win the race while teams using a GT style are more likely to compete for fastest car in their class.
In 2021, the Hypercar division was introduced to replace LMP1 cars while the LMP2 division was kept intact. As the names suggest, the GTE-Pro division features teams of professional drivers while the GTE-Am class features teams of amateur competitors.
Vehicles must have the ability to accommodate at least two seats in its cockpit. Furthermore, most vehicles are required to have a roof as well as a closed cockpit for safety reasons.
Any car that is racing solely to demonstrate new technology will typically compete under the banner of NASCAR Garage 56. In most cases, Hypercar and LPM2 cars are traditional Formula One vehicles while GT models are typically modified Ford, Audi, or Porsche products.
This event is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport along with the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. It is also part of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC).
It is held each year in June, and the weather is often a key variable that teams must consider when designing their cars.
The race is organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and has several rules that are unique to it. For instance, drivers must turn off their vehicles while sitting in pit row. This adds another layer of strategy as Formula One cars are generally not built to be turned on and off multiple times over a single race.
Qualifying normally takes place over the course of two sessions that last a total of 90 minutes. The first hour features qualifying laps that determine which cars will actually be in the race. Then, the top six finishers in each vehicle class advance to a separate race, Hyperpole, to determine who will start at the front of the field.
The top finishers among each class in this race were awarded the pole positions. Traditionally, 60 cars make the field each year, but in 2021, a total of 62 cars made the final cut. In most years, any car that wins its class automatically qualifies for the following year’s event.
The Le Mans grid will be divided into three categories: hypercar, LMP2, and LMGT3, with teams rotating their cars between three drivers and no driver being at the wheel for more than 14 hours in total.
The first 24 Hours of Le Mans event took place in 1923, and it was originally supposed to be held annually for three years. At that point, an overall winner would be declared. However, this idea was soon abandoned.
The race was held annually until 1939. Improvements in circuit courses allowed the event to resume in 1949. The race has taken place almost every year since then.
Toyota has been one of the more successful brands at this event in the 21st century. Other brands such as Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Ferrari, and Peugeot experienced periods of success during the 20th century.
In the United States and Canada, you can watch live coverage including qualifying, warmup, and the race itself on the MotorTrend live TV channel as well as on the streaming service Discovery+. Qualifying and practice events should also be available through these outlets.
It may be possible for Europan viewers to watch the 24 Hours at Le Mans on Discovery+. They can also stream the race on the Eurosport player. Coverages will be provided by other regional carriers such as L’Equipe Live in France.
There is no major network coverage of the event in Australia, which means that you’ll need to buy access to the Le Mans 24 Hours app. However, viewers in New Zealand should be able to watch it on Sky Sports.
I’ve been watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans for years, and I’ve tried a lot of different streaming services. I’ve found that Sling TV is the best option for watching the race. It’s affordable, it has a wide variety of channels, and it has a great DVR feature. I also like that Sling TV is available on a variety of devices, so I can watch the race from anywhere. I’ve been using Sling TV for a few years now, and I’ve never had any problems with it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans without cable.
Until 1980, vehicles were occasionally operated by a single person for the full race. However, each car must now be operated by at least three drivers. It’s worth noting that there is no minimum amount of time that each driver must spend on the track during the competition period.
It isn’t uncommon for cars to reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour while traveling on the Mulsanne straight. On other parts of the track, the average speed is about 155 mph. Of course, weather conditions and other factors will determine how fast a car can go at any given time. The best average speed was just under 140 mph set by the Audi Sport North America team in 2010.
The Hypercar event went to the Toyota GR010 HYBRID and drivers Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryō Hirakawa. JOTA won the LMP2 event with drivers António Félix da Costa, Roberto González, and Will Stevens. The GTE Pro event went to Porsche 911 RSR – 19 with drivers Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz, and Frédéric Makowiecki. And the GTE Am was won by Aston Martin VANTAGE AMR with Henrique Chaves, Ben Keating, and Marco Sørensen.
Coverage started early but these were the times for some of the events after free practice:
The event also included performances by KYO, Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo, Martin Solveig, and The Stranglers.
The Triple Crown of Motorsport consists of 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500, and the Monaco Grand Prix. To date, only one man has ever claimed it: Graham Hill, who won the Indy 500 in 1966, the Monaco GP five times throughout the 1960s, and 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972. You can read more about the Circuit de Monaco and other F1 Grand Prix circuits in our tour of Top Ten F1 Circuits.
See these guides:
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