24 Hours of Le Mans – Qualifications: BMW in the lead, Alpine in Hyperpole!

This is an atmosphere that the public of Le Mans is particularly fond of: the build-up to the 24 Hours. Wednesday night, the qualifying session determined access to the Hyperpole, which will start on Thursday. Each category offered its own show, with a joint driving session.

Therefore, you had to be among the top eight, in each class, to play for pole position. The two Toyotas decided to take their time, while their teammates went out to battle on the track, as did the Peugeots.

The BMW M V8 Hybrid, in positions No. 15 and No.20, were the first in the pack to set the initial benchmarks. And the Isotta Fraschini No.11, driven by Jean-Karl Vernay, was caught off guard right at the first chicane. His spin had no consequences.

The three Ferraris placed themselves at the front, in the order 50, 51, and 83. Dries Vanthoor, in the BMW No.15, was hindered by an LMP2 on his first flying lap. The battle was fantastic!

In the other classes, AO by TF dominated the LMP2 classification, while Inception Racing, with McLaren No. 70, was leading the LMGT3 after fifteen minutes of the session.

Sebastien Bourdais, in the Cadillac No. 3, had set a superb 3:26.642 to take the lead in the qualifying session! Just ahead of the Ferrari No. 50, driven by the indomitable Antonio Fuoco. On the LMP2 of AO by TF (No. 14), Louis Deletraz was unbeatable after the first fifteen minutes: in 3:33.134, the Swiss driver kept the first place with four tenths of a second advantage over Malthe Jakobsen (No. 37 of Cool Racing).

And in LMGT3, one of the three Mustangs from Proton Competition came to challenge McLaren in a duel: the No. 77 (light blue) blew the best time of Inception’s McLaren No. 70, with a pretty strong time (3:55.263).

Impossible predictions

The identity of the eight crews per category was simply impossible to know as the times were evolving. Hence the interest of not showing off too much during free practice!

Less than half an hour before the end of the session, everyone went back to the pits before returning to the battle, in what would be the final assault towards the Hyperpole.

Cool Racing regained the lead in LMP2, 27 minutes before the end, with a three-tenths improvement over Louis Delétraz (3:32.827). Gaps were still frozen in LMGT3, where Proton continued to dominate with Ford Mustang No.77.

Toyota narrowly avoided disaster, spinning out at the exit of the Daytona chicane… without hitting the wall! A great display of skill from Brendon Hartley. The Lamborghini (No. 63), leaving the pits, also had its moment with a spin at the Dunlop chicane. After reversing, Mirko Bortolotti was able to rejoin the track.

Final sprint

At the end of the hostilities, Dries Vanthoor surprised everyone with a demonic lap: from four then two tenths behind in the first two sectors, he clocked a 3:24.485 for the best time! Impressive!

And then, plot twist: the red flag came to end hostilities, with Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota N°7 going off the track in the Ford corners. No one else was able to improve: the BMW N°15 kept the best surprise time for the Hypercars, Cool Racing’s Oreca kept the LMP2 reference, and Proton (Mustang N°77) kept the LMGT3 reference.

In Hypercar, the Alpine No. 35 (Milesi/Chatin/Habsburg) took 5th place and will compete in the Hyperpole this Thursday! On the other hand, for Peugeot, there was no miracle: No. 93 and No. 94 finished 16th and 21st.

And on the Iron Dames’ side, there will be something to grimace about in LMGT3: Michelle Gatting, in the Lamborghini No. 85, failed to qualify for the Hyperpole, missing out by just 31 thousandths. The Lexus from the French team Akkodis ASP were also excluded from the Hyperpole: No. 87 finished in 10th place, very close as well, and No. 78 in 21st place.